Three Timaru fistballers are “excited” to represent New Zealand in the country’s first year at the World Fistball Championships.

Jaydon Phillips, and brothers Samuel and Jesse Kempf have been training hard for the week-long tournament which kicks off on August 11, in Switzerland.

“This is New Zealand’s first world champs and we’ve been pulled into a draw with European teams that have all had a lot more experience than us,” Jesse told Stuff.

“Initially I was going to be happy with any win but a few players think we might surprise ourselves . . . so I’m hopeful for that.”

The sport was started in New Zealand in 2016 by Blase Dowall who coaches and captains the mens’ team, runs a competition in Christchurch and hosted the recent Oceania Championships where New Zealand won, beating Samoa 3-0 in the finals.

“Without him we wouldn’t have the sport, he’s made this trip possible.”

Similar to volleyball, which the trio used to play, fistball involves two teams of five players hitting a ball over a central net to score points.

Players can also pass the ball between team mates up to three times per possession.

“The main differences are the court size,” Jesse said.

“In fistball it’s 50 metres long compared to volleyball where it’s 18, and it’s 20m wide whereas in volleyball it’s only nine, and the reason for that is it’s allowed to bounce between each shot so you’ve got more time to get to the ball,” Jesse said.

“And it’s played on a field.”

The game is played by 62 countries worldwide and New Zealand will take on 17 of them at the World Championships.

During the trip they will also participate in a smaller tournament and have a week of training in Germany.

“I’m training on my own or with my brother most days, just basic skills and control. We train two times at the weekend – on a Friday and Saturday night up in Christchurch – so we’ve been driving up there each week for about five months now.”

The game is centred around Christchurch, but there are hopes to expand it into other big cities and, after successfully hosting the Oceania Championships in May, to run a bigger international event to further promote the sport.

The top eight teams from the World Championships will also go on to compete in the World Games 2021 in Birmingham, USA.