When the German women's volleyball team was able to win an international medal - silver at the 2013 European Championships in their own country and Switzerland - there was an almost unstoppable bundle of energy on the diagonal alongside star player Margareta Kozuch.

With the number 13: Saskia Hippe, then 22 years old.

Two years earlier, at the European Championships in Serbia, Hippe had been part of the team.

Back then, too, the German women finished second – after a 3-2 defeat in the final against the host nation.

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

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When Hippe rejoined the national team in the summer of 2022, she first noticed how big the age difference had become in the meantime.

"I wasn't aware of that," said the now 31-year-old about playing with some of her teammates who were almost ten years her junior.

"I had to introduce myself to some of them first." Only one of the former successful team is still there - captain Jennifer Janiska - and even she is only 28.

Saskia Hippe had not played for the German national team for seven years.

Your last appearance dates from the European Games 2015 in Baku, when the games ended with a 2:3 in the quarterfinals against Poland.

The Berliner, who made her debut in the Bundesliga at the age of 17 for Köpenicker SC and later also played in Dresden, Schwerin and Potsdam, then began a new life.

She moved to Piraeus, living in "her own bubble," as she puts it.

And no longer seemed interesting for the German selection.

"I was on the beach, I enjoyed my life," she says, looking back at the carefree days of sunshine and summer in Greece: "It was nice to be free."

The gifted athlete had played volleyball every summer since she was 14.

When the club teams' season ended, the national teams' competitions began.

"The schedules are badly timed.

I was never free.” And that's exactly what she wanted to change.

Her Greek phase was not a general break from volleyball, on the contrary: with Olympiacos Piraeus, the Berliner won the Greek championship four times from 2016 and also won the national cup three times.

She was named Most Valuable Player in both competitions.

And in general, the 1.86 meter tall attacker with the long blond hair and piercing blue eyes became the crowd favorite in Piraeus.

"The Greeks are very sporty," says Saskia Hippe.

"I received a lot of appreciation, kindness and love."

And yes,

she occasionally felt "like a little superstar."

With free time in summer.

The memory of her national team career faded.

Your former Schwerin coach Felix Koslowski relied on younger players as national coach - and that was a good thing for Hippe.

Looking back, she hadn't missed anything.

But when Vital Heynen took over the position of national coach, Saskia Hippe thought about being able to play in the national team again - "that would be something!" And the successful Belgian coach promptly contacted her and asked if she would not like to to play again.

Telepathy or general appreciation?

Since Louisa Lippmann, who had been the best German on the diagonal until then, ended her indoor career and switched to the beach, one position was vacant.

And Saskia Hippe felt like making a comeback – again with number 13.

“I should bring looseness in”

She was extremely impressed by the level of play of her new teammates right from the start: "We have 14 equal players who complement each other very well.

You have to see which team is going to beat us!” After the successful World Cup opening games against Bulgaria (3:1) and Kazakhstan (3:0) in Arnhem, the German women are now meeting in the second part of the World Cup preliminary round Lodz this Thursday (4 p.m.) on world champion Serbia, which will be followed on Friday (7 p.m.) by the duel with Olympic champion USA.

After that, it should be clearer how strong the team actually is.

"It's a World Cup," says Saskia Hippe about the upcoming opponents, "but it's still just volleyball."

The 31-year-old takes a pragmatic view of her role in the team: "I'm supposed to relax."

The fact that she will not spend too much time on the field at first is something she takes sportingly: "I'm happy about every assignment I can get." 25-year-old Kimberly Drewniok is the number one diagonal attacker, who also has the enjoys the advantage of being harder to calculate as a left-hander.

However, Heynen had Lena Stigrot play against Bulgaria as the third outside attacker in order to tactically position his team more flexibly.

But the World Cup is long, after five preliminary round games there are four games in the intermediate round - and if things go well, more in the final round.

Saskia Hippe wants to try to convey the enjoyment of the event to her fellow players with her special mixture of experience and nonchalance.

"They should think less, play more freely", then they could use their potential even better.

Saskia Hippe has already planned her own next career step.

She is drawn to Bucharest.

"You definitely have to be adventurous," she says, to make a move like this.

But "I had a good offer".

She finds it appealing to get to know “new languages ​​and other people”.

And it's only a good two hours to the Black Sea.