On the eve of the Sportaccord Convention the IFA Board of Directors held its 13th meeting in the Gold Coast by IFA members participating in the convention including with designated IFA Vice President Vikki buston and Elizabeth Meecham from New Zealand joined by other board members from around the world via Skype. The most important topic was the preparation of and reporting for IFA 2019 Congress on 14 August 2019. After having served for 20 years as a member of the IFA board and having been elected in 2011 as the 5th IFA President Karl Weiss (Austria) will hand over in August the federation, in very good shape to the designated President Jörn Verleger (Germany) who currently serves as IFA Secretary General.

Under Karl Weiss leadership, IFA has more than doubled its membership from 27 in 2011 to 59 in 2019. IFA has established a Fistball World Tour and a Fistball Academy. We run world-class events and have become a core part of The World Games leading to an inaugural women’s competition at The World Games 2021 in Birmingham, AL.

The Fistball Academy of the International Fistball Association wants to invite you cordially to a special offer of advanced education „Fistball in school sports“

In cooperation with the Turnverein 1891 Öschelbronn e.V. we will implement an continuing education for teachers in Niefern-Öschelbronn (GER) on 2019 May , 11th and 12 th under the slogan „Fistball Academy Experience“. Parallelly pupils (at the age between 10 – 14 year) will be instructed in the basic technique and rules of the game by qualified coaches. Naturally also teachers without school partys are welcome.

In the framework of this event a specially developed training module will be introduced and will be provided to the teaching staff. The training modules offer detailed scripts and documentations with descriptions, pictures and submittals. Video sequences as training videos will support the descriptions of the respective contents.

Attached you will find further information to the offer of advanced education „Fistball in school sports“: DOWNLOAD

After intensive weeks and months of preparation, the IFA submitted its first project application for the Erasmus+ funding programme on time at the end of last week. Together with the Belgian Fistball Association, Fistball Poland, Faustball Austria, the German Fistball League and the SC DHfK Leipzig, an exciting concept for the Fistball Academy and its further development possibilities was created under the leadership of Uwe Schneider, head of the IFA Youth Commission.

Erasmus+ is an EU support programme in the fields of education, youth and sport. In the field of sport, the programme provides financial support for European partnerships and projects which support cooperation, development and networking of the respective sport. With the development and objectives of the Fistball Academy, we meet the criteria to be able to submit an application.

By the project Development, Promotion and Dissemination of Fistball through Cooperation, further Training und Synergies together with the project partners involved, solutions, instruments and concepts are to be developed which sustainably promote and stabilize fistball in the long-term in order to guarantee a broad, future-oriented and long-term development in the member nations.

The Academy supports
– as a platform for the exchange of knowledge and information, the promotion of fistball as a sport with a long tradition,
– as a format for education and training, the further development of fistball in order to strengthen equal opportunities for all nations by supporting associations and improving training and competition conditions; and
– as a forum for communication and dialogue, the dissemination of fistball through innovative approaches and synergies.

The contents of the Fistball Academy should be freely available and usable for the entire fistball world in order to further promote and support the development of our sport. From May to September the project evaluation of the EU will take place, in which the project will be assessed and a decision will be made on possible financial support, which is essential for the implementation of the project to the extent planned. We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank our head of the Youth Commission, Uwe Schneider, for his dedication and great work in preparing and submitting the project application, as well as the project partners involved.

Togehter we are fistball

The International Fistball Association (IFA) is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved the Hong Kong Fistball Association as its newest member associations, increasing IFA’s membership to 59 national member associations.

“IFA is proud to welcome the new member association to the IFA,” said IFA President Karl Weiss. “We want to reach the total of 60 member federations latest until our IFA 2019 Congress in August in Winterthur,” commented IFA Development Director and Board member Roger Willen.

“Fistball in Hong Kong is not well-known at this moment. But we convicted that this is just a matter of time when Fistball becomes recognizable and finally popular in our city. Fistball is comparatively safer. Hong Kong people love playing sports without getting injured. Fistball may be one of the best choices for them,” said Hong Kong Chairman Ewing T.M.Cheng. The next Fistball training workshop is on 25/26 May as well as on 1/2 June.

“Our association aims at promoting Fistball in Hong Kong, allowing one more choice for people when they choosing a healthy and exciting sport to participate . Our association hopes that Fistball can be spread over different ages and circles in Hong Kong,” added Secretary General WONG Kwun-fung.

“We discussed with some other sports club to cooperate and promote each other. We have liaised with different principal to promote Fistball in their school and some of them respond their interest on it. More and more sports lover joined our association and becomes players.”

The association has already set up a stable Fistball team to represent the city well on international events as the Vice President Po Yi Lee is a Fistball player with coach license from Chinese Taipei. Moreover, he already participated in the IFA 2007 Fistball World Championship in Germany as player.

Furthermore, currently the new member federations prepares a translation of the Fistball rules into Chinese language.

IFA formally invited the leadership to the IFA 2019 Congress on 14 August 2019 in Winterthur.

The sports program of the German Students Championship is constantly changing and so after a break of several years, the German Fistball Students Open are back in the competition calendar and have been conducted on 6 and 7 April at the University of Bielefeld.

At the foot of the Teutoburg Forest, the titles have be awarded in two tournament forms, Mixed and Men.
Since the first edition in 2012, more and more university sports facilities in Germany have been incorporating Fistball into their sports program, thus giving the sport a steadily growing popularity.

E.g. in Bielefeld there is a university sports group, which not only participated at this year’s Open, but also in several amateur tournaments. The group consists not so much of active or former Fistballer players, but much more of students for whom the sport is new territory. This fits much to the character of the Open, in which no more than two active club players per team should be on the field of play.

A total of six mixed and three men’s teams from all over Germany participated in Bielefeld including teams from the University of Leipzig, University of Hannover, University of Bonn, University of Oldenburg, the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the host Bielefeld University.

Final ranking Mixed category
1. University of Leipzig I
2. University of Bonn
3. University of Oldenburg

Final ranking Men´s category
1. University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
2. University of Bonn
3. University of Hannover

Today the Fistball Family, along with many other sports, celebrates the International Day of Sports for Development and Peace. We share the vision that sport can change the world. At the IFA Fistball World Tour event in Novo Hamburgo IFA President Karl Weiss and IFA Olympic Education Director Gastao Englert supported the symbolic #WhiteCard campaign with the teams.

Sport is an instrument that can contribute to positive social change. #WhiteCard #FistballForPeace #WeAreFistball

Be there, register your actions at media@ifa-fistball.com and provide a photo or a short video after the action. All fistball actions should be posted on the hashtags #WhiteCard #FistballForPeace and #WeAreFistball.

“We hope you join the action also with your club and give visibility to your event on the 6April platform. Sport is an instrument that can contribute to positive social change,” says Gastao Englert, IFA Director of Olympic Education from Brazil. “If you join in an action on April 6, you share the vision that sport can change the world. Be part of the worldwide action day,” stated IFA Secretary General Jörn Verleger.

On the page https://www.april6.org/en/toolbox/toolbox.html there are also suggestions and a handbook for further activities whether by encouraging healthier lifestyles, making sport more widely accessible or using it as a vehicle for development in areas made vulnerable by conflict, poverty and inequality.

Furthermore, the April6 Initiative of the Year rewards individuals and organizations who have contributed to the celebration of April6, the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace through a #WhiteCard initiative or an event raising awareness on the use of sport as a tool for development and peace. For more information about April6, contact april6@peace-sport.org

To prepare the upcoming IFA 2019 Athletes´ Commission election the procedure was approved by the Board after discussions with the athletes´ representation. The 4 new male members of the Commission will be elected for a term of 4 years. The elections will be conducted from 11 to 13 August. The member federations are entitled to nominate ONE male candidate per member federation to guarantee a maximum of countries represented. The nomination should be done by 11th July 2019 at the latest (1 month prior to the elections) by email to office@ifa-fistball.com including a brief biography (including photo) in paragraph for-mat please, not a European CV-style, and not more than 250 words.

The elected candidates will be announced within the IFA 2019 Congress on 14 August. All nominated players are invited to a meeting with the new elected Board of Directors on Thursday 15 August at 8:00 a.m. for a Joint IFA/EFA/PAFA/Athletes´ Commission Breakfast.

The IFA Congress on 18 November 2015 in Cordoba (ARG) decided to establish an IFA Athletes’ Commission. The Chair of the Athletes’ Commission (and if the IFA 2019 Congress follows the proposal of the board also the deputy chair) is a member of the IFA Board of Directors including a voting right.

The members of the Athletes’ Commission are elected by the athletes present at the IFA World Championships (men and women). Every athlete has two votes that means each athlete can mark up to two boxes. Any ballot with more than two boxes marked will be regarded as null and void.

The election will take place on Sunday 11th August 2019 to Tuesday 13th August 2019 until 4:00 pm local time. The voting cards will be handed over to the heads of the delegations in the heads of delegation meeting on Saturday 10th August 2019, 2 p.m.

The elected candidates will be announced within the IFA 2019 Congress on 14 August.

It will be less than 165 days until the opening of the IFA 2019 Fistball World Tour Finals in Salzburg, Austria.

Tuesday, 2 April, the ticket sales for this fistball event officially started!

The best club teams of the world fight in Salzburg for the Fistball World Cup.

With attractive and cheap ticket prices in pre-sale the organizers want to reach as many fans worldwide. Prices for a 3-day ticket starts from 5 EUR for youth and 10 EUR for adults!

Especially important: Take advantage of the low-priced early bird ticket prices until 15 May 2019 with a discount of about 50% compared to the pre-sale prices.

Be part of a really cool Fistball event in Salzburg and buy your Ticket here!

IFA was represented by Administrative Director Christoph Oberlehner at the National League Conference of Swiss Fistball in Glattbrugg near Zurich last Saturday. All Fistball areas and regions of Swiss Faustball, as well as the representatives of the national league teams joined the Conference.

At the conference, Christoph Oberlehner reported on the current activities of the IFA with a focus on IOC recognition and the upcoming international events. With the men’s world championship, the biggest fistball event in Switzerland takes place in Winterthur from 11 to 17 August 2019.

Later Swiss Faustball President Franco Giori announced and signed the naming right sponsorship for the National League B West with the largest Swiss cement producer ‘Holcim Kies & Beton’. Within the framework of the national league conference the draw of the EFA European Cup was held, which will be held in Kleindöttingen (SUI) next July.

Oberlehner got an exciting insight into the work of the Swiss Faustball, as the future concept of marketing director Max Meili was presented. With this new strategy, Swiss Faustball wants to prepare itself for the future and enable further professionalization within the association.

IFA congratulates on the successful event and wishes Swiss Faustball every success in implementing the measures!

The IFA Board of Directors has approved a new IFA Honorary Order. IFA has established new IFA AWARDS. For 2019 the member federations are invited to submit proposals for the following awards to be awarded within the IFA AWARD CEREMONY AND UNITED BY SPORTS CONFERENCE on Friday 16 August 2019, 10:00 – 13:00

– IFA SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AWARD
– IFA WOMEN IN SPORTS AWARD
– IFA ACTIVITY AWARD

All applications and proposals must be explained in detail.

Please remember that all applications must be submitted to office@ifa-fistball.com no later than 24 April 2019.