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Jenny Wolf’s resignation is just a symptom

WITHMatthias Große had a suggestion box set up when he took office. It can be assumed that the box is now quite full – and that there is a processing backlog. The mood in the German Speed ​​Skating and Short Track Association (DESG) is tense. And not just since national coach Jenny Wolf resigned on Friday. It is clear that the big, “very tough and straightforward course”, as Wolf writes on her website, no longer matched her ideas, even though she was once, a few months ago, his preferred candidate for the position. For her there was a lot of emotional ups and downs before the decision.

That doesn’t just seem to be true of Wolf. Because big is known for not being on the cuddle course. Wolf’s departure is only a symptom of what is happening, says athletes spokesman Moritz Geisreiter. “A lot of people didn’t imagine working with Große,” says Leon Kaufmann-Ludwig. In September he was hired as an assistant national coach for short track. In December, he left after working for three months without pay. Before that, he had received no response from the Presidium for over four weeks, as he stated in a public letter.

The basic organization often does not work. Open communication, it seems, is not in vogue right now – especially not criticism of greats. No climate of moving closer together, it is more like this: You have to know the right channels to get answers to questions, says Geisreiter. And those who criticize great people may wait even longer. What kind of new image of people and associations is revealed there? Many coaches’ contracts expire at the end of the year. They still don’t know: will they continue to be employed or not? Too much depends on loyalty to great people and too little on athletic qualifications, on the question of what is good for the athletes. And they think twice about what to say and, above all, before whom.

How you communicate with people is a matter of style and character. It reveals a lot about how much value is placed on another person. At DESG, many seem to have the feeling: not much. It is still the powerful above who argue and the athletes below, without whom this sport does not exist, who do not know who will train them soon. There is no improvement in sight. And the question remains: How does what is exemplified “from above” affect downwards? It will not lead to more open interactions within the association. A speech by Große is planned for Friday, which will be broadcast on the association’s homepage. He wants to draw a “clear interim conclusion” on his six-month term in office and announce further changes. Maybe he can respond to a few suggestion box emails.

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