Imagine you do karate for fun, but you’re being trained by a 10-time European champion, and it only costs you €20 ($23) per month. Seems impossible? This is possible in Germany.
At the Dojo Ochi Karate Club in the western city of Bonn, Melissa Rathmann volunteers as part of an eight-person team of coaches. In addition to her 10 European Championships titles, the 33-year-old has won several German Championships and was twice runner-up at the World Championships. Despite her great sporting success, she has always been loyal to her club.
for the love of the game
“This is not about power, politics, nepotism or other forms of exploitation,” Rathmann told DW. “There is a cordial club life based on togetherness and love of the game.”
While in many countries, popular sports have established themselves as a lucrative business model, in Germany, non-profit clubs are the first port of call for those interested in sports. They are financed mainly by membership fees, public subsidies and volunteer work.
Trainers usually do not receive a salary, but instead receive a small expense allowance in recognition of their work. With more than 86,000 clubs, a total of approximately 30 million members and approximately 2 million volunteers, Germany’s sports club culture has also been designated as a UNESCO cultural heritage site.
Rathmann, who works as a controller at the University Hospital of Bonn, does all this in her spare time. His work at the club is important to him because it is more than just sports.
“Sports clubs also promote social skills. People with different backgrounds, origins and ages come together,” Rathmann said. He said that these meetings strengthen social solidarity.
‘Sports brought me back to life’
Chris Lees couldn’t imagine his life without his favorite sport. The 41-year-old is a volunteer football coach at TSG Steinheim. After a serious car accident 10 years earlier, which required 17 operations, Lees struggled to return to life, and sport played a major role.
“This is my big passion. I wanted to be as good on the football field as I was before the accident,” the trained mechanic told DW. His long-term health problems prevented him from doing so, which is why he turned to coaching.
Lees said, “I want to teach the boys what I was able to do in my peak.”
Not surprisingly, football is the sport with the most membership among German clubs. in Steinheim, a town north of Stuttgart with a population of only around 12,000; 300 children and youth participate in football training several times a week. The membership fee is just €65 per year.
Empathy, respect and fairness
“Here, they learn more than just football skills and discipline. There’s also a lot of emphasis on human interaction,” Lees said. Empathy, respect and fairness are also important values, as are confidence and courage.
The football field is also an important place for integration: Chris Lees’ team consists of children from different backgrounds, for whom team spirit is the only thing that matters.
The coach said, “Learning to lose is also important, because life does not always go smoothly, as my own life shows. Football taught me to never give up.”
Liège’s players are aged between 11 and 13 and for many of them, the club is a haven of escape from everyday life. “On the field, they get recognition, they feel free and can develop,” Lees explained.
“That’s important at their age. And it’s really true for me too. No matter how stressful my week has been, I forget about my worries during training. Even with the chronic pain I’ve been suffering since the accident.”
‘It’s never too late to start exercising’
Exercise keeps Maria Hellevich alive. The 78-year-old has been running fitness courses at a club in Alfert, a town near Bonn, for almost three decades, even though she first became a coach when she was 50.
“Before that, it was a duty, but then it became a pleasure,” Helvitch said.
Hellevich does gymnastics every morning.
“I want to stay fit – for my women,” said the retiree, explaining that she prepares diligently for each class. She watches videos on the Internet, thinks of new choreography and chooses the right music.
The participants who attend his classes range in age from 50 to 80 and love the zest for life that their coach radiates. And Helvitch admits that the biggest reward for her is seeing women jump with joy while exercising.
Hellwich’s club also offers yoga, volleyball and many other sports and courses, all for €60 a year.
Without coaches and trainers like Hellevich, Chris Lees and Melissa Rathmann, who volunteer wholeheartedly, Germany’s low-threshold club offering would not be possible. But he, and many other coaches like him, are exactly what makes Germany’s sports club culture unique.
This article is taken from German language.