“No one would have expected that”
Alba’s women achieve what hardly anyone can
4/7/2023 8:13 p.m
15 years ago, Alba Berlin started playing with two girls’ teams and one women’s team. This season, the Alba women are promoted to the Bundesliga – and as a climber they are right at the front. Above all, the sold-out hall in West Berlin is something special.
Marco Baldi was amazed. semifinals? Sold out halls? In the first Bundesliga year? Even the father of Alba Berlin’s success, accustomed to success by eleven men’s championship titles, hardly believed that his women’s basketball players would take off like this. They could make the big hit right in the premiere season. But despite all the euphoria, Baldi is also slowing down.
“Of course, we’re already well above the target in terms of sport. Qualifying for the playoffs was a great success for the first year. Nobody would have expected that it would even lead us to the semifinals,” says the managing director. From Sunday, the Berliners will play in the best-of-three series against the Rutronik Stars Keltern, champions of 2018 and 2021, for a place in the final.
Alba had clearly lost twice in the regular season against the second in the main round (73:98 in October, 62:87 in February). It was clear there “what other differences there are,” says Baldi: “We’re not there yet. I don’t want to downplay the fact that you can still create sensations in sport. But we’re now clearly outsiders in the semifinals.”
Because according to Baldi, the women’s basketball league (DBBL) is still “new territory” for Alba. “We knew that the difference between the first and second leagues was huge. And we felt that too. Our goal was to hold the league in any case,” says the 60-year-old. And suddenly there is so much more in it. Alba finished sixth in the main round, in the quarter-finals the promoted side knocked out third-placed Herner TC in two games.
Ten players in the squad from their own youth
Especially the home game last Friday, when the Berliners bought the semi-final ticket, was a highlight of the season so far. 2346 spectators in the sold-out Sömmeringhalle in Charlottenburg whipped Alba to success. “Such a sold-out hall is unusual in women’s basketball, the hall stood enthusiastically behind its team. Of course that helps,” says Baldi. This is how it should work against wine presses.
And if the first championship title should really jump out at the end, this would be the high point of a 15-year journey. For the 2008/09 season, two girls’ and one women’s teams started playing – meanwhile 400 girls and women play at Alba and the first team climbed up from the national league to the upper house after five promotions. Ten of the 18 players in the DBBL squad come from the Alba youth team, which also regularly produces top talent among men.
This is how the current surprise team came about with “players who come from the program,” says Baldi, “coupled with some who already had more experience and professionally demonstrate what it means to be a professional basketball player”. For example, the American Deeshyra Thomas came from Halle before the season – and promptly became a leading player with big goals. “With this team, we’ve already shown that anything is possible,” the 28-year-old told rbb: “As long as we believe in it and work together, we can achieve anything.”