Trio off to fistball worlds
Three Timaru fistballers have made the New Zealand team for the world championships in Switzerland in August – and it was a sport they discovered by chance.
Brothers Samuel and Jesse Kempf, and Jaydon Phillips, all originally volleyballers, have been picked for the championships, which are also a qualification event for the 2021 World Games in Birmingham, United States.
Samuel has played fistball at national level before, having been the first of the three to discover the sport.
Fistball is similar to volleyball, with two teams of five players trying to score points by knocking a ball over the net and past their opponents, with each team allowed three hits per possession.
Samuel said he was staying with his sister in Christchurch when he got dragged along to a game one day.
‘‘That was the first time I started playing,’’ he said.
He played again a week later.
Samuel, 23, was then asked to train with the New Zealand team.
He said he ended up making the squad, and was selected to play at the Asia-Pacific Championships in Melbourne in November.
‘‘We ended up winning it,’’ he said.
Upon his return, Samuel said he was asked if he had any brothers who might be keen to play – and this was how Jesse, 25, and Phillips, 18, became involved.
While not a well-known sport in New Zealand, a bit of Kiwi ingenuity and word of mouth helped fistball get up and running in Christchurch in 2016.
And the sport was growing, Jesse told Stuff.
He said they had all adapted to the game well.
The trio play in the Christchurch league along with Jesse and Samuel’s sister and father. It takes place every two weeks, while every other week they train with the New Zealand team.
‘‘We will go up for training in some weekends sometimes as well,’’ Jesse said.
‘‘We probably need to up it a bit more now.’’
Jesse said the trio will also take part in the IFA World Tour Event the week before the world championships – also held in Switzerland.
‘‘That’s your equivalent of a grand slam tennis,’’ he said. Seventeen other international teams will feature in the world championships.