Euskirchen. –
The year 2021 was not easy for Monika and Heinrich Schmitz. The dance couple from Euskirchen could not present themselves as usual because of the corona pandemic – and this for the second year in a row. “But we would like to encourage amateurs and recreational athletes to stick to the good cause of sport and not give up,” says Heinrich Schmitz.
Only 18 competitions in two years
Only 18 competitions could be contested in 2020 and 2021 – around 25 per year are normal. But in all of them they reached the final, in which there are only six dance couples – and that despite limited training opportunities and reduced competition practice.
2021 brought the Schmitz couple, born in 1950 and 1952, the silver medal at the state championships for seniors IV S. A year earlier they had even won the tournament. In the Seniors III S class, in which they compete with couples ten years their junior, they just missed the podium. At the German Cup Seniors IV S they reached the final.
The couple from Euskirchen, who are members of the Grün-Gelb Erftstadt dance sport club, have belonged to the top group of national senior dance sport since 1999. On the days of the tournament, they have to be very focused – just like high-performance athletes do. But with dancers everything has to look as light as a feather. Both of them do it perfectly.
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