Grischa Tellenbach
I grew-up in Munich, Germany and I first kicked a hacky sack at a surf camp when I was about 12 years old. Later I used to play hacky sack in school.
In the early nineties I travelled as a teenager with my family on the West Coast and randomly came across a Footbag Net tournament in a park in Vancouver. Unfortunately I only saw the very last rallies, not enough to get hooked-up right away.
In 1996, I moved to Paris for studies and continued to kick at University. One day in 1999 while kicking, a girl walked by our circle and asked if we were going to Berlin for the European hacky sack Championships - ??? The internet wasn’t exactly as now and it was very slow and difficult to find information about the event. Eventually with a friend we attended the “first” European Footbag Championships as spectators and hacky sack players.
The same year we founded RNH Footbag in Paris. At the beginning we continued to mainly play hacky sack but also started to try more and more freestyle moves. We got our first Footbag Net bag from Torben Wiggert in 2000/2001 when he came to one of our practice.
For several years I used to play both Footbag Net and Freestyle, but currently I mainly practice Net. However every summer I try to get at least some Freestyle sessions. Also I participate in different types of workshops to promote Footbag / circle kicking either through our club RNH Footbag in Paris or Gorilla (a non-profit association in Switzerland) which organizes workshops in schools.
Organizer: I’m a founding member of RNH Footbag in 1999 and held several official positions for +15 years. I used to be one of the main tournament organizers for the RNH Contest, Open de France, European Footbag Championships and World Footbag Championships. I have been for the first time Footbag Net Director at the World Championships 2008 in Prague and several times afterwards. I used to be President of the European Footbag Committee for many years and directed several European Championships in different countries. I’m still part of the Worlds Organizing Committee. I’m also IFPA Sanctioning Director and I have been running all IFPA net rankings since many years.
Player: I won my first title in 2002 in Budapest at the European Championships in Intermediate Doubles Net. I became for the first time French Champion in 2003 winning both Singles and Doubles Net. Since then I won a total of 8 Doubles Net and 4 Singles Net titles. Over the years I won several tournaments across Europe.
Career highlights:
Vice-European Champion, Sofia 2015
Vice-World Champion, Warsaw 2012
Keep on kicking! Grischa
