The Covid pandemic also sent sports into lockdown. For months, people couldn't keep healthy with school or club or fitness sports. But how can sports maintain or even build resilience in such times? The answer to this question is provided by a video contribution by accadis Hochschule Bad Homburg, which premiered on the occasion of WORLD METROPOLITAN DAY on October 7, 2021. It was the only conference contribution dealing with the importance of sports.Sports experts discuss
In the video interview with accadis President Prof. Dr. Florian Pfeffel, Michael Bofinger, Managing Director of the Stuttgart Sports Region Association e. V., presented tasks and goals for the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. As a second interview partner, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Trosien contributed his expertise from more than 20 years of research and authorship on "Sport in the Metropolitan Regions". He is a co-founder of Sportregion Rhein-Neckar e. V.. Numerous presentations at international conferences as well as books on the topic can be found under his name.
Resilience through sport during and after the pandemic
The pandemic helped "home" sports gain new popularity and smart fitness offerings achieve commercial success. With the expanded openings of public life, these concepts must now compete again with sports in school and club communities. Leading the way are the Bundesliga soccer clubs and sports stadiums in metropolitan regions such as the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart or Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt. They are now allowed to accommodate spectators on a large scale again. "From 3G to 2G" will allow even more in the future, including for sports such as basketball, ice hockey or handball.
The challenge lies in the voluntary nature
Michael Bofinger makes it clear in the video contribution that the tasks of a sports region are to inform about sports events, but also to strive for common solutions for applications, for planning as well as financing for higher-level sports goals. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Trosien added that these are voluntary associations - both in the Stuttgart and Rhine-Neckar metropolitan regions and in the non-active FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region. This also applies, he said, to decisions about what to organize independently and what to tackle as a community.
League giants support broad-based sports developments
As beacons from an industry perspective, it is precisely the major Bundesliga clubs that can also set broad-based sports trends thanks to their social significance. In the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, the regional Olympic teams ("TEAM TOKIO" in 2021) demonstrate a visible bond with the population. As a metropolitan-regional event, the Ironman in FrankfurtRhineMain enables many amateur competitive athletes to compete - divided into age groups. The Eschborn-Frankfurt cycling race team takes a similar approach. The Fraport Skyliners' "Basketball macht Schule" project offers hundreds of young people special working groups.
Which paths will sports take after the pandemic?
These examples lead to the question "back to previous habits or on to a new normal?" The realization that sport is often undervalued in communities and regions directs the discussing experts to perspectives of new cooperation and organization. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Trosien predicts an improved exchange of positive approaches as well as the potential that sports clusters have when a - voluntary - sponsor for a metropolitan region makes such projects usable.