Mechernich-Lorbach– “No, I don’t just play to be fit, I play to win,” says Dr. Michael Oversberg (81), retired special education teacher and Lorbach principal. And he added: “I enjoy winning. It’s proof that I’m still good, one of the fastest – especially in my age group – and that the training effort was worth it.
Oversberg was born in Germany in Breda in the province of North Brabant – his mother was Dutch and his father was a German who lived in Breda for many years. After World War II, as a former member of the Wehrmacht, he was not allowed to return to the Netherlands. Mother and son moved to Duren in 1950. “That’s where I learned to play badminton on the street,” Michael Oversberg told the McKenzie Citizen Mail.
He got his first racket when he was 13 or 14 years old. The 1st Badminton Club Duren Evie was founded in May 1957: “I became a member in September, and three months later I played my first tournament…”
Twelve points ahead
I had a super mentor in Elmar Gerhards. Thank you for getting me this far, says the former head of St. Michael’s Educational Support School in the district of Euskirchen in Stromp. Gerhards was the club’s best player at the time and he introduced his young badminton players to a very effective strategy: “Having fifteen points in a match, he would make me twelve points at first, and then gradually it would decrease.” It took me two years to get over him – he never got over me after that.
The same thing happened to the remaining players at 1. BC Düren: for 23 years, the Eifel native traveled to Düren up to three times a week to train and play, and was the club champion in the men’s singles competition.
Just how strong the youngster was in the mid-1960s was shown when he still won the club’s internal handicap competition, conceding -14 points to his opponents – including the first team. At that time, a group rose to 15 points. Oversberg was simply unhittable.
Despite the 2019 World Championships in Katowice, Poland, Lohrbacher traveled to the city of Ru to train today. There Dr. Michael Oversberg and his longtime partner Heiner Hanrath from Krefeld won the bronze medal.
In the same year, the team became the champion of West Germany and Germany. “After 66 years and countless successes in team sports, small and large, I am saying goodbye,” said Oversberg. He said.
European Championships in Innsbruck
In the year His first racket in the 1950s is in the trophy cabinet next to the racket with which he won the European and World Championships. He won 50 medals at the West German Championships, winning 20 gold, 15 silver and 15 bronze.
In the German championship Dr. Michael Oversberg Ten first, second and third places. He did not count the number of victories he won alone, especially against Heinz Gehrk from Bottrop, in mixed doubles, among others, against his wife Brigitte Oversberg, a native of Viersen, and in the open tournaments in the team.
Together with his wife, he won the international couple competition in Unkel am Rhein. With mixed partner LK Kregel from Erftstadt in the tournament, he did not lose a match at the state level for almost ten years. There were a further 28 nominations for the fastest player award not only in the age group but also at the provincial and district championships.
Now the 81-year-old At the 2015 West German Badminton Championships in Solingen, they won all three titles: men’s singles, men’s and mixed. In the year At the 1992 German Championships in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Oversberg became the German champion in men’s doubles, placing first in men’s singles and second in mixed doubles. In the year In 1999, at the European Championship in Innsbruck, after the victory in West Germany and the German Championship, he became the winner of the men’s doubles.
In the year At the 2009 World Masters Eiffel Badminton in Sydney, Crack won the men’s doubles and came first in the men’s singles. The World Masters Games is an international sporting event similar to the Olympic Games for elite athletes. At the 2019 World Championships in Katowice, Dr. Michael Oversberg took bronze in the men’s doubles.
“Sports is fun for me. It was the only time in my career that I didn’t think about school or anything else. It’s a pure relief to be fully focused on the game,” Oversberg said in an interview.
Duren had a great team.
The 81-year-old said he had no qualms about winning at the company: “Relax doesn’t limit my focus, it actually helps him, it’s not really about trophies and medals.” And he has never received prize money in all these years – “except for ten euros in the level competition”. Ideally, sports and winning give him unforgettable feelings and memories that he doesn’t want to miss.
To date, a group photo of 1. BC Düren with him, Gerda Bruhls, Charlie Diemer, Louis and Elmar Gerhards and Peter Hosdorf is one of his favorite memories: “As far as I know, we were the most successful team in the group. The history of the club – consisting only of Dürners – and “in the early 1960s we played in the second highest German national league”.
Brigitte and Michael Oversberg built a new building in Lorbach in 1974. For 29 years he was the headmaster of the Euskirchen district school for educational aid. In the meantime, he coached the TV Cal and VFL Comer badminton teams from Lohrbach.
There he imparted his secret recipe for winning tournaments: “By chance and skill… you only have to win a tournament once or twice, and then you sit together and win more tournaments, because now you’re going to be weak opponents at first.” draw.”
pp/Agency ProfiPress