“And there is sport in kin”

Berlin. With every extension of the lockdown and the corona restrictions, the problems of organized sport and the displeasure of many associations about the stoppage that has been prescribed increase. “The massive rush to the ski areas around the turn of the year just showed how much people crave exercise and distraction. Nobody can simply be locked up for months, people need sport, ”said the new President of the German Swimming Association, Marco Troll.

He therefore calls on politicians to appreciate the added value of sport for coping with the pandemic more, to involve it and not to paralyze it. “The sport is known for reliable organization and discipline, which is why it deserves more trust. Sport needs to be seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem, ”Troll said.

“No time for half-heartedness”

“The measures that we have decided are decisive. They are harder, “said Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Tuesday to extend the lockdown until January 31. The more contagious virus mutations would also pose a new threat. Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) had therefore warned that there was “no time for half-heartedness”.

Swimming President Troll said, however, that numerous hygiene concepts had shown “that we can keep the risk of infection as low as possible with the structured education and training operations of our clubs”. Troll has been the head of the association, which has almost 600,000 members, since November.

Because of the responsibility towards the clubs, the umbrella organization wants to “do even more to open the baths responsibly,” he said. Especially in swimming pools, the risk is very low due to chlorine, water treatment, high humidity and warmth if hygiene and distance rules are observed.

In the German Olympic Sports Confederation, too, after the lockdown was updated until at least the end of January, fear of damaging the world’s only sports system is growing. “The tough test for sports clubs, volunteers and the 27 million members will unfortunately continue in the new year,” said DOSB President Alfons Hörmann. Sport Germany is “condemned to a standstill for the indefinite period, but with clearly foreseeable negative consequences.”

At the same time, however, he also appealed “to the sports family to support the current measures in solidarity and to maintain their valuable personal fitness and important loyalty to the club”. The top priority is “to keep the hospitals running to the extent that the pandemic is more or less manageable,” Hörmann told sportschau.de: “And sport is, so to speak, in a certain form of clan liability, as is culture or other areas . ”

The 60-year-old also made demands on politicians: “If we are not allowed to do sport, then we really hope for quick, practice-oriented help, also in a monetary sense. Because otherwise we won’t recognize Sport Germany in a few months. “

DOSB fears a high decline in membership

The effects of the Corona crisis range from the risk of insolvency for professional clubs to a decline in membership and concerns about young talent for amateur clubs. 79.4 percent of the Bavarian club officials surveyed named the absence or loss of children and adolescents for football as the biggest structural problem. This is the result of a survey commissioned by the Bavarian Football Association. Between December 2 and 15, 2020, 1,664 club managers in Bavaria were surveyed. Game operations are not possible due to the second lockdown.

The DOSB, under whose umbrella 27 million members are organized in around 90,000 associations, does not rule out a decrease in membership of two to three million – depending on the development of the corona situation. In addition, according to the DOSB, a million volunteers could be lost. Hörmann had already warned in December: “The need is increasing from week to week.”