“From my personal point of view, gymnasiums are generally not suitable as accommodation for refugees,” says Kai Melerski, managing director of the Bischofsgrün sports camp in Upper Franconia. “There is no privacy there, although this is particularly important for people who are in a refugee situation. They have to be able to withdraw. Therefore, everything should be done to find alternatives to housing in gyms.”
Melerski found one. For two weeks, the 42-year-old has been accommodating 17 war refugees from Ukraine in the “Sportcamp Nordbayern” of the Bavarian State Sports Association (BLSV).
“These are women and children from the Zaporozhye region. There is also an active nuclear power plant there. Which certainly also played a role in the family’s decision to flee,” says Melerski.
In the Fichtelgebirge, at the foot of the Ochsenkopf, the refugees are now living in the sports camp rooms with a view of playgrounds, basketball courts and an outdoor climbing wall: “These are four-bed rooms with their own shower and toilet. And we arranged the rooms so that they are next to each other, can visit each other, exchange ideas and support each other. That the children can play together. But also that they can withdraw. Which is certainly necessary given the situation they are in.”
Decisions on the use of halls by the municipalities
The Bavarian State Sports Association runs a total of four sports camps and plans to accommodate even more refugees there. The camps are actually intended for school classes or training camps. Because of Corona, they are not fully booked.
Above all, however, the BLSV wants to show alternatives to sports halls. In 2015, many schoolchildren and recreational athletes had to vacate their gyms because the municipalities were quickly looking for space for incoming asylum seekers, explains Lutz Thieme, Professor of Sports Management at the Koblenz University of Applied Sciences:
“The municipalities are the ones that mainly operate the sports facilities. And if the municipalities say I need them for another purpose, then the clubs and school sports are left out for the time being. It is a decision of the sports facility owner – and that is mostly the municipalities.”
The consequence for sports clubs and popular sports: either move outside or – if that is not possible – stop the sporting activities. Because there are hardly any alternatives in indoor sports:
“The sports hall situation is very tense in Germany even without refugees. You can tell by the fact that if two or three sports halls go offline in a medium-sized municipality, this has serious consequences. Not just for the two or three locations, but overall: Clubs have to go to other sports halls that are actually occupied. It’s the same for school sports. And that’s when you realize that the sports facility situation in Germany is sewn on edge.”
“Sensitivity to the sport is there.”
Right now, as the Corona crisis subsides, it is becoming clear how important mass sport, exercise and physical activity are. Especially for children and young people. That is why many municipalities are trying to prevent gyms from closing again. But that doesn’t work everywhere, says sports scientist Thieme:
Well, I know of examples from NRW where municipalities can’t help but occupy sports halls. But overall, the sensitivity to the sport is already there. This also has to do with the fact that people trust sport to provide integration services for the people who have come to us.
However, the clubs can only provide such integration services if they have the space for the sport. At the Bischofsgrün sports camp, Managing Director Melerski also experienced the bonding power of playing together with the refugees from the Ukraine and the other guests:
“When I see children playing together without knowing each other’s language – it has an unprecedented power. Bridges are built there. I imagine that suffering will be alleviated a little for a short time. I am experiencing a wave of solidarity and a culture of welcome throughout the Bavarian sports sector.”
“Halls particularly important after the Corona situation”
The question is: is there enough space to spare the gymnasiums and thus the sports clubs? If Russia continues to invade Ukraine, many hundreds of thousands more refugees will come. Private accommodation is not endless. That is why Lutz Thieme welcomes the idea of accommodation in sports camps:
“Because the sports camps offer opportunities where people can come together and live for a certain period of time. Of course, this relieves the municipalities of having to make sports halls available right away – with the result that they are not available for club and school sports. And that is of great importance, especially after the Corona situation, in which many clubs have lost members.
For Kai Melerski from the Bischofsgrün Sportcamp, helping the neighbors in an emergency is a matter of course: “After a few conversations with the refugees about their experiences, I’m really upset as a family man.”