Ken Paul in Stuttgart: a strange sport with a giant ball – Stuttgart

First comes sweatpants with thick padding at the buttocks, followed by high football socks and knee pads. Finally, Sarah Quinhervey taps black duct tape to the laces of her shoe. Now it is physical. It’s Thursday evening and Kin-Ball training begins at the Riedenberg gym. This is it? Sarah Koenherve is now accustomed to the appearances of interrogation. “People think it has something to do with the chin,” says the 33-year-old.

Kin-Ball was invented in Canada in the 1980s and has since spread almost all over the world. “The Japanese are very good. “It got really popular in Asia,” says Sarah Coinhervey. In Germany, on the other hand, the game with a giant ball with a diameter of 1.22 meters and a weight of less than one kilogram is almost unknown. Specialized sport. According to the online card of the German Kin-Ball Association, SV Sillenbuch is the only club in Baden-Württemberg to ever offer the sport. Sarah Koenhervey is the department head and assistant coach there – and she was also the president of the German Kin-Ball Association for three years.

SV Sillenbuch included Kin Ball in his show

She and her husband, Simone Ordono, 33, brought the sport with them from their native France. “There are a lot of clubs there. Ladies and gentlemen, children play there. The couple have been living in Moringen since 2017. They are both part of the German national team – and at one point had the desire to build Kin-Ball in their adopted Swabian country. With their idea, they went to clean the doorknobs of the gym. SV Sillenbuch immediately showed an interest in including Kin-Ball in his portfolio. “I couldn’t have asked for better support. “We two French come here and say we have crazy sport,” says the mechanical engineer, grinning widely. The team game is played with three teams of four players each. The main objective: to prevent the ball from hitting the ground.

Sarah Koenhervey remembers well how her husband scored her in a European Championship match on the women’s team a few years ago without consulting him. “I had no idea,” she says. However, I soon learned the odd game with the giant ball – and found it so much fun that I stuck with it. “Before that I played volleyball and handball. If you know team sports, you will learn it quickly.” Cooperative, teamwork is great, it becomes really exciting when you slide under the ball with full physical effort. Laugh out loud. “I can talk about Kin-Ball for hours.”

Kin Ball is becoming more and more popular

Sarah Quinhervey has plans. She wants to make Kin-Ball better known. “We definitely want it to evolve,” she says. In February, a television production company was a guest on SVS to film a report for children’s channel Kika at the Riedenberg Sports Hall. As president, Sarah Koenhervé has also appeared on ZDF Television’s Garden. Kin-Ball is now played on sports projects or in all-day sponsorships in Stuttgart. In May 2023, the final round of the Kin-Ball-Bundesliga season will kick off in Sillenbuch.