Yo everyone,
Actually, I just wanted to quickly run through the Winter League in this post, throw out a few numbers, and be done with it.
- 22 competitions in 11 countries
- 17 of them we organized ourselves
- Over 470 athletes at the start
- Over 5,000 km in the van
- 18 days straight on the road through Europe
- Almost a million views on Insta
But as cool as these numbers sound – they don’t really do the whole thing justice. It was so much more for us. Below is a little personal insight into our world over the last 6 weeks.
How it started
When we first planned this, the Winter League was really just meant as a small bridge between the big summer seasons. A bit of structure in winter, a few local events so the community doesn’t fall asleep. “Just drive there, the two of us judge it, Tim handles the tech and done.” I can still hear Tim’s words more or less like that. Well… let’s just say it got a bit bigger.
When we set up our setup for the first time in Ilmenau on January 17, there was still this feeling of uncertainty: What is this actually going to be? I mean, by that point we had already organized quite a few competitions and pulled off a pretty professional competition series in 2025, but still – we couldn’t predict whether the 4-minute format would catch on and whether our processes would actually work.
The first 3 weekends
When we set up our setup for the first time in Ilmenau on January 17, there was still this feeling of uncertainty: What is this actually going to be? I mean, by that point we had already organized quite a few competitions and pulled off a pretty professional competition series in 2025, but still – we couldn’t predict whether the 4-minute format would catch on and whether our processes would actually work.
Already after the first weekend we knew we were definitely delivering a high-quality competition package – maybe even too cheap for 20€ entry fee in hindsight, but we didn’t care. We knew anyway that we weren’t going to make big profits with the Winter League – quite the opposite. The whole idea was much more about promotion for everything that’s coming afterward.
In the first 3 weeks we were “only” traveling on weekends: first Ilmenau – Leipzig, then Rostock – Berlin, and then Braunschweig – Gießen. During the week we prepped and followed up on the events, handled the international ones, and still had our normal everyday life. The events went great, routines improved, the livestream got better, judging got (rightfully) criticized and adjusted, we used our generator for the first time in the Braunschweig snow, and by then we were 6/17 into the winter season.
"The Tour" - 2,5 weeks traveling through Europe
A week later our big Winter League “tour” across Europe started – the three of us were supposed to spend 18 days in our Sixt van. What exactly awaited us, we could only guess. But when we headed toward Brno on Friday, February 6, and were welcomed that first evening of the tour by Martin and Jaroslav from Final Rep Czechia with delicious food and one or two Slivovitz, we knew: this can only turn out great.
As the tour continued, from competition to competition, from city to city, we were welcomed warmly again and again and kept getting the same feedback: “Finally someone is doing structured competitions in the endurance area” and “I’m definitely in again in the summer.” You can’t imagine how much drive those words gave us.
Of course, not everything runs smoothly on a trip like this. In Bratislava, for example, we had accommodation where construction noise made it impossible to spend even one second inside. With 5,000 km driven you’re bound to get flashed by a speed camera at some point, and with little sleep and a lot of work you sometimes get tired or in a bad mood. You also have other personal stuff going on in the background, even if you have to appear professional on the outside.
At some point even your head doesn’t run smoothly anymore – a slight inner decay sets in. A good example was the situation after the very late competition in Munich (which, admittedly, didn’t go that great either): sitting at a highway rest stop at 1:30 a.m., probably all of us internally asking ourselves what the hell we’re actually doing here, and only able to help ourselves with gallows humor.
But one thing becomes very clear: you’re in this together. You realize how important it is to trust each other and believe in the thing. That happens when you sit day after day in the really uncomfortably tight seats of that van, laugh together, and are properly exhausted together.
In these almost three weeks we talked so much – about everything imaginable. Collected input for the project, really got to know each other again, had moments as a trio that I’ll never forget, and just as many unforgettable moments with all the people we met along the way.
I could seriously write a whole blog about every single competition, or about every day of this tour, mention so many highlights, or go into way more detail – but that would blow up the scope of this post. So feel free to check out our vlog series on YouTube for a little insight:
Playlist
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Personal Statement
In any case, on behalf of the entire team I want to thank everyone who was part of this journey. Even if your name isn’t mentioned here, you know who you are. Thank you for your support, the energy, and the beautiful moments with you! It was incredible.
In the end I’ll just say this: it was probably the most intense winter of our lives, it wasn’t planned to be this big, but that’s exactly why it feels so right. The calisthenics community came together and grew. Endurance calisthenics got a massive push. We more than achieved our goals. The three of us grew closer as a team than ever before. We’re hyped to keep going.
What’s coming next:
- The Online League is slowly taking shape, more information coming in the next few days
- The next big season starts in summer – it’s going to be wild.
- Feel free to give us critical feedback, we want to keep improving.
See you online or in the summer, until then
–– Robin
