On the occasion of its 70th anniversary, the German University Sports Federation (adh) welcomed representatives from politics, sports federations and members of the University Sports to the Leibniz Hall in Berlin to celebrate the 70th birthday
About 140 guests were welcomed by chairman, Joerg Foerster, Juliane Boetel, member of the board, and also by Stephan Mayer, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior. He congratulated the adh for its very positive development over the past seven decades and underlined the importance of promoting and supporting competitive sports on university level.
The following hour was characterized by a short journey through the last 70 years and an overview of the most important fields of work of the German University Sports Federation. Luisa Kosok (University of Bielefeld) and Dr. Arne Goering (University of Goettingen) interviewed several guests on different topics. Prof. Dr. Walther Troeger, former Secretary General of the adh and honorary member of the IOC, started off with an insight into the early years of the adh: “We were pioneers and always thought politically, already in the beginning.” With some anecdotes of his personal experiences he delighted the audience. Subsequently, Ebba Koglin (University of Osnabrueck) and Thomas Woll (Technical University of Kaiserslautern) talked about the importance of education and health management. They presented several examples on how the adh together with the universities has succeeded in promotion health and education among students.
When talking about university sports, international competitions also have a major impact. Thus, two former Universiade-medalists shared their experiences with the audience. Ulrike Nasse-Meyfarth (Universiade-Silver 1979 and Olympic-Gold 1972 and 1984 in High Jump) and Tobias Simon (Universiade- Silver 2017 and Gold with the Nordic Combined Team 2015) came to the conclusion that it was a once-in-a- lifetime experience to compete with other students on such high level. Simon also underlined the importance of universities supporting student athletes and their dual careers.
Juliane Bötel and Jörg Förster welcome guests to the
70th anniversary of the German University Sports Federation
The podium discussions were concluded by adh-chairman Joerg Foerster, (Managing Director at University Sports Hamburg), Dr. Petra Bischoff-Krenzien, (Head of Sport at University of Potsdam) and Moritz Belmann, Member of the Student Commission of the European University Sports Association (EUSA). They named challenges for the future of university sport and the association itself, whereby the focus also laid on the promotion of the dual career of student athletes.
The celebration of 70 years of existence in Berlin was a stately affair that was punctuated by Universiade winning athletes speaking about the once-in-a- lifetime experience it was to compete with other students on such a high level