Headis
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HEADIS (Header Table Tennis) is a hybrid of soccer and table tennis. This sport uses a table very similar to that of table tennis, but with the players striking a 7-inch rubber ball with their head. The tactics of tennis and table tennis are involved, as well as soccer element, the header. In February 2010 HEADIS got awarded as one of the finalists of the world's largest start-up competition in the sporting goods industry, the ISPO brandnew Award from Munich.[1]
Contents
The Game, Rules
The rules are similar to the table tennis ones with a few exceptions. The HEADIS ball is 7 inches, weighs about 100 grams, and is made out of rubber. Volleys (striking the ball before it hits the player's own side) are allowed, as well as touching the table with any part of the body. Each game is played to 11 points and up to 2 sets, although a player must be ahead by two points to win each set.[2]
Related Sports
HEADIS can be see as a hybrid of two sports. The rules and the table lead to the obvious relation to table tennis. The bigger ball, volley and touching of the table differ a lot from table tennis. Physically HEADIS is more comparable to badminton than to table tennis. The University of Saarland is testing lactate values of HEADIS and compares them to the ones of common sports.[3] The first measures already showed that the HEADIS values are way higher than the ones in table tennis and can be compared to the ones in badminton. With more than 8 mmol/l lactic acid HEADIS is leading to complete exhaustion. Soccer is the other sport HEADIS is using elements of, the header to be precise. This is why soccer players thinks it's easy to start HEADIS and on the other hand HEADIS can be a trainings tool for youth soccer players to introduce the header.
History
HEADIS is a hybrid of head and tennis and was invented in 2006 by René Wegner, a Saarbrücken sports science student at the time, at the "Wesch", a swimmingpool in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The soccer field was occupied, which was why they started heading the ball back and forth at the table tennis table. During his studies he developed the idea with his fellow student and friend Felix Weins. In 2008 HEADIS became part of the sport program at the University of Saarbrücken. That was when HEADIS started to spread throughout Germany. HEADIS is easy to start, fun to play and simple. That is why more people join in and start playing every day. There is a huge media interest (both print and TV) in HEADIS and it was awarded as one of the finalist at the 2010 "ISPO brandnew Award" in Munich, the world's largest start-up competition in the sporting goods industry.
Tournaments
In 2008 the German wide tournament series was founded. There are around 10 -12 tournaments per year where men, women and youth are separately battling for points and ranking positions in the world ranking. At the end of the year the most successful player of the HEADIS-Cup series gets awarded.[4] Each tournament itself is ranked, depending on the size of the tournament from one to five stars. The number of stars multiplies with 40 equals the amount of points the winner gets. There is only one five star event each year, the HEADIS worldchampionship, which is going to be held for the fourth time 2010 in Göttingen. 2007 it took place in Kaiserslautern, 2009 at the University of Saarbrücken where more than 120 participants of 6 nations played. Top ranked players as well as qualifiers of the first day of the event this year the 30th of July qualify for the worldchampionship at the 31st of July. The worldchampion 2008 and 2009 is Marvin Löscher (Nickname: Marvelous 96) from Barsinghausen (Hannover).[5]
| Year | World Champion (men) | World Champion (women) |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Marvelous 96 | Shorey |
| 2009 | Marvelous 96 | Hoshi |
| 2010 | Lord Voldehead | Hoshi |
| 2011 | Marvelous 96 | Hoshi |
| 2012 | Heineken | Hoshi |
| 2013 | Headsinfarkt | Headi Bobics junger Tatapan |
| 2014 | Heineken | Red Hot Chili Headers Missing Pepper |
| 2015 | Headsinfarkt | Red Hot Chili Headers Missing Pepper |
Players and Clubs
Since 2007 the number of players is constantly growing. From 60 participants 2007 there were more than 400 participants 2009 at the tournaments and a couple thousand recreationally.[6] At this time Germany is the dominant HEADIS nation but there are more players from Luxembourg, France, Spain and England. The first HEADIS club is "HEADIS United Saarbrücken" in Saarbrücken, which was founded in 2007. 1. HSC Minerva Dresden is the first east German club. There are also HEADIS departments at traditional clubs such as TV Fechingen 1895 e. V. (Saarbrücken), FC Brünninghausen 1927 e. V. in Dortmund and SpVgg Erlangen e. V.[7][8][9][10]
University sports
At the moment HEADIS is part of the university sports program at 15 universities in Germany. In 2009 the TU Kaiserslautern was the first University to hold the official Adh Trophy HEADIS.[11]
Trivia
A service fault is called "Murach", named after headis player Arne Murach (player name: Wurstverkäufer (sausage seller)).
References
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- ↑ Official HEADIS-rules Archived 25 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
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- ↑ HEADIS-Cup Worldranking Archived 25 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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- ↑ summary of previoust tournaments Archived 23 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
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- ↑ Website of "HEADIS United Saarbrücken"
- ↑ Website of 1. HSC Minerva Dresden 09 e.V.
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External links
Literature
- Parzych, Nina: Was ist Headis?: Eine Szene- und Eventethnographie (Taschenbuch), VDM Verlag (5. August 2009)(German).
- Wegner, R. & Weins, F.: Aus der Praxis für die Praxis - HEADIS-Kopfballtischtennis., in DSLV-Saar Ausgabe 09/01, S. 24-33 (German).
- Weins, Felix: HEADIS – Tischtennis mit dem Kopf, in Betrifft Sport Ausgabe 5/2009, S. 31-33 (German).
