Swakopmund to host opening tournament for Fistball 2024 Season
The first games of the Fistball Opening Tournament are set to kick off this Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the Swakopmund Fistball Club (SFC).
With 13 adult teams from 3 clubs participating, the event marks the beginning of what promises to be a thrilling year for fistball enthusiasts.
Looking ahead, November will see the U/18 World Cup for men and women taking place in Chile, followed closely by the women’s World Championship in Argentina. The Fistball Association is eyeing the possibility of sending three teams to South America, with a final decision expected by the end of February.
In preparation for the upcoming tournaments, a special general meeting will be convened at SFC on Friday evening to adopt new game regulations and a constitution.
Category A sees SKW fielding two teams for the first time since 2014, alongside CFC, which is also entering with two teams. The hosts, SFC, will be represented by one team. Defending champions CFC 1 are expected to put up a strong defense of their title.
In Category B, six teams from SKW, one team from CFC, and two teams from SFC will compete for the coveted title. The frontrunners for victory in this category are SFC 2, aiming for their third consecutive title.
Matches will be played in two halves, with only the third-place encounter and the final scheduled for a best-out-of-five-sets format. Additionally, a friendly match between the extended women’s squad and the U/18 women’s squad is slated during the lunch break.
National youth coaches Michael Baas, Stefan Grögli, Anke Baas, and Andrea Grögli, along with women’s national coach Olaf Beiter, are preparing their squads for the upcoming season. The first training camp for the extended squad will be held on Sunday, followed by a series of coaching sessions conducted by three coaches from Austria in March.
With an eight-day training camp scheduled from 21 to 28 March in Windhoek, the Fistball Association is gearing up for an action-packed season ahead.
