Deutsche Jugendkraft Würzburg, commonly known as DJK Würzburg, is a German

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

club. It is most known for its

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

section, which in the past had a professional team. Its best known former player is

Dirk Nowitzki Dirk Werner Nowitzki (; born June 19, 1978) is a German former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at , he is widely regarded as one of the great ...

. Currently, the sports club contains around 3,000 amateur players.

History

The DJK Sport Association was founded on September 16, 1920 in Würzburg. Due to the geographic location of its home office, the DJK soon founded a local club in Würzburg. However, the different athletic departments found themselves divided among various Catholic clubs. During the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, all

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

DJK affiliates were banned by the government. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the DJK consolidated all of its local departments into DJK Würzburg. Today the club has over 3000 members, including a variety of non-Catholic members. During the 1960s, the club's track and field athletes saw success at both national and international levels. The club expanded in the 1970s and 80s to include volleyball and tennis. Meanwhile, the club's top women's

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

team played in the

Handball-Bundesliga Frauen Handball-Bundesliga, is the top women's professional handball league in Germany. History The title of women's champion in indoor handball has been competed for since 1957-58. The first champions were Eimsbüteller TV. The modern Bundesliga was f ...

, the top flight of women's handball in Germany, from 1976 to 1985, during the 1987–88 season and from 1993 to 1995. The club's basketball department gained fame in the 1990s as both the men's and women's teams qualified for the top German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

(BBL) division. The women's team played many years in the first and second divisions and was crowned German Champion in 1993. In 1989, the men's team made the jump into the second division. In 1997, featuring

in the line-up, DJK Würzburg claimed the 2nd Division South title, qualifying for the Basketball Bundesliga. In 2001, DJK spun off its men's basketball team into a private corporate entity, now known as

s.Oliver Würzburg s.Oliver, legally ''s.Oliver Bernd Freier GmbH & Co. KG'', is a German fashion company headquartered in Rottendorf that sells apparel, shoes, accessories, jewellery, fragrances and eyewear worldwide. History The company was founded in 1969 ...

, to capitalize on their growth as a professional basketball team. DJK Würzburg has produced numerous players who have gone on to have success in the BBL, with the senior men's

German national basketball team The Germany men's national basketball team ( or ''Die Mannschaft'') represents Germany in international basketball competition. The team is directed by the German Basketball Federation (''Deutscher Basketball Bund''), the governing body for b ...

and, for Nowitzki, the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. In 2005, the club resigned its spot in the BBL and the club stopped competing.

Honours

Basketball

2. Basketball Bundesliga The 2. Basketball Bundesliga was the second level Sports league, league of the German basketball league system, German professional basketball league system. Until the 2007–08 season, the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'' was replaced by two geographi ...

*Champions: 1997-98

Notable players

Basketball

* Denis Wucherer *

Olumide Oyedeji Olumide Oyedeji (born 11 May 1981) is a Nigerian former professional basketball center. He is now President oHoops N' Readbasketball club. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for three seasons. He is the President of Nig ...

* Nick Katsikis *

Robert Garrett Robert S. Garrett (May 24, 1875 – April 25, 1961) was an American athlete, as well as investment banker and philanthropist in Baltimore, Maryland and financier of several important archeological excavations. Garrett was the first modern ...

* Lamont Mack

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
(in German) Handball clubs in Germany 1920 establishments in Germany Sports clubs and teams established in 1920 Würzburg Sport in Lower Franconia Basketball teams in Germany Basketball clubs in Bavaria