Women's Basketball: In the Shadow of the Big Ones

Underdogs fascinate people. Especially when what appears to be a one-off chance success turns into an entire series. A series like that of the amateur basketball players from TuS Neukölln. Completely surprisingly, the South Berliners defeated the second division team ChemCats Chemnitz (57:51) in the first round of the DBBL Cup and then the also second division Vimodrom Baskets Jena (59:52) in round 2.

"The hall was more full than it had been for a long time. The fingertips started to tingle because it was really cool. Our chances of getting into the next round weren't actually great," says playmaker Johanna Hirmke before the upcoming third round.

The South Berlin women won the regional league championship last season after an undefeated first half of the season and thus qualified for the DBBL Cup for the first time. “We are a very well-coordinated team, that is our strength,” explains Hirmke. "We're also, on average, a little more experienced than other teams. In the game, that sometimes makes us more outspoken than our opponents."

As third division champions, head coach Jan Michaelis' team was also guaranteed a place in League 2. But the initial euphoria of promotion was followed by a setback. TuS Neukölln cannot afford promotion and had to do without. Instead, the second-placed competitors from Hamburg moved up. “Emotionally, we were very hyped by the championship, and many of us could very well imagine promotion because of our love for basketball,” says Hirmke.

But the confrontation with reality quickly made it clear to the players that promotion was simply too expensive. "A season in League 2 costs around 40,000 to 50,000 euros more. We would need a larger hall, a lot more technology, new scoreboards and more staff," explains Janina Schmucker, head of the basketball department at TuS. “Realistically speaking, the step into the second league would not have been manageable for us at all.”

The high demands placed on promoted teams are problematic for many lower-class teams. This also applies to second division clubs. Their three best-placed teams – Wings Leverkusen, VfL Bochum and third-placed Veilchen Göttingen – all waived their right to promotion to the Bundesliga last season. The reason they cited was a major financial burden that was difficult to cope with. In the end, no one made the jump to the upper house.

According to DBBL managing director Anton Hefele, it is unsatisfactory when champions cannot take advantage of their chance for promotion, but it is about making women's basketball fit for the future.

But many of the clubs cannot keep up with professionalization. Despite the women's basketball boom, most clubs continue to rely on volunteer help. At TuS Neukölln there is only one permanent coach in the women's basketball department. But that is also part of the club's philosophy, says Schmucker, who has been working at the club for 25 years. "Other clubs in Berlin are certainly a bit more professional. But we are very socially minded. For us, money should never be the problem that someone can't be there."

The neighborhood club's players are also not paid. Almost all of them are either fully employed or studying. Basketball is more of a hobby for her. “We play here just for fun,” says team captain Julia Knopf. "We only train twice a week, which is not enough even for the regional league. And even then it sometimes gets difficult because of work, especially for the six mothers on the team." This is also why promotion with long away trips was not really an option for many of the 13 players.

The Neukölln team still wanted to take part in the DBBL Cup. “We said: If we don’t get promoted now, why not just play in this Bundesliga cup competition and test out the feeling,” says Schmucker. And that seems to be completely there. “When I play against better teams, I personally always automatically play better,” explains Hirmke.

That will also be necessary on Saturday in the local Jahn sports hall in order to defeat the Osnabrück women in round 3. "Osnabrück is extremely strong, also extremely strong for the second division. It will be difficult," is Schmucker's assessment. But as we all know, the more difficult the path, the greater the potential reward. There has never been an amateur team in the round of 16 of the DBBL Cup.