National player is looking for a club to feel comfortable in – something like that was the first contact Sandra Ittlinger made when she arrived in Hamburg, her new place of residence.

The friendly response came promptly, and she seemed "very interesting and very appreciative."

Sandra Ittlinger was immediately enthusiastic, and the slogan "You never beach alone" also convinced the 27-year-old - so she happily joined FC St. Pauli, together with her new playing partner Isabel Schneider.

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

What many did not know: the "Star Club" from the Millerntor, which has stood for a unique football philosophy between the Reeperbahn and Heiligengeistfeld for decades, also has a beach volleyball department.

Founded in 2018, the actual goal was: "Broad sport for everyone".

The association offers some sandy areas in the city area: the Inselpark in Wilhelmsburg, the beach facility in Eimsbüttel, the city park in Winterhude.

"Pure Authenticity"

Sandra Ittlinger doesn't really belong to the target group, because the block specialist has been one of the top German athletes for years.

But she was immediately drawn to the family structures.

"I associate FC St. Pauli with pure authenticity," she says, "and I love that." Respectful cooperation is one of the feel-good factors for her.

In addition, Ittlinger supports compliance with and respect for the values ​​that the association claims for itself and its members: tolerance, cosmopolitanism, team spirit and respect, regardless of main color and origin.

Ittlinger was born in Munich, and together with Chantal Laboureur she was German champion in 2020.

She was drawn to Hamburg because she has recently been training at the Olympic base of the German Volleyball Association (DVV) under the new national coach Martin Engvik.

A Norwegian, which is why psychology student Ittlinger started learning Norwegian via a mobile app.

Which is of course not necessary given Engvik's language skills, but it's fun.

Together with Isabel Schneider, she has been one of three national teams since the beginning of the year and is trying to position herself for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

The really big test

The Ittlinger/Schneider team's opening weeks could hardly have gone better.

At their very first joint appearance, the "King of the Court" format in Doha, the two won the crown.

After that, they played four tournaments in a row to get in tune with each other as best as possible.

In Kusadasi they reached the semifinals, "my career best" on the World Tour, as Sandra Ittlinger proudly reports.

When things didn't go so well in Ostrava and they were eliminated in the preliminary round, the two showed organizational talent, booked two early flight tickets to Düsseldorf for the next morning and jumped in the sand there at the German Beach Series tournament - with the Result that they won the tournament.

The World Championships in Rome are now the first really big test.

This Friday (5:00 p.m. in the live stream) Ittlinger/Schneider will play the first game in the Foro Italico against the Mexicans Gutierrez/Quintero.

On Sunday (6.00 p.m.) the game continues against the outsiders Sinaportar/Muianga from Mozambique, before the finale on Monday (5.00 p.m.) is the Swiss Hüberli/Brunner, who are probably the strongest opponents in Group K.

Round of 16 is the goal

At the 2019 World Cup, which had developed into a beach volleyball festival at Hamburg's Rothenbaum, Sandra Ittlinger and Isabel Schneider with their then partners Kim Behrens and Victoria Bieneck were eliminated in the first knockout round and thus ended up in 17th place.

This time, the goal is to "proceed one round", i.e. to reach the round of 16.

According to the beach volleyball calculation, this would be ninth place, since the other placements are not played out.

Three other German women's teams have their sights set on a "top ten place": Svenja Müller and Cinja Tillmann, who also train in Hamburg, plus the World Tour final winners Karla Borger and Julia Sude as well as Chantal Laboreur and Sarah Schulz.

Ittlinger/Schneider will return to Hamburg, the capital of German beach volleyball, in June, because the beach volleyball event "King of the Court" will be held on the Heiligengeistfeld in the heart of St. Pauli from June 23rd.

In order to consolidate the interplay of competitive and popular sports, sports offers for everyone will be available in the "Active City Arena" until mid-July.

And at FC St. Pauli, the beach department has already grown.

The young national players Lukas Pfretzschner and Robin Sowa now also play under the sign of the pirate flag.

The two 22-year-olds switched from HSV to Millerntor.

Just like Isabel Schneider, by the way.