VfL AstroStars Bochum

VfL AstroStars Bochum
Leagues	ProA
Founded	2011; 14 years ago (2011)
History	VfL AstroStars Bochum (2011–present)
Arena	Rundsporthalle Bochum
Capacity	1,536
Location	Bochum, Germany
President	Tobias Steinert
Head coach	Felix Banobre
Website	sparkassenstars.de
Home Away

VfL AstroStars Bochum, for sponsorship reasons named VfL SparkassenStars Bochum, is a professional basketball club based in Bochum, Germany. Since the 2022/23 season, the club competes in the second tier ProA league.

VfL AstroStars Bochum is a departmental club of VfL Bochum.

At the end of 2016, it was the sixth largest German basketball club with 555 active players.

Formed in 2011, it is the successor club of VfL Bochum BG and was formed by its merger with BG Südpark Bochum. The club took over the licenses of its predecessor clubs on July 1, 2012, and has been competing since the 2012/2013 season.

Since the 2017/18 season, the club's 1st team has played under the name VfL SparkassenStars Bochum.

During the 2022/23 ProA season, under head coach Felix Banobre, Bochum fared well. Their top players included Hendrik Drescher, Jalen Bradey and others. Bochum defeated Tübingen twice during Tübingen's promotion season. Tübingen had previously won five games in a row. Tübingen had never ceded 98 points until they faced Bochum.^[1]

After the season, Bochum lost Hendrik Drescher. Bochum would have liked to keep him and was willing to "go to the pain barrier," as general manager Tobias Steinert said. In the club's farewell message, Drescher was quoted as saying, "I would like to express my sincere thanks to the entire club and, of course, to the fans who made last season an unforgettable one, for me personally. Anytime I remember it fondly, I can't wait to play as a guest in the Rundsporthalle next season."^[2]

Drescher was the third departure officially confirmed by the club after TJ Crockett and Jonas Grof. Lars Kamp and Niklas Geske extended their contracts.^[2]

VfL AstroStars Bochum roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age SF 2 Zajic, Luka 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 79 kg (174 lb) 20 – (2004-10-05)5 October 2004 SF 3 Loch, Emil 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 22 – (2002-02-08)8 February 2002 PG 4 Geske, Niklas 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 83 kg (183 lb) 30 – (1994-04-13)13 April 1994 SG 7 Kamp, Lars 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 28 – (1996-03-28)28 March 1996 C 8 Dietz, Kilian 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 109 kg (240 lb) 34 – (1990-11-09)9 November 1990 PG 9 Grof, Jonas 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 28 – (1996-05-03)3 May 1996 PG 10 Vasiliu, Lukas Alexander 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) 69 kg (152 lb) 20 – (2004-11-18)18 November 2004 PG 12 Strange, Matthew Douglas 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) 77 kg (170 lb) 26 – (1998-10-07)7 October 1998 SF 13 Braxton JR, Keith Lee 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 27 – (1997-05-16)16 May 1997 PF 20 Kalthoff, Peter David 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 100 kg (220 lb) 25 – (1999-08-24)24 August 1999 C 21 Gustrau, Henning 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 19 – (2005-12-09)9 December 2005 PG 24 Emen, Cem 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 82 kg (181 lb) 20 – (2004-11-08)8 November 2004 C 33 Alte, Tom-Niclas 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 30 – (1995-01-27)27 January 1995	Head coach Felix Banobre Assistant coach(es) Alvaro Sanchez Paredes Petar Topalski Jo-Lam Vuong Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: 17 December 2024

To appear in this section a player must have either:

– Set a club record or won an individual award as a professional player.
– Played at least one official international match for his senior national team at any time.

• Jonas Grof
• Willy Asseko
• Craig Osaikhwuwuomwan
• Conner Washington
• Jalen Bradley
• TJ Crockett
• Dominic Green
• Gary Johnson
• Vincent Simpson
• Pinky Smith

• German League Profile
• Presentation at Eurobasket.com