DHM Hockey 2013: KIT represented by men's and women's team

After about a five-hour drive, our highly motivated teams arrived at the sports facility of the Düsseldorf Hockey Club, where the German University Championships in field field hockey were held on June 7 and 8, 2013.

Unlike the other five women's teams, which consisted mainly of well-rehearsed club and even national players, our women's team was a composite squad of university sports and KTV ladies. Unfortunately, we were not able to recruit a goalkeeper for our team. So we played with one more field player, who acted as a libero and had goalkeeping rights.

In our first game against Düsseldorf, we took the lead after a few minutes with a goal by Lotte Nickola. Spurred on by this motivational kick, we tried to score some more goals. Unfortunately, however, we did not manage to control the game any further and were ultimately defeated 2:6. In the next game against Bayreuth, we fought for every ball and improved our team play. However, it was again not enough for a victory, but thanks to a dream goal by Marie Madlindl, we did not give in to defeat. Our last match on Friday was against the favored and ultimately victorious Mainz team. We showed full commitment once again, but against the well-rehearsed top players from Rüsselsheimer RK (including a national player) we had little chance.
On Saturday morning against Münster we saw our chance. The team from Münster also consisted of a pure university team. We spent 75% of the game in the opponent's half until we finally managed to score the 1:0 in the very last second. Inspired by this first victory, we wanted to reach the small final (match for 3rd place) in the following match against Marburg. With a changed line-up, it went very well at first, but many good chances were missed and we often failed to score against the good goalkeeper of Marburg, who in turn took advantage of playing against a team without a goalkeeper. Only one goal was scored by Nadine Sessinghaus through a surprise attack. To our disappointment, the game ended 1:3. In the game for 5th place, we then won sovereign with 2:0.

In the men's competition, there were two groups due to the nine colleges entered. Karlsruhe was drawn into the smaller group with only four teams. Already in the first game against Düsseldorf, it became apparent that we could only counter the opponent in terms of running, but not technically. In terms of technique and tactics, the other university teams had a strong advantage due to their club training. The Karlsruhe men's team, on the other hand, consisted exclusively of players from the university sports program. So it was a completely different experience to play fast games against Bundesliga players. Against WG Saarbrücken, it became apparent that we are quite competitive against teams that do not consist of Bundesliga players. After an exciting and varied game, in which Karlsruhe always managed to catch up, we unfortunately had to admit defeat in the end.

A conclusion of the tournament can be drawn nevertheless. The participation was worthwhile in any case. Even though we were not able to play at the level of the top places, we hope to be represented again next year with ladies and men. The more teams participate in the DHM in both field and indoor field hockey, the more certain it is that it will take place again and the more interesting the sport of field hockey at universities will remain.