The German women’s basketball team is in the quarter-finals of the European Championship. Olympic champion Svenja Brunckhorst talks about Dirk Nowitzki and reveals which player she is particularly impressed with.
Wednesday evening is the moment! The German women’s basketball team will face titleholder Belgium at 7.30 pm in the quarter-finals of the home European Championship (live on MagentaSport).
In the run-up to the showdown, Svenja Brunckhorst, Olympic 3×3 basketball champion and former national player, spoke about the upcoming cracker and revealed the influence that legend Dirk Nowitzki has on the team.
Basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki supports the women’s national team at the European Championship
Quarter-finals already a great success
SPORT1: Ms. Brunckhorst, how should the sporting success of reaching the quarter-finals be assessed?
Brunckhorst: It’s really very interesting to see. In the run-up, there was a lot of talk about a possible medal before we had to complain about some failures. I also spoke to Sonja Greinacher (also a 3×3 Olympic champion, editor’s note) at the weekend and two years ago we were there for the first time in twelve years. It’s great to see that the demands have grown so much. Last time it was more about showing that we belong there and this time it’s clear that we want to be at the top. We have the quality. But I still think it’s good if we sometimes simply put it in perspective that success with a quarter-final is already very, very great. It is an important sign, especially after the setbacks with cancellations and injuries, and very important for development.
Svenja Brunckhorst and Sonja Greinacher were officially farewelled at the European Championship
“The development is unbelievable”
SPORT1: How do you rate the opponent Belgium?
Brunckhorst: That’s of course the absolute top team. They are the titleholders. That will be a very difficult challenge, especially because they are one of the few teams in Europe that are complete and have their best team with them.
SPORT1: One of the positive stories is certainly shooting star Frieda Bühner. How do you see her role and her development?
Brunckhorst: Frieda’s development is really unbelievable. You can’t put into words what has happened there. She has only been in the A-squad for a year and she currently scores an average of around 18 points, including preparation. That’s unbelievable. It is also impressive how she can prevail as an undersized post player, incredibly great. I am very, very happy that she is also taking on so much responsibility and simply continues to play her role in a major tournament. That is very nice to see because we need her, especially with her scoring and her presence. That is something special that she is doing with her 21 years.
Dirk Nowitzki’s influence on the team
SPORT1: The atmosphere in Hamburg was certainly positive. The German games are completely sold out. Is basketball and especially women’s basketball booming in Germany?
Brunckhorst: Definitely! You can see that. I think the tickets were sold out within one or two weeks. The atmosphere was incredible, especially after the Spain game. You lose by 19, the players are of course very sad and frustrated. Then they come back after the team meeting, after the media walk and then there are still so many people in the hall celebrating every single player who comes out. That gave me goosebumps, also how the atmosphere was throughout the game. That is very, very special to see. That makes my basketball heart super happy, of course.
SPORT1: Dirk Nowitzki was at games in the hall. How important is it when such a world star is in the hall?
Brunckhorst: It means a lot to all of us. That’s a huge sign. He was there for two days, even on his birthday he was there and made a family trip together with his parents and his sister. That already shows that he clearly chose it that way. He is a huge supporter of the team. There is always more connection with him there and it is very special that he is on the sidelines. That gives the sport and us as women’s basketball a big push, of course. But it certainly also helps the players when he sits there because he is probably the great role model for many players. When he sits in the audience, it’s very special.
Nowitzki saw Brunckhorst’s Olympic victory
SPORT1: You just spoke about Nowitzki’s exchange with the team. How can you imagine that?
Brunckhorst: There are individual contacts. I heard that Marie Gülich received a message from him after her injury (cruciate ligament rupture, editor’s note). He also notices something like that and even now he is simply there and is always available to answer questions. That’s cool to see.
SPORT1: It’s not the first time that you see Nowitzki in the context of women’s basketball. He was also very close to your 3×3 Olympic gold. Did he actually celebrate with you back then?
Brunckhorst: He didn’t celebrate with us (laughs). But he stayed for a very long time. We took a photo after the medal presentation and exchanged a bit. We also saw each other two days later at the quarter-finals of the women’s tournament. Even now it is very special when you see each other in the hall and he knows who we are. He probably knew that before, but now it is also really visible to us. He is a really cool guy and it is very special that he supports us so much.
Svenja Brunckhorst celebrated the gold medal with Dirk Nowitzki in Paris
Women’s basketball is booming in Germany
SPORT1: Back to the European Championship: You can also see a lot of little girls in the audience cheering on the players. What effect can such a home European Championship have on girls’ and women’s basketball?
Brunckhorst: We’ve been talking about it for years. Especially in women’s sport, it is very important to have role models and to have visibility. A home event, where these young players see their role models and can then identify with them, of course helps. When I was young, it was also important for me to see that you can become a professional basketball player. It helps a lot that we now have such events, that the young girls have their role models to touch. That certainly also helps when the girls play themselves, to stay motivated and to stick with it. It is so nice to see that we had an incredible number of young girls in the hall on many days. The supporting program was also great. There were several girls’ camps with up to 85 girls who then also attended the games. We haven’t had that kind of response for years and it’s very, very nice to see.
“We are still in our infancy”
SPORT1: How important is it for the development of women’s basketball in Germany that such large clubs as ALBA also have a women’s department? In women’s football, more and more men’s clubs have also opened a women’s department. You are in charge of the development of the women’s project at ALBA Berlin.
Brunckhorst: That’s of course the big discussion right now. I think it helps. It simply helps because of the infrastructure when resources are sometimes not available in women’s basketball. Nevertheless, it shouldn’t be the case that a men’s club simply puts the same structure on the women’s sector. It is important that we have our own identity and also represent our own values. Some things are a bit different in women’s basketball. But it certainly helps and you could clearly see that there was a push from ALBA Berlin. There is a completely different media attention. Overall, however, the biggest difference is simply the resources and the infrastructure that the club can then fall back on. The halls in which we can play and also the training conditions for the women and girls are simply different. That is of course a great advantage of larger clubs with better structures.
SPORT1: Women’s basketball in Germany is definitely growing. Where can the development still go?
Brunckhorst: I was recently asked where I see women’s basketball on a scale of 1 to 10. I said that we are at 4. We are still in our infancy. There is currently a lot of attention on it and we also have the well-known top stars. But we still have major problems in many state associations to develop girls’ resources, teams or trainers at all. There is still a lot of potential at the base, but the first DBBL in Germany is still extremely expandable. We have the lighthouses, the role models and the visibility, but we still have to bring a lot into structures, into professionalism and into the base.