The sports structures are good – with a nationwide club landscape everywhere, emphasized Kuhaupt. “You can also find a sports club in the small towns where people arrive. Actually, everyone can take part in the offer, the clubs are also very open.” The language is one of the biggest hurdles. But the most important thing is finding each other.
Differences to 2015/16
During the refugee situation in 2015/2016, many refugees were housed in shelters, which a sports club could turn to selectively. Now it’s spreading. “Many people have made their private premises available. Inquiries at the Ministry of Integration have come to nothing because they said we have to wait until the municipalities report who has registered with them,” reports Kuhaupt.
On-site help is of course always dependent on the people on site. “The club as such defines itself as a place that should be accessible to everyone. That’s where people’s initiative is needed. We see a lot of commitment and a lot of openness there.”
As an example, Kuhaupt named a club from Mainz that advertised its offer with flyers in Ukrainian at an early stage and thus approached people aggressively. But Ukrainians don’t just come to the clubs to do sports: In a small gymnastics club in Wallertheim, a Ukrainian trainer offers rhythmic gymnastics – an offer that hasn’t existed for 20 years because nobody could teach it.