Thuringian Radball Talent Leonie Reinicke conquers the world!

Thuringian Radball Talent Leonie Reinicke conquers the world!

Leonie Reinicke, a 16-year-old bike ball player from Altenburg, not only makes a speaking speak. With her talent and passion, she has already achieved a lot in the bike ball scene, which is over 100 years old worldwide. There are several hundred cycling clubs across Germany, with many of their roots in cities such as Stuttgart, Leipzig and Chemnitz. But in Thuringia the bike ball sport has become rare, with only around a dozen unite. This makes Leonie's achievements all the more remarkable, especially since only about 5-10% of the cycling players are female. This led them to measure themselves in competitions with male peers, which is an additional challenge.

as the LVZ Competitions can already see some successes. Together with her club colleague Carl Mehnert, she took part in five German championships and was able to win the gold medal in 2023. At the championships she was largely the only girl that coach Marcel Taube also attributes to the often missing power of many girls.

a highlight of the career

A big milestone in Leonie's career was the winning of the first U19 European Championship for women in bike ball, which took place in 2023 in Dad, Hungary. Together with her team partner, she demolished her with outstanding performance and did not concede a single goal in five games. This shows not only Leonies, but also the importance of the newly introduced EM format for the promotion of women's bike ball-an area that has only been the focus since the first World Cup 2023 and the subsequent competitions.

Leonie has been training Langenleuba-Niederhain twice a week since the age of eighth in SV 1949. So far, injuries have been a rare problem, most players only have to deal with blue spots or scratches. Your goal for the future: participation in the Radball World Championship next year. To do this, she is facing intensive training sessions because she will train with a new partner from Fraureuth near Zwickau to optimize the preparation.

The development of the bike ball

But not only Leonie's talent is in the foreground. Radball sports have had a significant decline in Germany since 1992, since seven clubs have left league operations. This shows how important committed athletes and Leonie are for the future sustainability of sport. Radball in Langenleuba-Niederhain, however, has a positive perspective due to Leonie's commitment and her ambition. The Radball group is currently training 20 children aged six to 16 and is supported by five coaches, which gives hope for the future of sport in the region.

Leonie itself sees her responsibility to pass on her discipline and enthusiasm for sport to the offspring. A good hand for the training of young talents is absolutely necessary to keep bike ball sport in the region alive.

In another positive light, the success of German bike ball is on an international floor. Like Rad-Net , German bike ballers not only triumph in the U19 category. In 2024, the German bike ballers celebrated the world championship title. In the men's finals, Raphael Kopp and Bernd Mlady won against Austria (6: 3), while Judith Wolf and Danielle Holzer won the final against Switzerland 6-2. Such successes in international competition strengthen the reputation of bike ball in Germany and could possibly also arouse interest in the sport.

Overall, the future of bike ball in Langenleuba-Niederhain is hopeful. Leonie Reinicke and her colleagues work with dedication to advance the sport in the region and to inspire new talents for the challenge of the bike ball. While the competition is growing, Leonie remains true to her goal: to give the bike ball a strong voice in Germany and beyond.