On the Sand in the Stream: The new proximity of the beach volley ball

"We can play," says Karla Borger. For this she is grateful, because in the light of the Corona-news-and-white performance athlete: "It is a privilege to have a piece of normalcy." The normality looked for the 31-year-old Olympic athlete and two-time German champion in the past few weeks, so that they are played at a relatively high level on a sandy place in the immediate vicinity of the düsseldorf football stadium beach volleyball.

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Achim Dreis

sports editor test.

With and against a large part of the German scene. This was due to the initiative of three beach volleyball-Crazy, including her Manager, Constantin Adam, and the professional player Alexander Walkenhorst. You have not created a beach volleyball League, as the Association still believed that it could be possible.

Eight women's teams and eight men's teams will play twice each against the other. Without an audience, but with a live stream broadcasting all the games in the virtual world. 100,000 spectators turned on. At the end of the tournament, which will take a total of 30 days, don't want Karla Borger just to take part, but also win. And then in front of 32 viewers, the adaptation of the hygiene concept is now possible.

In the Chat with the players

Instead of a big stage in Düsseldorf, the small frame in the foreground. 16 players, to referees and linesmen and a dozen Volunteers take care of the process. "I like the sentiment," around says Karla Borger about the reduced life without the usual Drum. The players know anyway, but rarely has the Chance to become familiar with each other as here. All live in the same Hotel just a few steps away from the complex. For a week they are with each other.

Karla Borger in Dusseldorf is not the focus Started with its nominal partner Julia Sude, who took to the Olympic movement and the cancellation of the world tour is the Chance, on your dental medicine study. For Svenja Müller played first of all on the borrower side. The 19-year-old in Dortmund, Tatjana is considered one of the largest block talents in Germany and has a height of 1.93 meters to the network. Karla Borger in turn, 1.80 meters tall, is counted among the ten world's best Defensive players. In 2013, she had won with Britta Büthe world Cup, silver at the Olympic Games in 2016, the two rank nine occupied.

Who wanted to see Borger and Müller play, could on the streaming platform Twitch, all the games were broadcast live and commented. Twitch is otherwise specialized in Gaming and virtual games. There is real Sport some custom user overwhelmed to look at the beginning of the network: "What is this for a gnarly graphics?", one of them asked, as he saw the beach volleyball players, before he became aware that these are real women in real sports. Karla Borger will also find this experience enriching, since they are quite new target is not earned via Twitch, which seemed so far in their world – and Vice versa.