First Chair-Hockey World Championship at the Orgatec and architectureworld 2018 in Cologne
With the first chair hockey world championships, office space designer BKE Fislage will present an unusual and fun sporting event at the Orgatec – the international trade fair for the modern working world. The Chair Hockey World Championship will take place one day before the official start of the trade fair on 22 October from 6 pm and will be held as a charity tournament in hall 11.1. Alongside the Lower Saxon chair hockey pioneer BKE Fislage, the host will also be Koelnmesse as the organiser of the Orgatec and the architectureworld which is being held at the same time. All participant entry fees will be donated to the children’s aid project “Balu und Du e.V.” which offers a nationwide mentor programme for disadvantaged primary school children and helps them with everyday challenges.
BKE Fislage Managing Director, Jens Fislage, explains the fascination of office chair hockey: “Fast rotational movements, dynamic games and the appeal of something new captivates the teams as well as the spectators at the edge of the pitch.” However, chair hockey isn’t only a recent innovation. Fislage and his team held the first tournament – which was held in a large disco in Lower Saxony – in 2007. Since then, the event has grown continuously and moved into bigger exhibition halls and has, meanwhile, been held seven times as “German Chair-Hockey Masters”. In 2017, in Bremen, 64 teams took part and were all cheered on by more than 1,200 spectators in the sold out trade fair hall 7. An increasing number of international players are also requesting to take part. “To meet the demand from all players interested in this, we went in search of an international venue and found it in the Orgatec,” explains Fislage. The teams from this year’s world championships have been recruited from numerous international exhibitors and the trade fair visitors as well as from former tournament participants of German championships of recent years. According to Fislage the success of chair hockey is only partly down to its sporting nature: “Besides the unusual form of physical exercise and enjoyment of the teams, some of which are dressed up, the focus is also on the networking nature of it.” What’s more, participating companies can advertise on banners at the edge of the pitch and international office chair manufacturers can put their own swivel chairs to the toughest test. Besides the sporting and fair play winners, the organiser also awards a prize in a “construction” category.
After the tournament kick off, the chair hockey arena will be open to all visitors and exhibitors during the day and evenings on the following trade fair days from 23 to 26 October. The arena is a central marketplace for sporting and musical entertainment for the Orgatec and architectureworld which, with bars, lounges and catering, offers the ideal ambience for business partners to meet up and talk. Teams which would still like to register for the Chair Hockey World Championship on 22 October or would like to play or celebrate during the trade fair period need to be quick: registration details on www.orgatec.chairhockeymasters.de. Further event information on: www.facebook.com/ChairHockeyOfficial.
Press pictures for editorial publication in connection with this article under the mentioned references (© Miklas Wrieden for BKE Fislage):
