History of the Brüsewitz brothers

Vik Brüsewitz started vaulting in 1998 and soon joined the Pegasus Garbsen vaulting club.
His early successes led him to the first team and to individual vaulting.
His brother Tommy followed him into the sport, trained by Lars Hansen.

After differences within the team, they moved to the equestrian sports association Rittergut Habighorst.
Here they achieved further success under new management.
The brothers won awards in various competitions, including national championships and European championships.

The brothers would like to thank their coaches, horse owners and parents for their support.
Their sporting journey was characterized by hard work, team spirit and a sense of achievement in vaulting.

Vik was probably the first of us to start vaulting.
Around 1998, the Brüsewitz mom registered Vik and our sister Nora, who was still vaulting at the time, for a vacation fun activity run by the town of Garbsen.
Vik sat on a vaulting horse called Dragan from the Pegasus Garbsen Vaulting Club (VOV) for the first time when she was around eight years old.
In this “taster course” he didn’t do too badly and was subsequently signed by trainer Siglinde Butterbrodt at the VOV with his dad Brüsewitz.

In 2001, Vik then made the leap into the first team, at that time still A Team Pegasus Garbsen.
As Obermann, he stood and hung above all on Franziska Obermann and Ann-Kathrin Ostermeyer, who were to become his companions for a long time to come.
From 2004, at the age of 14, he tried his hand at individual vaulting for the first time with trainer Kathrin Butterbrodt.
A new trainer joined the club at the beginning of 2005: Lars Hansen replaced Kathrin Butterbrodt as individual coach.
At the same time, Tommy started vaulting in a boys’ team at the age of ten, trained by Lars and Vik.
After coming 5th at the Hanover Bremen State Championships in 2005, the first German Championships were held in Leipzig.
At the same time, the A team qualified, where Vik himself had become a sub-team member.
Johanna Krause also joined the VoV with Lars Hansen and the “Hansens Sätzchen” individual vaulters were formed (Viktor Brüsewitz, Nora Brüsewitz, Johanna Krause and Nicole Vogelei, Elisabeth Schneider, Sina Ostermeyer and Franziska Obermann).
Together with Johanna Krause in particular, known as Hannes, they worked hard all summer towards the DM.
The competition in Leipzig was moderately successful, both individually and in the group.
But Viktor was able to watch the “big ones” perform for the first time and from then on knew what vaulting could be!
He watched Kai Vorberg and Mark Götting in training with great interest.
He then received his first congratulations from Daniel Kaiser at his first CVI in Malmö.
Motivated by these experiences, he went into winter training 2006.
2006 was a year of upheaval: due to internal differences, the VoV finally split into two halves in the summer.
One half remained as the Pegasus Garbsen Vaulting Club, while the other half (which included us and the majority of Hansen’s sweetheart individual vaulters) moved to the Rittergut Habighorst Equestrian Sports Association (PSG RHB).
As Lars in particular maintained very good contact with the first chairman Helmut Hader Mohrmann and the horse owner Katrin Hader Mohrmann at this time, we were allowed to slip “under the roof” of the PSV RHB.
An independent base was founded: Bordenau base.
In 2006-2007 Katrin H. helped us out with the horses and so in 2007 the first real success was achieved: Viktor Brüsewitz took 1st place at the Young Rider Championships in Norderstedt and was nominated for the national C squad!
The newly founded S-Team Habighorst then really hit the ground running at the 2007 national championships in Sydwehe: Two gold medals and one silver.
The Brüsewitz brothers became national champions for the first time, at that time still with the Brüsewitz block (Nora Thommy and Vik in a freestyle block).

So Thommy came straight from the boys’ team (a step team) to the S team.
However, under the relatively strict guidance of coach Lars, he first had to really want his place in the team… The friendships at the swimming club and the large trampolines in the Brüsewitz garden were too tempting.
But in the end, vaulting won him over and Vik was no longer happy to be the only boy in the team.
By 2008, the whole team had developed with a huge leap to a sensational 4th place at the DM in Alsfeld.
Today we know that our best man all the time was our horse Bobby!
Without him, it would not have been possible to achieve this level of progress.
At the same time, Thommy also started individual vaulting, his first competition was in the Bremen Stadthalle on Lucky (another horse owned by Katrin H.).
If only we had known what would become of this curly-haired horse who was placed directly in front of Thommy in Bremen.
😛
Those were the days when we competed together as juniors!
The Preis der Besten was also Thommy’s first big event as an individual: it was an honor to start at a show for the first time with Gero Meyer and Kai Vorberg, the “créme de la créme”.
Prior to this, he had to qualify through various sightings.
It was the first tournament where something was at stake.
Thommy then finished his very first individual season with his first start at a German championship in junior individual vaulting with a surprisingly good 5th place.
Vik won his first and, until 2014, last CVI’s in Ermelo and Vienna that year, securing him a trip to a championship for the very first time.
In 2008, the Official European Junior Individual Vaulting Championships were held for the first time in Brno, Czech Republic.
It was an overwhelming experience to be allowed to travel to the European Championships in the German team bus with all the professionals!
Vik remembers exactly: the seniors around national coach Ulla Ramge were each assigned to a junior to wish them luck and give them a little support before and after the start.
Kai Vorberg stood by Vik’s side.
Nobody knew where he would be before the competition, as it was the juniors’ first year.
Viktor began the competition with a sprint, as his jersey was torn 2 minutes before the bell rang, so he started in the compulsory jersey of group vaulter Susanne Schmidt from Ingelsberg.
In the sprint over the ablongier circle, arm number and whip were attached and off he went into the circle.
“Now more than ever, he thought to himself” and left the first compulsory round with a 0.2 point lead.
He remained the favorite until the last round.
In the final freestyle, it was a small mistake and 0.005 points that he missed out on the gold medal.
Due to the potential he showed over the course of the season, Thommy was also called up to the national C squad.
Thommy started 2009 with a clear victory at the Preis der Besten.
At the same time, Jannik slowly began to join us. Initially, he was only with us for a few training sessions during the winter break, on the advice of national trainer Ulla Ramge, due to horse problems at his club.
The picture on the right was taken during Jannik’s first visit to Viktor and Thommy, when he accidentally mistook the cake for a doormat… 😀
In the end, Jannik trained and competed with Thommy and Viktor for the entire 2009 season.
Jannik competed in the group for the first time in Aachen as a mandatory booster after Thommy and Vik asked him to do so.
This year was also the first time that he had won a ticket to the European Junior Championships.
In Krumke it was finally decided: Jannik and Thommy were allowed to represent the German colors for the first time at the European Championships in Sweden.
A huge honor and success for the two, who had set themselves this big goal in the winter and had achieved an additional highlight with a close 4th place and the European Championship runner-up title.
Thommy followed in Vik’s footsteps with the European Championship runner-up title, and the silver medal stayed in the family.
Vik qualified for his first European Senior Championships a few weeks later.
So the Brüsewitz brothers were complete!
“We spent a really great week together at the European Championships in Sweden.
We were all in the same room with Thorben Hoppe and more than enjoyed it ;P.
Our daily rhythm looked something like this: Wake up – > Pool -> Breakfast -> Pool -> to the facility Driving and vaulting/cheering on/taking care of horses etc. -> Coming back to the hotel -> Pool -> Dinner -> Pool -> and then there’s this…”
Over the next few years, we grew together more and more from tournament to tournament and achieved many successes.
We dominated the men’s junior division right from the start.
(DM champions: 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012; European Championship gold: 2010, 2011; silver: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012) and since 2011 also the senior men’s division.
Over time, we have developed a very special team feeling, we call it brotherhood.
With us, there is no “mine” and “yours”, only “ours”.
To date, we have temporarily included three other special companions in our brotherhood:

Torben Jacobs
In 2010, things developed in a similar way to Jannik the year before with Torben Jacobs.
He joined as a full S-Team member in the winter of 2009-2010.
Torben developed into the “head” of us brothers, as he always had an eye on the clock and other appointments.
That’s how he got the nickname “head”.
We spent countless weekends together at the Brüsewitz house, during which time we developed the name VITOJA, where Vi stands for Vik, the to for Thommy and the Ja for Jannik, and a Pagman head was painted around the lettering for Kopf.
Unfortunately Kopf had to leave us because of his studies and is now vaulting in Cologne.
It was a great time with you that we will never forget!
Mark Philip Göttingen
In the summer of 2010, Mark Philip Götting moved into Viktor’s room for a few months, as he started studying in Hanover at our insistence.
We formed a new team with him.
Not necessarily on a sporting level, more a team for the rest of our lives.
He helped one or two of us in his own way through some difficult times.
Unfortunately, you also had to leave us because of your studies!
We will never forget the moments with you, it was a great time!
Johannes Kay
Johannes Kay, also known as Joey or Flachzange, had actually officially ended his vaulting career at the end of 2012. After Vik and Jannik were at the C-Bundeskader as instructors this winter, they realized once again that Joey should have been there too, so we called him on the way back and asked him “what was wrong with him to stop vaulting” 😉 As Vik was unfortunately injured at the time, we had one horse left and he offered to train and compete on Rockard. Living in “Haus Sonnenschein” was no problem for us anyway. And so Joey moved in with us a few days later. We also had a really cool and fun time with him, which we always remember fondly. Joey needs his daily “radiation” from PC, cell phone, TV, PS Vita or similar, or preferably all at the same time :D. And maybe someone else would have become world champion in 2014 if we hadn’t called Joe back then…

We would now like to thank the following people once again for their support!!!
Former coach Lars Hansen
Thank you Lars, we all know that you were instrumental in getting us to where we are today in the sport.
In our crucial development years, you were able to support us in the way we needed it.
Together with you, we have almost always achieved our goals!
We can probably say that we have followed in Julian’s footsteps and have survived your hard schooling, but also needed it.
Our achievements are a testament to your coaching skills.
Thank you for your commitment!

Horse owner of Bobby Dorte Breas
Thank you Dorte, as already described, we know today that we were spoiled with Bobby!
In our eyes he is one of the best vaulting horses we know.
He made our rapid success possible.
It’s not for nothing that he won four medals with us at the European Championships “on the side”.
Thank you for making him available to us for so long, we wish you and him a happy life.

Katrin and Helmut Hader Mormann
Thank you Katrin, thank you Helmut, you took us on as new club sponsors in 2006, and all three of us were also able to rely on your horses in difficult times.
You have actively contributed to our sporting development and are part of our roots in vaulting.
Thank you for your support!

Mom and Dad Brüsewitz & Heiland
Thank you, you were the ones who got us into the sport, always stood behind us, always drove us to training and made vaulting possible for us in the first place!
Even today you still cater for us wherever you can!
Thank you!!!!