The German Championships for 2017 will take place in Karlsruhe, Germany on July 1-2. With Chris Bellaj’s help, FrisbeeGuru will bring you the action. Christian Lamred and Florian (Flo) Hess, the tournament directors, were gracious enough to provide more details.
Jake: I’m fortunate enough to have attended 2 events in Karlsruhe; The German Championships in 2007 and FPA World Championships in 2015. Both events were run extremely well and attracted a great audience. What inspired you to hold the German Championships this year? How many German Championships has Karlsruhe held?
Flo: Decisive was the big success of the 2015 FPAW. The Initial Idea to organize the German Championships this year came from the board of our SSC Sportclub! They were looking for a similar highlight of the Sportfestival so they ask us again to run a big tournament! The concept to include an Freestyle Tournament into another larger event where a lot of spectators are is a key for success!
So we decided to run the German Championships after 10 years again for the 2nd time.
Jake: What is the competition format for this year? What divisions? How long are routines?
Flo: In Germany we have a regulation to play the German Championships with the FPA Judging rules. We also adopted the FPA competition manual with a few exceptions to be more free. For example we can play the Semifinals with 10 teams in one pool, so that we don’t need to play a Quarterfinal.
It seems that German Women like more to compete in the Open Pairs Division, so we scratched the Women’s Division due to less registrations.
Jake: Being the German Championships, is the event open to all? If so, what happens if a non-German player wins?
Flo: Yes it is an open tournament. Also for that situation we have a clever regulation 😛 Non-German teams can win the tournament, but don’t become German Champion. The best ranked German team will get the title and the challenge cup trophey! The requirement is that the team makes it into the finals. To count as “German” you need a german passport or you have to live at least 2 years in Germany.
Jake: How many players do you expect? Are there any top teams we should be watching out for?
Flo: So for the 50th anniversary of the SCC we are expecting at least 50 Players 😉 As always we have a lot of guest Jammers that only want to jam and join the party – so it will be crowded 😉
Jake: Anything else you’d like to add? Anyone you’d like to thank?
Flo: I am deeply grateful to our Sponsors; Newgames Frisbeeshop and Wrightlife. We get big support from them. Bill Wright send us 2 packages of Whizrings and Spinjammers that are very needed here in Germany to spread the jam to younger players.
We are hoping to motivate a lot of kids at our event – and work for the future of Freestyle Frisbee!
Jake: Karlsruhe is known for bringing in new players and your passion in this regard is clear! Thank you so much for all you do for Freestyle Frisbee. Good luck at the German Championships.
You can watch the German Championships here. It will start at 11a (UTC +2) on July 1st. The finals will start at 10a on July 2nd.
