Blocking is the “best feeling” says Germany’s Drachsler

Germany defender Julia Drachsler is now in the semi-finals of The World Games Chengdu 2025 after her side beat host nation China 2-0 (28:11, 22:5) in their quarter-final on Sunday (10 August).

But last time out, for The World Games Birmingham 2022, she was watching at home on television and something stuck with her as she watched the European side go on to win gold, shutting out Australia in the first set of their preliminary group 2-0 (28:0, 24:6) on their way to topping the podium. 

That remains the only beach handball game in The World Games history that has seen a team fail to score in a set – 298 games in total, up to the penultimate day of Chengdu 2025.

“I was watching every time I could watch the games (due to the time difference) and I think of that game against Australia and they (Germany) won a set with zero – that was amazing defence,” said the 26-year-old to ihf.info. “We tried to do it against China in our quarter-finals too, but, sadly, we conceded five points.”

In that last eight match, Drachsler (no.15), alongside goalkeeper Nele Kurzke and fellow defenders Lucie-Marie Kretschmar and Kirsten Walter, prevented the Asian side from scoring in the second set until the sixth minute and that dominant performance meant Germany stayed on course to defend their 2022 title and are now one step away from a guaranteed medal.

“I can't believe it,” says Drachsler about being in China playing for a possible medal. “I always try to realise it, but I think I will only realise it when I'm at home and everything is calm. It's just a great time out here to see the other teams. It's just amazing.”

Standing at 1,93m tall, Drachsler is an imposing defensive barrier for any attacking player, and, combined with the 1,80m Kretschmar, their brick wall is a sight to behold when in full defensive mode – but a definite giveaway about which sport she is representing at Chengdu - and this obstacle to overcome for any offence is backed up by the statistics: 10 recorded blocks in their four games so far, topping the women’s competition, ahead of Argentina.

“It’s absolutely crazy. I think that's the best feeling. I love it,” says Drachsler about the emotions felt when blocking. “I think, with Lucie too, you can see it in her face after she blocks, she's always in the mode.

“Sometimes, we do special block training and there we try to, sometimes, block upwards, sometimes block more in line. That's basically the thing; it’s really good for us to play against the best in the world, so we have to do the defence.

“It's part of the game,” she adds about the mental battle with attacking players. “If you block them two times, maybe the next time they will do anything else, so you have to do also something else.”

And with a time difference seeing games throw-off in China in the morning in Germany, Drachsler still feels the love from the fans back home, a welcome boost after each game played.

“We had one game at 5:40am German time and they woke up and slept again after the match,” she explained. “They always try to support us and that's great. If you put on your phone after a game and read their messages, like ‘you did a great job’, ‘wow’, ‘congrats’, it’s great.”