Deutsche Schwimmmeisterschaften

 It's been such a busy weekend. Today we went to the German National Swimming Championships at the Europa Sport Park (in Berlin). We got there really early, had to wait around a while, then caught the end of warm-ups and the finals for the A-level swimmers, those trying to qualify for the summer Olympics in London. We saw 9 events: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, women's 50 free and women's IM. So we got to see world-record holder Britta Steffen doing the event she holds the world record for. I was hoping we would see more spectacular swims, but no records. Actually, we only saw a few people even qualify for the Olympics (Jenny Mensing and Jan-Philip Glania, both in 100 backstroke). I guess they have one more chance, at the EU championships. It will be fun to watch out for the German swimmers this summer.

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Schwimmen – DM: Steffen knackt auch Olympia-Norm über 50 m - weiter lesen auf FOCUS Online: http://www.focus.de/sport/mehrsport/schwimmen-dm-steffen-knackt-auch-olympia-norm-ueber-50-m_aid_752143.html

warm-ups

Britta Steffen at the starting block

Steffen being interviewed on TV after her swim

Swimming Lessons

 Yesterday I went for a swim at one of the public pools near us, for the first time since September, and remembered why I haven't been swimming since September. I just don't get it, but Germans don't lap swim like we do, and it frustrates me beyond belief! On the pool schedule it very specifically said "Bahnenschwimmen", "lap swimming." So I pictured some kind of order for more serious swimmers. But no lane lines! And I was the only one swimming front crawl and/or doing flip turns. Everyone was swimming breast stroke. Which is not only slow, but you take up way more space and kick out towards the people next to you. So when there are no lane lines, and the whole ordeal involves swimming around people, it's even harder. I felt like I was doing open-water swimming, because I constantly had to poke my head up and make sure I wasn't going to get kicked by breast-strokers or ram anyone. Well, when I started doing my laps, and throwing in some butterfly, I think people moved away from me towards the other side of the pool. So I did end up getting some space and it was okay, but I wish there were some lanes and some circle swimming. Is that too much to ask?

This is what I am talking about: breast-stroke-swimming Germans

Once, a few years back, I was at a pool where a mom was teaching her kid how to swim. And she was teaching him breast stroke! I just thought it was so strange. I taught a lot of swim lessons, and in the US we teach kids front crawl first: making them put their head under and learn how to breathe, which they hate. I was thinking about it... I suppose breast stroke is easier to teach if your goal is just to stay on top of the water, not to swim efficiently. I wish someone could explain this breast stroke thing to me.

This photo above is the Stadtbad Neukölln, also not too far from me. I want to try to go this week. It looks so beautiful. It was built 1914 and is largely preserved how it looked then. They have a big and a small pool, at the time one for women and one for men. I was looking at the schedule and noticed something very German and very Neukölln/Kreuzberg: They have one special hour for women in the sauna, the rest are mixed. There is also one swimming time just for Muslim women. Also, note on the website to the right for a Kreuzberg pool, they allow "Burkinis" during the women's swim time. I had to google it to see what it looked like...
And...(here's the German bit)...in Neukölln they have 4.5 hrs a week for "FKK" swimming, or swimming in the nude. You'd never see that in the US in a public pool!

P.S. I signed up for the Berlin Triathlon (June 3), so now I have to start swimming again!

Gebaut für Dunkings!!!

100% SUPPORT ALBA BERLIN WAS WOLLT IHR?

Tonight Michael and I saw the Berlin basketball team - Alba - play at the O2 Arena. Michael had gone a few times before, and was impressed with the fans, which he thought had the enthusiasm and energy of college fans rather than most pro basketball team fans.

It's a really fascinating phenomenon, basketball in Germany: first, almost all of the players are American, and they are mostly all college players who couldn't make it in the NBA. On the Berlin team, all of the starting players were American, and the best German player (the one who plays for the German national team) doesn't even start on his own (local) team! Pretty crazy.  Dashaun Wood, the best player on the team, got 27 points tonight, and was the MVP of the league last year. Here is a funny video of him being interviewed for a German audience, about his life in Berlin. (Just think about it! All these American basketball players living in Germany! Crazy...what do they do?!)


In general, it was a pretty cool atmosphere. Not like Michigan games, but still pretty cool. (Michael said it was even better atmosphere at the other games he saw, when it wasn't a blowout win...) And what was impressive: the fans sit there the whole time. There were never lines for food/beer. People sit and stay in their seats. Also at the end: no one gets up early to go and get to their parking spot. People stayed until the very end, and cheer the players at the end while they have their names announced. They don't just head to the locker rooms.  We got to see the Alba win 94:70 against the team ranked above them right now.

Awesome example of Gerglisch: "Built for dunkings. Built for Bodychecks." (they also have hockey there)

We also thought the food/drink options would be amusing. No nachos here. Fries, Bratwurst, Currywurst, Boulette (like a thick hamburger patty), soft pretzels (again, NO cheese!), cookies, muffins, and Haribo (gummi bears) and Hit cookies. Very German. Also notice that beer is 60 cents more expensive than soft drinks (3.80 for 16 oz). Also German: you pay a deposit on your cup (1 EUR). So you definitely clean up after yourself, returning the cup, or you lose the money. For drinks, you can also buy red/white wine, prosecco, and the German mixed beers (coke/beer etc).