Hagen. The World Cup is a challenge for the Hagen feather footballers David and Christopher Zentarra – also financially.
Feather football combines elements of volleyball, football and badminton. A shuttlecock is played with your feet over a 1.60 meter high net. The style of play allows teams to pass the ball several times before it has to be hit over the net. This makes for exciting rallies. A particular appeal of the game lies in the variety of player types: position players lift the ball, attackers smash it over the net, and block players try to fend off the ball with their bodies.
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A brotherly hug: Christopher and David Zentarra have been top German feather footballers for many years. They will compete together again at the World Cup in China.
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This versatile sport is a phenomenon in China and has a status that is comparable to that of king football in Germany. While the Asians inspire an audience of millions and the best in their profession earn good money as professional players, feather football remains a niche sport in this country with only a few hundred active players. This gap has existed for decades. And yet the German national team is not discouraged when they go to China for tournaments. The team around the Hagen top player David Zentarra travels confidently to the World Cup in Tianjin, China, where the best teams will fight for the title from October 26th to 30th. “We hope that we can have an important say in the awarding of medals in one or another discipline,” hopes Zentarra, who knows what he is talking about: he has already taken home World Cup bronze twice.
The German delegation
The German delegation will be represented in China by David Zentarra in singles and doubles alongside his brother Christopher Zentarra, who also plays for FFC Hagen and also competes in the team competition. David Zentarra can also be used here if necessary. FFC member Frenki Zhang, who supports the German team as a supervisor, will also be making the trip to Tianjin, over 8,000 kilometers away from Hagen.
However, the journey is not only a sporting challenge for the people of Hagen, but also a financial undertaking. Since there is no money to be made with feather football in Germany, the athletes have to cover most of the travel costs themselves, as the German feather football association only has limited resources. A four-figure amount per person is spent on flights, hotels and meals – the FFC players are all the happier that they have found some generous supporters: “A special thank you goes to the Sparkasse an Volme and Ruhr, Tinte Toner SMP from Hagen, “Metallbau Vona from Hagen and GaMont Gewerbearbeiten GmbH from Bottrop, who gave us great help here,” says David Zentarra.
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