Schedule of the inaugural World Fistball Day 2021:
– action “Fistball Clean Out” (all day long)
– 11:30 a.m. CET Facebook Premiere “The Mighty Fist documentary”
– 1:30 p.m. CET IFA Entourage Workshop on Safe Sport and Anti-Doping
– 5 p.m. CET „Ask the Presidents“ LIVE Call

This Saturday the International Fistball Association (IFA) is celebrating the inaugural World Fistball Day 2021 with many activities like the challenge “Fistball Clean Out”, a movie premiere “The Mighty Fist documentary”, an IFA Entourage Workshop on Safe Sport and Anti-Doping and an „Ask the Presidents“ session.

IFA was founded on 30 January 1960. The date of the foundation of IFA will be celebrated as “World Fistball Day” in the future.

IFA has asked the Fistball family to clear out Fistball wardrobe.

Send us your old – but still good – Fistball clothes (jerseys, training shirts, shorts), shoes, balls or nets and donate it for other Fistball players all over the world”. IFA takes care of the distribution of the donated equipment as part of the Fistball Development Program.

Take a picture with your old Fistball equipment, post it on Facebook or Instagram with the Hashtag #WorldFistballDay and tag @IFA – International Fistball Association is the challenge to win prizes.

If you like write a personal message and clip it on your clothes, maybe the new owner will contact you and it’s the beginning of new friendships. Motivate your friends and club mates to do the same and send your clothes to Grünwalder Freizeitpark, c/o Jörn Verleger, Südliche Münchner Str. 35C, 82031 Grünwald, Germany

The Entourage Workshop on Safe Sport and Anti-Doping broadcasted on Facebook at 1:30 p.m. CET is designed for all people, who love Fistball but who are not players on the pitch like spectators, coaches, physios, team managers, family members etc.

One thing you definitely should not miss is the Facebook premiere “The Mighty Fist documentary” at 11:30 a.m. CET on that day about the first South African team, participating in the IFA 2015 Fistball Men´s World Championships in Argentina.

The first South African team, and later the Fistball Association of South Africa (Fasa), was started in 2014 by Capetonian Leif Petersen, who was looking for an alternative sport to play as a way to make his mark representing his country.

Petersen brought together an eclectic group of local sport enthusiasts from all walks of life, including artists, business professionals, conservationists and refugees, to form the sport’s first amateur fistball team: the Galjoens, named after South Africa’s national fish.

Playing in public parks with rudimentary equipment fashioned from safety barrier tape and tent poles, the sport proved to be a fun but gruelling way to bring together a variety of South Africans and combine their love of sport with good humour and ham-fisted puns.

Soon other teams formed around Cape Town, including the Kaapse Fisters, the North Beach Knuckle-Dusters and Goldfister. The first annual South African championship, the aptly named Fistivus, was held in 2015.

The Galjoens also took part in their first world championship, held in Argentina in November 2015.

Meet the stars of South African fistball: Dr Strangeglove, Moerfist, Mr Fistievous and the rest of team.

Petersen: “It’s always been every kid’s dream to play for their country, and as I gradually came to the realisation that I would never get the nod for the Proteas cricket team, I had to find a smaller pond where I could be a bigger fish.”

And finally there is an “Ask the President” session at 17:00 PM (CET) on Facebook and Insta.

Any questions concerning upcoming events, IFA´s policies and guidelines etc. raised on Istagram or Facebook latest until Sat. 30 January 16:00 PM (CET) will be answered by President Joern Verleger and Secretary General Christoph Oberlehner.

IFA leadership will have on that date also video calls with the member federations presidents from Oceania (at 8:00 AM CET), Europe (at 10:00 AM CET) and the Americas (at 19:00 PM CET). This offers the opportunities to ask also questions on national or international level.

#wearefistball #worldFistballDay #WFD202

This Saturday, 30 January, on World Fistball Day it’s time to clear out your Fistball wardrobe. Send us your old – but still good – Fistball clothes (jerseys, training shirts, shorts), shoes, balls or nets and donate it for other Fistball players all over the world.

Take a picture with your old Fistball equipment, post it on Facebook or Instagram with the Hashtag #WorldFistballDay and tag @IFA – International Fistball Association!

If you like write a personal message and clip it on your clothes, maybe the new owner will contact you and it’s the beginning of new friendships. Motivate your friends and club mates to do the same and send your clothes to Grünwalder Freizeitpark, c/o Jörn Verleger, Südliche Münchner Str. 35C, 82031 Grünwald, Germany
It is important that the clothes are in good and wearable condition. IFA takes care of the distribution of the donated equipment as part of the Fistball Development Program.

IFA is new member of the International Fair Play Committee (CIFP). Together with 91 National Olympic Committees and 23 other international sports federations like The International Tennis Federation (ITF), International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), World Athletics or the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) IFA promotes the values of Fair Play actively.

“Fair play is one of the key values in Fistball. There are just a few sports when a sportsman points out a mistake himself, that’s real fair play. We appreciate very much CIFP accepted our membership application. We expect the partnership to expand and strengthen our fair play activities. We want to actively spread the values of fair play through education and promotion”, says IFA President Jörn Verleger. “Fair Play is not only the behaviour on the Fistball pitch, it’s also outside of the court. Fair Play means clean sport, means respect for opponents, fellow players, referees and fans, means helping up others and friendship. These values which we live in Fistball makes me proud of being president of our great sport.”

Since its foundation by UNESCO and a number of international sports governing bodies in Paris in 1963 the goal of the International Committee Fair Play Committee is the worldwide defence and promotion of fair play. The activity of CIFP is aimed at national and international organisations in the field of sports and education, and professional athletes with a special emphasis on children, adolescents and those in charge of training them, namely coaches and trainers. The CIFP has an important educational role to play in supporting fair play, promoting a better understanding of fair play values and preventing adverse behaviour. In cooperation with various national governing bodies such as ministries, Olympic committees, sports federations, media and sports press associations the CIFP encourages and welcomes the establishment of national fair play committees.

The International Fistball Association (IFA) invites all individuals and clubs of the Fistball Family to participate at the CSIT IFA 2021 Fistball Amateurs World Championship and the inaugural IFA CSIT 2021 2×2 Fistball World Championship within the framework of the the 7th Edition of the CSIT World Sports Games (WSG).
The big multisports event will be hosted from June 1st to 6th, 2021 by the Italian CSIT member organization “AICS – Associazione Italiana Cultura Sport” in Cesenatico and Cervia, two wonderful and merging into each other seaside resorts at the Italian Adriatic sea coast in Emilia Romagna Region (Italy).

The WSG are a major multi-sports event held every two years, full of sports, sport for all, cultural exchange, fun and new opportunities. These Games are not multisport games for top athletes, but for all amateurs (16 years and older) from different countries and cultures all over the world.

Male, female and gender mixed teams are allowed. Each team may exist of a minimum of 6 players. It is possible to register more than one team. The categories are formed according to the number of registrations. It’s planned there will be an adult tournament (16 years and older) as well as the senior classes for women 30, men 35, 45, 55 and men 60. The tournament is played according to the Fistball – Rules of the Game.

And there will also be a world premiere during the CSIT World Sport Games: the IFA CSIT 2×2 Fistball Amateur World Championship. It will be played in teams of two without substitutes on a field measuring 10 x 3 meters. During a rallye the ball can touch the ground even out of bounds, block attempts are not allowed. The 2×2 Fistball event will be played in a mixed category only.

Pre-Register your team latest by 7 March, 24:00 CET on www.fistball.org. You only need to register your team. Final registration is possible until 25 April 2021 on www.fistball.org.

Go for the title “2021 Fistball Amateur World Champion”!

The participation fee is from 120 Euro (without hotel package) to 555 Euro per person (4**** hotel, double room including full board accommodation, local public transport in Emilia Romagna, registration fee, welcome package and free chiropractic services by FICS) for the duration of the WSG. For more details, see Bulletin 1. Airport shuttle is offered and will cost 50 Euro.

Eligibility criteria:
All amateur players are permitted
No permission of national team players from countries finishing in the Top 7 (Men) / Top 5 (Women) at the last World Championship and players from the highest divisions in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
Players must be at least 16 years old

Composition of the team:
Male, female and mixed teams – the categories are formed according to the number of registrations Clubs or teams of the member federations IFA / CSIT / FICEP – also several teams per club or selection are allowed
Team size minimum 6 players

Regulations:
Championships follow International Fistball Federation regulations
The CSIT World Sports Games are organized under the WADA Code.

Find all information in the official Bulletin 1: DOWNLOAD

IFA WOMEN IN SPORTS AWARD

The IFA 2020 WOMEN IN SPORT AWARD goes to Dr. Giana Hexsel representing all female members of the medical and nursing staff.

“Sometimes you just have to say thank you. Thank you to all those who still have the biggest part to play in the current COVID-19 crisis in care and hospital missions, WOMEN, who are there to help day and night”, said IFA President Jörn Verleger.
Dr. Giana Hexsel, who is doing an outstanding job not only within the Fistball family, among others, as Chairwomen of the Medical Commission, but also in their professional life working as doctor in a hospital.

“For her and many other female sportswomen, who are involved in the medical and health sector worldwide, this is a sign of honour to all off the staff member who work for our health currently so hard.”

IFA ACTIVITY AWARD

The IFA 2020 ACTIVITY AWARD goes to Rahel Schreiber and Swiss Faustball for the initiative “Fistball at Home”.

Rahel as chairwomen education commission at that time started for Swiss Faustball started with “Fistball at home” a great initiative for Fistball training at home during the first lock-down in spring 2020.

Within five weeks, 27 fistball players – including current or former national team players – from Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Brazil have produced instructional videos with training exercises for home use. These have been published under the hashtag #fistballathome on the social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.

The further nominees have been:
– Faustball Austria for the Adventkalender
– TV Rendel e.V. from Germany for Faustball Adventskalender

IFA SPORT FOR GOOD AWARD

The IFA 2020 SPORT FOR GOOD AWARD goes to President Stephan Fox and CEO Julia Govinden representing United Through Sports World Virtual Youth Festival.

Around 80 sport organisations have joined forces with United Through Sports (UTS) to engage youth in sport during the pandemic.

To get youngsters around the world active during the COVID-19 pandemic, the sport organisations have partnered to launch the first ever virtual youth festival for youth of all abilities.
The IOC, the IPC and several others have granted patronage towards this unique festival event in which many young Fistball sportswomen and -men also participated.

IFA MEDIA AWARD

The IFA 2020 MEDIA AWARD goes to the Fistball Federation of Australia for “The Fist, The Whole Fist And Nothing But The Fist, So Help Me Pod – The Official Fistball Australia Podcast”.

Since August 2020 Fistball Australia has produced 10 editions of The Fist, The Whole Fist And Nothing But The Fist, So Help Me Pod with a total of more than 15 hours of content.

The further nominees have been:
– DFBL & XinCAST for the TV series Faustball GOLD
– Faustball Austria & evenMo for the TV production of the Final3 in Austria

IFA LIFETIME AWARD

The IFA 2020 LIFETIME AWARD goes to the 88 year old Art Jesswein from the Wisconsin Fistball Association (USA).

Art first came upon Fistball while he was an American soldier in Bamberg, Germany, from 1956-57, when he attended the Bavarian Junior Fistball Championships and fell in love with the game. Not long after returning to Milwaukee and rejoining the city’s Deutsche Athletic Club, where some of the older members mentioned that the sport had been played there in the 1920s and 30s

In 1963, Art and his friends started practicing regularly on Sunday mornings, a tradition that’s carried on today.

By 1965, Art formed an Milwaukee league and the Wisconsin Fistball Association was founded.

In 1999, the newly formed U.S. national team, with Art as Head of delegation, competed for the first time in World Championships held in Switzerland.

Even today, Art can still be seen on the sidelines in the summer and is happy to support the young fistballers with his experience.

All theses facts reflected Art’s enthusiasm, commitment and dedication of his life to Fistball.

Today, Friday 8 of January, starts the vote “The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time.

Candidates from all editions of The World Games’ 40-year long history, and they represent 24 different sports, have been nominated by their International Federations. What is common for all of them is that they are extraordinary athletes who have succeeded in an extraordinary way at one or more editions of The World Games.

The public audience can vote daily, everyone once per 24 hours, for their favorite. They will also need to vote for another candidate at the same time. The first candidate they choose gets two votes, and the second candidate one vote.

IFA and IFMA propose the respective candidate of the other association for the second vote.

Sofia Olofsson from Sweden is a Muaythai World Champion from 2016 and 2018, European Champion from 2014 and 2017 and The World Games Champion from 2017, when Muaythai first appeared at the Games. She was the World Games Athlete of the Year in 2016.

Fistball star Martin Weiß from Austria won over 10 national championships, 8 continental title, and 3 World Tour titles during his carrier. At The World Games 2001 and 2005, Weiss´s team won the first international titles for Faustball Austria with Weiss as their no. 1 striker. In 2007 his team claimed Austria´s only World Championship title to this day. Weiss started working as head coach for the Austrian national team in 2016, and led it to bronze at the World Games 2017 and silver at the World Championships 2019.

Martin Weiß (AUT) won over 10 national championships, 8 continental title, and 3 World Tour titles during his carrier. At The World Games 2001 and 2005, Weiss´s team won the first international titles for Faustball Austria with Weiss as their no. 1 striker. In 2007 his team claimed Austria´s only World Championship title to this day. Weiss started working as head coach for the Austrian national team in 2016, and led it to bronze at the World Games 2017 and silver at the World Championships 2019.

Multiple champions at The World Games, World Record breakers or holders, true heroes of their sport: the 24 candidates for The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time vote have been published! There are candidates from all editions of The World Games’ 40-year long history, and they represent 24 different sports, as nominated by their International Federations. What is common for all of them is that they are extraordinary athletes who have succeeded in an extraordinary way at one or more editions of The World Games.

When the voting begins on 8th January 2021, the public audience can vote daily, everyone once per 24 hours, for their favourite. Like last year, they will also need to vote for another candidate at the same time. “The first candidate they choose gets two votes, and the second candidate one vote. We started with this initiative a year ago, in order to get The World Games family to know each other better; after choosing your favourite, you will choose a candidate from another sport too. This way you will get to see who else is there and with what kind of background story,” Communication Officer Anna Jacobson explains.

The voting ends on 1st February, but 20th January is an important milestone: on Wednesday 20th January 2021 at 16:00 CET, only the10 highest ranked candidates at that time will continue in the race. They will keep the votes earned by then. At the end, the three best athletes will be awarded with a trophy.

The IFA Athletes´ Commission under the leadership of chairwomen Katharina Lackinger today prepared the 2nd IFA Athletes´ Forum on next Saturday 9th January, 2021 at 13:30 (European Time). Main topic will be “Women in Fistball”. The forum will be covered on www.fistball.tv as well as the IFA social media channels. At the beginning of the Forum IFA will announce the winners of the IFA 2020 Awards in different categories.

Questions like “Do you think there are disadvantages for women in Fistball?” and “How do you think we could improve women´s participation in Fistball?” are questions to be raised at the forum.

“The main question of this year´s forum is how we can make Fistball more attractive for especially girls/women”, said IFA Athletes´ Commission chairwomen Katarina Lackinger. “I am happy that the members of the IFA Athletes´ Commission agreed to make a point of statement on the questions raised during the forum”, the Austrian added.

“The work of our athletes´ commission is very valuable for IFA”, said IFA President Jörn Verleger, who announced also an interactive tools for all Fistball players worldwide to give their input for this virtual congress. Via www.slido.com under #IFA as well as on several IFA social media channels and an “audience advocate” the audience can comment on the topics. Listeners who would like to give their statements live e.g. as video message will be connected to the broadcasting team via MS Teams.

At the beginning of the Forum IFA will announce the winners of the IFA 2020 Awards in the categories:
– IFA WOMEN IN SPORTS AWARD
– IFA ACTIVITY AWARD
– IFA SPORT FOR GOOD AWARD
– IFA MEDIA AWARD
– IFA LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

A working group chaired by IFA-Anti-Doping-Administrator Teresa Eidenhammer has drafted the new IFA Anti-Doping rules based on the 2021 code, which were approved by the IFA Board of Directors in its meeting on 10 October 2020..

These Anti-Doping Rules shall especially apply to athletes who compete in any of the following IFA International Events: The World Games, IFA Fistball World Championships, IFA Fistball World Cups, IFA Fistball World Tour and Continental Championships and comes into force together with a the new 2021 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods.

The new IFA Anti-Doping Rules together with the WADA 2021 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods are now in force.

Dear Fistball friends,

2020 was a challenging year.

At the beginning of the year we hoped to strengthen our position within the sports family by:
– World Class Events
– Global Growth
– Women in Sports
– Teaming up
– Showing our great media potential

But it looked different to what we had hoped: Lockdown. Training bans. Sanitation everywhere. No spectators in the venue. Canceled championships. Broken dreams. Season resumptions. Season can-cellations. The COVID-19 year 2020 has confronted Fistball – at the top as well as sports for all – with unprecedented challenges.

The world has stood still as rarely before, and yet it is in turmoil. The effects of the pandemic were and are catastrophic. The economic slump is enormous, unemployment has risen sharply, and many are on short-time work.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died from the disease worldwide and we can only speculate about the long-term effects on health that will result from the disease and the loss of sporting activi-ties.

And it is far from over. It is clear that the consequences of the pandemic will accompany us for years to come. But it is also clear that there will be a time after COVID-19.

It has been the biggest challenge in decades

The COVID-19 crisis poses an enormous challenge to humanity, probably the greatest in decades.

It has forced us to rethink what we usually take for granted and routines in our professional and per-sonal lives.

John F. Kennedy often pointed out in his speeches that the Chinese character for crisis contains two syllables that, read individually, mean the words danger and opportunity. While this might not be one hundred percent correct linguistically, there is something to it in terms of content, including the COVID-19 crisis.
Despite the long standstill in sport, the postponement or cancellation of almost all major sporting events, the continued uncertainty and all the restrictions, 2020 was also a sporting year with many hopeful signs, of friendship, solidarity and new initiatives e.g.

– IFA expanded its portfolio as service provider for its member federations and event organizers,
– IFA updated its Sustainability Policy and committed itself as an association to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases caused by IFA by 4.5 percent annually over the next 10 years as part of the “Race to Zero” initiative,
– IFA approved the new IFA Safe Sport Policy to provide athletes of all ages with appropriate safety and protection,
– IFA adopted a new Anti-Doping Code based on the new WADA World Anti-Doping Code 2021 and
– IFA was accepted as partner of the project “International and European Sport Organisations Activate Citizens” selected by the European Commission and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union in 2021 – 2022.

Plans for 2021

On 9 January 2021 the IFA Athletes´ Commission will conduct the 2nd IFA Athletes Forum (virtually) to which we would like to warmly invite you on behalf of the chairwomen of the IFA Athletes´ Commission.

Furthermore we invite you to plan and run activities around the IFA´s 61st birthday on 30 January 2021, which will be celebrated as the newly established World Fistball Day every year in the future.

We very much hope that we can celebrate together again at next year´s competitions like the IFA Women´s World Championship, which was awarded as a result of this year´s cancellation to Jona (Switzerland), at the U18 World Champs in Grieskirchen (Austria) or the 2021 World Tour Finals.

The 7th edition of the CSIT World Sports Games (WSG) will be hosted from June 1 – 6, 2021 in Cesenatico and Cervia (ITA) and IFA will conduct the IFA CSIT 2021 Fistball Amateur World Cup within the WSG.

Fistball will also be part of the 7th TAFISA World Sport for All Games, that will take place in Lisbon, from June 18 – 24, 2021. It will be a spectacular event that brings together color, dance, games, culture and promotes peace, friendship and lots of fun to which Fistball has been invited as a tradi-tional sport to the sport demonstration and competition program. The TAFISA Games typically attract up to 50,000 participants and visitors from up to 100 countries, and are sponsored by the Interna-tional Olympic Committee and UNESCO.

Next to others like the EFA Fistball Men´s European Championship in Kaltern (ITA) we have a lot of plans for 2021 which hopefully can be run, but the most important thing is, that you and your loved ones stay healthy.

We would like to thank so much you for your friendship and support in 2020.

Have a good start in a better 2021.

Letter IFA President and Secretary General to the IFA Member Federations.