Canoe Polo DHM in Hannover

Only last year, the cooperation of the General University Sports of the University of Kassel with the Kanu-Sport-Kassel (KSK) started on the initiative of exercise instructor Lorenz Schulze. Accordingly inexperienced ­was the team that was formed around the two successors of Lorenz, Nadine Köhler and Philipp Hahn. From the side of the University of Kassel, Laila, Jakob and Asad joined. The team was supplemented by two students, Hanna and Bob, who had already played in tournaments with KSK. Bob in particular was able to support and guide the team with his experience. Many thanks go to KSK and especially to Heinz, who provided us with the necessary equipment!

Different from the previous years, the DHM already took place in May. Since Kassel unfortunately has no indoor training facilities for canoe polo, we could hardly train until then. So we only went to Hannover with the expectation to gain a lot of experience, to learn and to have fun. These goals were achieved and exceeded.

The arrival and the tent setup on the meadow of the open-air swimming pool Barsinghausen took place Friday evening unfortunately with rain. On the contrary, the main game day on Saturday provided us with sunshine and pleasant temperatures. In the morning at 8 o'clock we started directly with the first game, because with 12 teams (8 university teams, 4 alumni teams) there were many games to play. The games were played in two groups of 6, so that there were five games in total in the group phase. Directly in the first game against Göttingen (Alumni) we could reach our minimum goal of scoring at least 1 goal in the tournament. Since the alumni teams are not included in the scoring, the game was scored 3:0 for the University of Kassel and we had the first win on our account.

The other games against Berlin, Heidelberg (Alumni) and Hannover 2 could also be balanced and exciting, but were narrowly lost. Only against the defending champion and later finalist Hannover 1 we were without a chance and had to admit defeat with 8:0.

After this exhausting day it was time to refill the energy depots. For this purpose the Hochschulsport Hannover had prepared a delicious noodle buffet. Afterwards there was a small party where we could socialize with the other teams. In general, the whole tournament was very friendly and everyone supported each other, whether cheering from the sidelines or helping out with equipment.

The tables of the 1st day of play resulted in the final matches for Sunday. We had to play early in the morning against WG Göttingen. Unfortunately a bit too early, so that we could not bring the positive developments of the previous day on the court and lost with 2:1. The final match for 7th place, which was played on equal terms against Hannover 3, was completely different. It went back and forth without a goal being scored, until shortly before the end - after a fantastic assist from Philipp - Bob welded the ball into the goal from the left side. Then there were only 2 minutes left to play, which we survived without conceding a goal. So it was done! The first victory at a DHM and that too to 0!

Finally, we would also like to thank the university sports for the support that allowed us to participate in the DHM!

Philipp Hahn