Date: September 9, 2024. Authors: Petra Philippsen and Jagoda Matic
Image: dpa | Jens Büttner
World champion Leon Schäfer left Bremen ten years ago because the structures for para-sports were lacking there. However, the situation has not improved since then.
Leon Schäfer was not keen to leave Bremen at the time. After all, he had grown up in Gröpelingen and dreamed of a career as a footballer until his right lower leg and knee had to be amputated at the age of 13 after being diagnosed with bone cancer.
During his rehabilitation in Bremen, he quickly realized that sport should continue to be his main focus. From then on, Schäfer’s goal was to one day compete in the Paralympics as an athlete.
Sport definitely helped me to accept this amputation better. It gave me new strength and new motivation, I got a lot out of it. And it shaped me into the athlete I am today.
Leon Schäfer at buten un binnen
Leverkusen performance center offers a different level
At first he trained alone with high jumper Roman Fricke, who later took him into a training group at Werder Bremen with non-disabled athletes. However, the conditions were far from sufficient for him to become a competitive athlete. “There were no structures for para-athletes in Bremen,” recalls Schäfer in an interview with buten un binnen.
So the now 27-year-old moved to the performance center in Leverkusen a good ten years ago. “You can train at a different level there,” says Schäfer, “the options are simply different. There is a hall with a 200-meter track, a physiotherapy department, sauna, ice baths, two large weight rooms and the stadium outside.”
Schulz “disappointed” by conditions in Bremen
Conditions that the state of Bremen can only dream of. And so they had to let the reigning world champion in the long jump and over 100 meters go. Last year, the state of Bremen was able to spend 38,850 euros in sports funding just on disabled and inclusive sports. In comparison: the city of Hamburg invested 232,000 euros.
With Anna Josephine Schulz, who was voted Bremen’s disabled athlete of the year 2022 as a para-swimmer, the state has now lost another talented para-athlete.
The conditions in Bremen just made me very disappointed and sad. Because I simply realized that I was not getting any support. People always talk about inclusion, but it is never implemented.
Anna Josephine Schulz is inside
Quante-Brandt regrets Schulz’s departure
Not an easy situation for Eva Quante-Brandt, the president of the state sports association. “We had discussions with Ms Schulz and looked at whether we could build bridges. I find it sad that it didn’t work. But sometimes it’s difficult to reconcile desire and reality on all sides.”
The 21-year-old swimmer, who suffers from an aggressive form of scoliosis, initially moved to Hamburg because of the lack of structures. However, these conditions cannot be adapted to Bremen, especially not ad hoc.
Bremen has no money for quick solutions
“We don’t have these funds at the moment,” explained Quante-Brandt. In other words, there is simply no money available to quickly improve structures and training conditions. “We have to encourage para-athletes in Bremen. Something like what happened to Ms. Schulz must not happen to us in other sports,” stressed Quante-Brand. But that is difficult.
There are 380 sports clubs organized in the Bremen State Sports Association, and these are also open to people with physical and mental disabilities. There are only twelve clubs in the state of Bremen that are explicitly for people with disabilities.
Disabled sports association wants to create offers
Sonja Wilkens, chairwoman of the Bremen Disabled Sports Association, would like to create more inclusive offers. But so far she is still busy dealing with the association’s legacy and “saving” it, as Wilkens emphasizes: “Otherwise we would have been insolvent in January.” But concepts for funding measures are to be drawn up soon. Quante-Brandt is also counting on this.
But all of this takes time. And getting more money approved is not an easy task given the tight budget. So there is no sign of a quick improvement in sight for para-sports in Bremen – whether as a hobby or in the competitive sector. Leon Schäfer is not the only one who regrets this.
Exercise and sport – no matter what level – is medicine. Everyone should do it, regardless of whether they have a disability or not.
Para-athlete Leon Schäfer at buten un binnen
More on the topic:
Those: outside and inside.
This topic in the program:
buten un binnen with Sportblitz, September 8, 2024, 7:30 p.m.
