"Wonders of America" – Rez Ball and Stickball

The Soccer World Cup is history and especially German sportsfans are lost in transition: No sports (soccer) and a rainy, cool summer – what to do? On the contrary, last weekend was an exiting and memorable one for Native Americans in the United States: First, the Iroquois National Lacrosse team finished 3rd in the World Championship in Denver/CO and, second, Shoni „Showtime“ Schimmel from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Pendleton/Oregon exceeded all expectations in the WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix and was voted MVP (most valuable player).

Especially native people are excited about the Schimmel sisters. Shoni (see pic, © Native News Online) and Jude demonstrated the basketball world that „Rez Ball“ is for real. Powwow dancing, which became popular again in the last years, is one thing to be proud of in the Indian community, „Rez Ball“ – short for Reservation Basketball – is even more important. Shoni Schimmel once explained the „indian way“ to play basketball to the media as follows: it's fast movement and rapid passing with high scores – or at least lots of attempted shots – combined with aggressive defense which tries to induce turnovers through pressing and half-court traps.

The Schimmel sisters stunned the basketball world first in 2013 when they led the University Louisville into the College Basketball Final Four. Jude is still playing in Louisville, Shoni turned Pro this spring. In Atlanta – one of the professional teams of the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) – she was never a starter, but – thanks to the support of Native American sports fans – was voted into the All-Star Game team. In this specific game she demonstrated why she is nicknamed "Showtime": She scored 29 points (seven 3-pointers!) and was voted best player of the game (highlights of the WNBA All-Star game on www.wnba.com).

Shoni is not the only Native American playing in the WNBA. Angel Goodrich (Cherokee) plays for Tulsa Shock, and next year Shoni’s sister Judy is also expected to be drafted by a WNBA team. There are more girls and boys from the „rez“ making headlines in College Basketball or in the D-League (Development League of the famous NBA), just watch out for names like Tesha Buck (Prairie Island), Shauna Long (Standing Rock), Abby Scott (Confererated Tribes of Warm Springs), Keli Warrior (Ponca) or Lakota Beatty (Lakota/Gros Ventre/Caddo) or, in the boys category, Ben Strong (Chippewa) and Damen Bell-Holter (Haida), both D-League, Grienntys Chief Kickingstallionsims Jr. (Navajo), Preston Wynne (Spokane), Bronson Koenig (Ho-Chunk) or Seth Youngblood (Cherokee).

Hockey and Lacrosse are the National Sports in Canada, but Lacrosse is also big in the the United States. This year Canada won the World Cup, the American team finished second. However, most attention in the World Championship in Denver this July was attracted by the Iroquois Nationals. In 1990 the Federation of Interational Lacrosse (FIL) accepted the Iroquois as a member, to date the only tribe permitted to compete in a sport internationally. For the first time in 2014 the Iroquois Nationals finished 3rd – and the whole Lacrosse world payed deference to the "Haudenosaunee", as the Irquois call themselves.

Lacrosse is a sports of Native American origin, mostly practiced in a variation called „stickball“. This traditional, rougher version of Lacrosse currently undergoes a revival, especially in Oklahoma. In the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur as well as in the Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequa (see pics) stickball games as well as demonstrations can be watched. Jeremy Wallace (guy on the pic) produced his own sticks, works as a stickball instructor and plays in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma stickball team.

The Haudenosaunee – the Six Nations of the Iroquois League, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora – are well known for their world-class Lacrosse players, e.g. the Thompson Brothers, Lyle, Jeremy, Jerome and Miles. Lyle and Miles were awared with the Tewaraaton Trophy, College Lacrosse's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, the two older brothers are pro players. To learn more about Lacrosse and the importance especially for Haudenosaunee there are two films interesting to watch: „The Medicine Game“ by Lukas Korver (http://themedicinegame.com, the story of the Thompson brothers) and the movie „Crooked Arrows“ (http://crookedarrows.com).

If you see the bigger picture, America is not all about American Football and baseball (and, most recently, soccer) and not only about white and black. Stick ball and rez ball are two other fascinating sports...

A Soccer Fairy Tale

Do you remember: summer 2006, "The Miracle Summer"? The Soccer World Cup was played in Germany and Jürgen Klinsmann – now coach of the U.S. team – and his assistant Jogi Löw had formed a young team of players who fought their hearts out and finished third. The very same (3rd rank) happend in 2010 in South Africa, then with Löw in the head coach’s position. Change of scene – summer 2014: The Happy End!

After 24 years Germany is back on top and the new soccer World Champion – the fourth time since 1994, 1974 and 1990. Who would have thought that about four weeks ago? We both remember 1974 (2:1 against the Netherlands in Munich) and 1990 (1:0 against Argentina in Rome), 1954 was before our time, but the win against Hungary in Zurich (and the famous radio coverage) is well-known. However, there were also heartbreaking losses: 1966 against England, 2002 against Brazil or the two defeats in the semifinal 2006 against Italy and 2010 against Spain.

But, hands down, in July 2014 the German team was the best soccer team by far. In every game they showed great technical qualities in controlling and passing the ball, their tactical system was flexible and coach Löw always figured out the right answer to every opponent. "Jogi’s boys" played with heart, enthusiasm, spirit and pure will.

They outplayed Portugal masterfully in game 1 (4:0), in game 2 they made mistakes only in defense and had problems to get used to the defensively-minded, physically oriented team from Ghana (2:2). The German team played cleverly again against a very focused U.S. team (1:0, coached by former German head coach Jürgen Klinsmann), but had problems with another defensively/physically acting Algerian team in the first round of the playoffs. Tactical changes in extra time payed out so that the match ended 2:1 aet). The quarterfinal against France was a masterpiece - a highly controlled tactical game (1:0), the semifinal against a confused acting Brazilian team a sensational lifetime game which ended 7:1! The final against the "Masters of Defense and Destruction" from Argentina was dominated by huge will, enthusiasm, fight and team spirit as well as cleverness (1:0 aet).

Germany won the World Cup because they played as a team with huge team spirit, not because of some superstar like e.g. Brasil (Neymar), Argentina (Messi) or Portugal (Ronaldo). The Germans acted as a team with 23 stars: with Manuel Neuer, "Hercules between the posts" and No. 1 goalie worldwide; guys like Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Per Mertesacker, Benedikt Höwedes as defensive players; playmakers like Toni Kroos, Mesut Özil, Sami Khedira, Christoph Kramer and the unbelievably fighting Bastian Schweinsteiger and, eventually, on offense Miro Klose (with 16 goals over three world cups the best scorer in the history of world cup soccer), Thomas Müller (running like a rabbit and shooting from every position), André Schürrle or Mario Götze (who became famous with his spectacular decisive goal in the final). What a team! By the way, 5 to 7 players of the team on the field were from Bavaria Munich.

The whole country was celebrating till early morning and many (including us) have a hangover today. Almost 35 mio. people watched at home on TV (an all-time high), millions were gathered in pubs and in – what we call – „public viewing areas“ like in front of the Brandenburger Tor in Berlin (almost half a million, despite of rain and thunderstorms). Tomorrow the team will be welcomed back home with a big parade and celebration in Berlin. Wished we could be there.

Goalie Neuer said in an interview yesterday after the game: „We will celebrate for five weeks – and afterwards we will wake up every morning with a big smile on the face!“ Hopefully so, because WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!