The skate park in the park where young people meet up with friends and try out tricks. Swim lengths at the local indoor swimming pool to leave a stressful everyday life behind you. The Cooper test, which is sometimes completed with more and sometimes less joy on the track next to school, or the squeaking of shoes in the sports hall when the weekly volleyball training takes place. No matter how diverse the range of sports on offer may be, there is one thing in common: it needs the appropriate space. And in Germany that often leaves a lot to be desired.
Many sports enthusiasts can observe this in their local sports facilities. Be it a non-functioning plumbing system, a hole in the floor or a broken floodlight. The often heard sentence “Germany’s sports facilities are dilapidated” is not a surprise, but a reality.
:Sport in Germany is booming
The German Olympic Sports Confederation has 28 million members – more than ever before. However, the umbrella organization warns that the list of defects is also long. Many sports facilities are in poor condition.
However, expressing reality in exact numbers is not that easy, says Lutz Thieme from Koblenz University of Applied Sciences: “In order to really be able to find a valid number, you would actually have to send engineers through the respective sports facilities and then estimate the need for renovation on an engineering basis , that is far too expensive across the board.” There are two main problems when recording the condition of sports facilities: On the one hand, there is a lack of reliable data on the actual renovation needs of the individual facilities, and on the other hand, the term sports facility is not clearly defined.
This means that it is unclear how many sports facilities actually exist in Germany and what condition each of them is in. In a current research project, Thieme, professor of sports management, estimated the condition of halls, pitches and pools using a model, but the results cannot be validated for the time being. The fact is that there is a great need for renovation. This not only refers to restoring the sports facilities to their original condition, but also to the current structural and energy standards: “What’s more, we now have completely different requirements in terms of fire protection, safety and climate justice.”
There is said to be a significant investment shortfall in 40 percent of sports facilities
The municipal panel of the German Institute for Urban Studies for 2024 has shown that there is a significant investment shortfall in 40 percent of sports facilities in municipalities. The costs for this are 12.12 billion euros. The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) estimated the Germany-wide renovation needs in 2018 at 31 billion euros. As a rule, states and municipalities are responsible for the provision and renovation of sports facilities and cannot raise these large sums of money for renovation on their own. At a meeting of the sports committee in October, the renovation backlog was discussed and several speakers advocated that the federal government better support the states and municipalities through investment programs.
The IAKS (International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities), an international association for sports facilities and leisure facilities, recently launched a petition to make politicians more aware of the issue. Robin Kähler, the chairman of IAKS Germany, points out that federal funding is ultimately a question of faith: “I say it is fundamentally a political decision whether I want to support my children, support education, or whether I “Want to fix a pothole in the street.”
As part of the “Our Sports Space” petition, everyone has the opportunity to become active and submit their sports facility in need of renovation or modernization. These individual petitions are distributed and supported by the IAKS: “We first want to address the problem, politicize it and then get ideas. We accompany the petitioners until they can ultimately act politically,” says Kähler. So far, three petitions have been published: a public basketball court in the north of Cologne that could use more care, a Hamburg sports hall whose showers are contaminated with legionella, and a hall in Blankenburg that has “significant need for renovation” in several places. The latter has the most votes so far with 250 out of 1000 supporters. With this petition, the association would like to act faster and more specifically, as the provision of funds often takes too long. Kähler calls for new action strategies to be developed in addition to financial resources in order to be able to quickly resolve minor deficiencies.
Defects in sports facilities can affect the well-being and health of those who use them. Kähler emphasizes that sports facilities should not be viewed as just rooms, buildings or squares, but as places with significant social benefits. Sports facilities are places to meet, play and have fun. Things that many people in society lack. “So we want to build good, needs-based, livable, inviting, warmly welcome sports facilities,” says Kähler. The significant deficiencies contribute to the lack of exercise and motor limitations in children and young people.
Kähler also points out that a functioning and inviting sports facility is also an instrument for participation: “That is why we are fighting to ensure that not only those who are already well equipped can further improve their sports facilities. But let’s think about those who have no chance at all.” Children from poorer social classes who rely on public sports fields and school sports, or people with disabilities who often have no access to sports facilities at all due to a lack of accessibility.
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