As part of “Youth trains for the Olympics”, 26 students from the Auguste Viktoria School were allowed to take part in the national floorball finals under the supervision of Mr. Sieberns and Mr. Wulff. The tournaments in competition class II (born 2006 to 2009) and competition class III (born 2008-2011) took place on 08.05.2023 at the Horst Körber Sports Centre in Berlin. The day before, the athletes arrived by train and were able to spend a few more hours in the federal capital. After breakfast, we went to the venue, where hot games were supposed to await us. The teams play in mixed teams, so there are always two girls and two boys on the field.

In competition class III, we lost the first game in the group phase against the 68th Oberschule Leipzig 1: 4. This was followed by draws against the Hochdahl Gymnasium (1:1) and the Regensburger Domspatzen Gymnasium (2:2). This resulted in third place in Group C. We were a bit lacking in luck (referee decisions, missed penalties, etc.), because a single goal would have secured us a place in the top half of the classification games. In the knockout-system, we won against the Georg-von-Giesche-School (3:0) and the High School of the Regensburger Domspatzen (3:0). A defeat against the Dr.-Eberle-School Nossen (0:2) resulted in 10th place in the overall ranking.

The team in competition class II had an unfortunate start to the tournament, losing to the Droste-Hülshoff-Gymnasium (0:4) and Albert-Einstein-Gymnasium (0:2). Nevertheless, as a team without club players, we sold well against the sometimes strong teams. The effort was rewarded and we won 2:0 against the Ph.-Melanchthon-Gymnasium-Bautzen. This was followed by third place in this age group of the group rating. The placements were played out in another group mode. There we achieved three victories (2:0 vs. Ph.-Melanchthon-Gymnasium-Bautzen, 4:2 vs. Fontane-Gymnasium-Rangsdorf, 1:0 vs. Paula-Fürst-Gemeinschaftsschulel) and one defeat (1:2 vs. Puschkin Gymnasium Hennigsdorf). In the overall ranking, the 10th place has been reached.

Overall, we are very satisfied with our outcome in the top-ten. With a bit of luck, it would even have been possible to reach place a few places further up. We showed solid team performances against schools, some of which stood out with strong individual players. With many new experiences, we returned to Itzehoe from the national final in the evening.

Author: Reent-Erik Wulff