Institute of Sports Science

ARD Forum Sport

Students of the Institute of Sports Science co-organized the 2nd ARD Forum Sport in Munich

ARD telecaster Gerhard Delling in discussion with TV expert Mehmet Scholl.
Prof. Dr. Ansgar Thiel on the podium at the ARD Forum Sport (right).
Soccer representatives: the coaches Michael Frontzeck and Michael Oenning as well as consultant Marc Kosicke (f.l.t.r.).
ARD programme director Volker Herres delivering the closing words. On the podium: Dr. Sven Baumgarten (German Olympic Sports Confederation), Dafni Bouzikou (Professional institution of coaches in German sports), Prof. Dr. Ansgar Thiel (University of Tübingen), Marc Kosicke (projekt b), Gerhard Böhm (Department head sports Federal Ministry of the Interior) (f.l.t.r.). (photos: C. Grimmer)

09.10.2014 – On Wednesday at the ARD Forum Sport a top-class podium discussed two fundamental questions regarding the German Sports system – moderated by telecaster Gerhard Delling.

The first topic dealt with career after the career of athletes by questioning how athletes can manage their transition between their sports career and their new professional occupation afterwards and which arrangements should be provided by sports associations and organizations. “Succes will be socialized, but the risk of the athletes is their own”, so Jörg Adami from the German Sports Aid Foundation to underline the difficulty. Up-to-date the German Sports Aid Foundation supports 3.800 athletes from about 50 sports.

The former top swimmer Franziska von Almsick demanded: “Athletes should be more guided. After the career you fall into a sort of limbo.” As a top swimmer she couldn’t finish her general qualification for university entrance (Abitur) so she will take it now. Although she has now a career after her career, she can’t name it exactly.

Not only swimmers are confronted with these difficulties, also a great part of soccer players have to be creative and to find new possibilities to work after their sport career. Only some famous players like Mehmet Scholl can take an easier way. A year and a half after the end of his career he took life as it came, visiting cities and listening to concerts. “It was never one of my intentions to succeed Günter Netzer”, Scholl explained.

The second topic was related to coaches, their education and their livelihood. Michael Oenning, former coach of the Bundesliga teams Hamburger SV and 1. FC Nuremberg expounded the problems of the publicity which coaches in soccer are confronted with. Frank Embacher, swim coach, accentuated that the basic conditions (in Germany) are too poor. For example the payment is low and in some fields there are too little junior coaches. Embacher was supported by Prof. Dr. Ansgar Thiel from the Institute of Sports Science in Tübingen quoting findings from some studies. In the end Dr. Sven Baumgarten from German Olympic Sports Confederation summed up: “The staffing issue ‘coach’ was neglected over the past decades in Germany.”

The 2nd ARD Forum Sport in Munich was organized by ARD Sport Coordination in cooperation with students from the Bachelor program Sport Communication Science under the direction of Dr. Verena Burk (Department Sport Economics, Sport Management & Media Research).

Report by ARD Mittagsmagazin.

Further media coverage in the TV show "Denkzeit" on ARD-alpha:

  • 25. October 2014, 22.30 o'clock - "Career after the career"
  • 15. November 2014, 22.30 o'clock - "Coaches in German top-class sports"