Despite finishing eighth, the Timaru-centric New Zealand men’s fistball team have ended their World Games debut full of encouragement for the future.
The squad of nine, which featured eight players from Timaru, spent a week in Chengdu, China competing at the event, which essentially serves as the Olympics for sports that are not contested there.
Ranked 11th in the world and very much the underdogs of the eight teams competing, the New Zealand team ultimately went winless but held their own against the world’s best.
Captain Samuel Kempf said it was not an easy start to the tournament but he was very happy with the way the team played.
‘‘The first game, second set into the tournament, my brother [Jesse Kempf], who’s the starting setter, fractured his shoulder.
‘‘Three points after that, one of our other starters hyperextended his wrist, so he missed the rest of that game.
‘‘Fortunately, with some good strapping, he could play the rest of the tournament, but that was a pretty big setback.’’
These issues threw a spanner in the works but they pushed every team they played, he said.
‘‘All the sets we played were really close and I think we’ve definitely made some big steps in the right direction.
‘‘I think if we’d still had Jesse playing we probably could have got a couple games but it was great apart from the injuries.’’
He said it was a massive achievement to even make it to the World Games after having only had a team since 2018.
‘‘The top four have always pretty much been the top four, so that’s Brazil, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, and then the next three, Italy, Chile, and Argentina are always fighting from fifth to seventh.
‘‘To have that chance to play against them and compete at the highest level was awesome.’’
Just getting close to winning and taking some sets off the top teams was awesome, he said.
‘‘Teams there were even saying how impressed they were with how we played and competed, especially considering we don’t have a league here, or even a club.
‘‘I think we proved that we deserved to be there.’’
Kempf said the games were an experience he would never forget and he even fluked getting to hold the New Zealand flag for the opening ceremony.
‘‘We’re not supported by New Zealand Sport or the New Zealand Olympic Committee at all unfortunately, so things were a bit disorganised.
‘‘We got there and then some people came over and said ‘who are your flag bearers?’.
‘‘At that point only the fistball teams were there so it was like well, I guess our captains are.
‘‘It was so incredible to be able to do that, it’s something I’ll never forget and even though it was a bit of a fluke, I’ll take it.’’
He said he hoped sports like fistball would eventually be supported by bodies like New Zealand Sport.
‘‘We contacted them about potentially being supported and they said ‘oh it’s not the Olympics’.
‘‘But then at the same time you’re at the opening ceremony, they’re flying the Olympic flag and the president of the Olympic Committee is doing a speech.
‘‘You’re hearing from all these other teams that they’re fully paid for, they’re all getting new gear and you’re seeing Olympic flags on their sports clothing.’’
He said it would be nice, for not only them, but other non-Olympic sports to get recognition.
‘‘I think a few medals were won by New Zealand [at the games], even a couple of golds.
‘‘I’m not sure they even got any media coverage. People should be recognised for what they’ve achieved, not just rugby, which is our main sport.’’
The next major event for the team will be the Fistball World Championships in two years, but in the meantime Kempf said they would be focused on continuing to build and grow the profile of the sport.
‘‘We want to try and start a club [in Timaru] so then maybe we can do some club events overseas. We also want Christchurch to make a club as well.
‘‘Maybe once a month or every couple of weeks over the summer we can have the Timaru club play the Christchurch club, then get a women’s team from both areas and then hopefully we can get it into other cities in New Zealand as well.’’
He was very thankful to Timaru Bluestone for its sponsorship, Craighead Diocesan School for the use of its gym and Thistle AFC for the use of Anzac Square.
Anyone wishing to learn more or get involved in the sport can do so by getting in touch via the South Canterbury Fistball Facebook page.
