There comes the time in any travelette’s life when it’s time to stop traveling and start enjoying the city we live in. For us, that’s the city of Berlin, home to many fun and curious things to do. So it happened, as it does every week, that we consulted the social calendar which offered concerts, dinner parties, gallery openings and one very odd champion ship….

Do you remember those days in your childhood, playing Jumpsies, Rope Skipping and Bouncy Ball? Well, they’re back! At least for the Bouncy Ball part. When we heard that the Flummi Open – World Championship of Bouncy Ball – was to take place in Berlin last weekend, we knew that this was an opportunity we couldn’t miss out on. Bouncing that ball right in to our bucket (list) was just what we were missing!

Armed with sneakers (no heels while bouncing!), Club Mate and huge amount of enthusiasm, Kathrine and I arrived at Stattbad Wedding this Saturday, ready to bounce. Seeing the creative and difficult bouncy ball course we were to play, and the 31 other teams playing against us, we were pretty sure we wouldn’t make it far in the competition.

A total of 62 ambitious competitors as well as the 500 visitors at the event didn’t scare us away, instead we grabbed our bouncy ball and started with the qualification round. For the first discipline, we were divided into four teams where only the two best qualified for the tournament. Rules were easy: Bouncing the ball on the floor, it had to hit a certain square on the wall and be caught by the other team member to get points. Beginners luck or natural talents? Somehow we made it to the last sixteen!

Up next: The course obstacles.

This discipline had a lot in common with miniature golf, although much more challenging, of course. The obstacles had different levels of difficulty, but still weren’t easy enough to manage. Over tables, through tires and on walls we had to get the “Flummi” (German for bouncy ball) into buckets or back in our other team member’s hands. The clock was ticking, and the time at our disposal became shorter for every round. Lucky us, completely new to the “Flummi” sport, we won the next game and made it to the quarter finals.

These golden beauties suddenly felt within close reach and would surely look pretty good in the Travelettes office. We were in it to win it, at this stage. And of course we didn’t want to disappoint our fans fan.

Cheryl, cheering for us.

Strategy was our main man, luck was the other. And then, who knew – we made it to the FINALE!

In an enthralling game against team “pete+beate” we were 2 points behind in the last 30 seconds. The only obstacle left, that we knew how to play, was the one we hadn’t mastered a single time before. My hands were actually shaking and the first 3 attempts went wrong. But, only 2 seconds before our time was over, we did it! We won the world championship! Kathrine and I can call ourselves “World Flummi Champion” from now on. How good does that look in a résumé, huh?

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my parents, my volleyball coach, my brother who always wanted to play miniature golf, of course my teammate Kathrine and the guys from Snatch Clothing, who made this possible, the fans, the … ok ok! I’ll leave it at that. I don’t know how this happened, but the pictures are proving it did… and a certain golden thing standing right next to me.

With the newly won lifetime supply of bouncy balls in my pocket, surely I’ll be making a lot of new friends fast on my next trip.

I mean, who would doubt that bouncy ball is the new beach volley ball? Anyone want to challenge the champion?

All pictures by Tiago Gonçalves, Cheryl Howard, Elisabeth Løtveit  and me.


This post was written by Nina Hüpen-Bestendonk, who has a funny name even for Germans; she is a wicked go-getter and creative freelance designer, photographer and blogger.

She has an eye for beauty and even finds it in ugly apartment blogs. Her weekly photo chronicle “My week in pictures” has already become a classic among urban Berliners. Find out more at smaracuja.de.