Record attempt, wrestling challenge, pump track, hobby horsing and city bet – at the third stop of the sports badge tour of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), one sporting highlight followed the next. Even the weather played along: After a cloudy start, there were ideal conditions for an excellent day of sports.
At 8 a.m. in the “Carl Starcke Platz” stadium, the starting shot was fired for the sports badge tests for the registered school classes. The three top athletes, who had come to Melle as sports ambassadors of the national sponsors with the sports badge tour, threw themselves directly into the crowd to coach and cheer on the girls and boys.
There were also great offers for the little ones: more than 200 registered kindergarten children were enthusiastic about the mini sports badge of the LSB Lower Saxony with the mascots Hoppel and brush.
“It’s always impressive when so many children are there, all in a good mood and really having fun with the German Sports Badge. I try to motivate, reduce fears of contact and show that you can still perform at your best with a physical limitation. You just have to do sports together, have fun and support each other,” said the 16-time Paralympic winner in alpine skiing, Gerd Schönfelder, who is a sports ambassador for the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe with the sports badge tour.
The students received additional sporting support from Olympic bronze medalist in the 1996 Atlanta decathlon, Frank Busemann, sports ambassador for Kinder Joy of Moving, and three-time wrestling world champion, Frank Stäbler, sports ambassador for Ernsting’s family. All three companies, together with the health insurance company BKK24, form the national sponsors of the German Sports Badge.
The former football professional Thomas Reichenberger was present in Melle as a sports ambassador for the district sports association Osnabrück-Land. He is confident that the sports badge tour can get children interested in sports in the long term: “Sport is something that has always been very important to me in my life, and I hope that a lot of children will follow it too.”
More desire for sports
At the official opening at 9 a.m., Mayor Jutta Dettmann welcomed everyone who had come and thanked the Kreissportbund Osnabrück, the 240 volunteers (including 105 schoolchildren) and all the teachers who were there with their classes and groups , for their great commitment.
The deputy district administrator, Michael Lührmann, emphasized the importance that sport has in the district of Osnabrück. The trained educator is also involved as a sports trainer for children and young people.
The DOSB board member for sports development, Michaela Röhrbein, was happy to see so many children in the stadium. She is optimistic that after a difficult phase during the Corona pandemic, the number of participants will increase again: “Before Corona, we had almost eight hundred thousand who passed the German Sports Badge, and we are currently at around five hundred thousand. That’s really good considering where we were last summer. And if we break that mark again this year and then go in the direction of six or seven hundred thousand, then we’ve achieved our goal and I think that’s realistic.”
During the day there were also many exciting moments outside of the sports badge disciplines: At 10 a.m. the official kick-off for the Pumptrack Tour 2023 was on the program, a joint health prevention project of the Lower Saxony State Sports Association, Lower Saxony Sports Youth and BKK24.
At 10.30 a.m., DOSB moderator Dennie Klose competed against Frank Stäbler in the Ringer Challenge. After a fight at eye level, he finally had to admit defeat: “I took a few bruises with me and the experience that I’m not fast enough for him, for a world champion and that it’s a lot of fun. Just try it out, don’t be afraid. He did it extremely well. I also had him down twice, he made me feel like I had a short chance and then within half a second showed me that I didn’t. I think it was a fair draw.”
At the same time, Frank Busemann coached TV reporter Marian Rösner from RTL Nord in his attempt to record the fastest German sports badge. The 34-year-old competed in the sprint (speed), shot put (strength), long jump (coordination) and 3,000 meter dash (endurance). He managed the four disciplines in 15:32 minutes and thus stayed above the record of 10:02 minutes that Jascha Timm set in Wittenberg last year. The RTL reporter now wants to continue training and also want to start again next year at the German Sports Badge.
Melle moves
All participants then had a lot of fun at the “Grand Prix of Melle”, a celebrity competition in hobby horsing through an obstacle course. Gerd Schönfelder (15.55 seconds) took the win just ahead of Frank Busemann (15.78 seconds) and Michaela Röhrbein (16.68 seconds). Behind them came Frank Stäbler and Mayor Jutta Dettmann.
For her, this competition was also the ideal preparation for the bet in the city bet “Melle is moving” to which the KSB had challenged her: Because the city of Melle is celebrating its 854th birthday this year, the mayoress should ensure that 854 People danced together to the song “Turntiger” in the stadium at 4.30 p.m. In the end it was just about enough – Mayor Jutta Dettmann won the city bet and was so fair that the bet – a round through the Hobby Horsing course – together with Kersten Wick from to complete KSB.
In addition to hobby horsing and pump track, the other games and exercise offers in the supporting program provided a varied afternoon dedicated to inclusion until 6 p.m. The spectrum ranged from the table tennis offer of the Oldendorf sports community to bubble ball, aerotrim, bungee run and football darts to the Ernsting’s family family course and the throwing wall or the tapping board of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe.
(Those: wirkhaus.berlin)
2023-07-01 08:05:54
#Sport #meets #fun
