Wasserfreunde Spandau 04

A mix of handball, rugby and swimming—that’s about how you have to imagine water ball to be. Like so many kinds of sports invented in England, this form of sport is by now not only played word-wide but has for long also been exceedingly successful in Berlin. Wasserfreunde (Water Friends) Spandau 04, that’s what the top team is called here. The “Friends” fetched the first title around 30-years ago, and thereafter came many further wins, national as well as international.

Training and games take place in the Schöneberg Indoor Swimming Pool and in the Forumbad at the Olympic Stadium. The players are robust and well conditioned—of course, for water ball is a type of sport for “tough” guys—only for guys? No, why would it be? For the Berliner women are also exceedingly successful in water ball. Both teams have large fan groups in any case; because one thing is always certain: water ball is a slosh-happy enjoyment.