Damage to the Eupen tennis club KTC after the flood disaster in the Eupen lower town (Image: Robin Emonts / BRF)
For many, the hours were tense. In the night from Wednesday to Thursday, many club officials hoped that the flood would spare their facilities as much as possible. In the following days, however, most of them had to find out that they were probably out of luck. Above all, the Eupen clubs, which are located in the immediate vicinity of the Hill, found their sports facility devastated.
The sports hall on Hillstrasse has suffered a lot. The Royal Judo and Ju-Jitsu Club Eupen trained here until the end. “The entire interior of the dojo has been destroyed,” explains Ralph Godesar, the association’s president. “We have a sprung floor that is attached to the floor. It was pushed up by the water pressure. The building already had problems with the statics a few months ago, now with the water pressure, partition walls have simply disappeared and so you can’t say now whether you are allowed into the building because you don’t want to risk an accident. “
There are also destroyed walls a little further in the hut district. The masses of water from the Hill have taken a piece of the outside wall of one of the tennis halls with them. The damage can be found on the entire site.
“On the summer side, five outdoor spaces have been washed away that can no longer be used, that’s where a company is needed,” says Olivier Zimmermann from KTC Eupen. “A lot of paths are damaged, a tree fell over in the park and the renovated winter side is of course very badly affected. Nothing can be used anymore, so considerable damage. “
Photo: Robin Emonts / BRF
The tennis club is not only fighting for places in Eupen, there was also a nasty surprise for the country tennis club and its president Michael Müller in Kelmis. “I came back from vacation at half past one this morning, saw a lot of pictures and videos, but when I was able to convince myself of the disaster an hour ago, I was shocked and am still deeply affected.”
Fortunately, helpers were able to ensure that the cafeteria stayed dry. In addition, the country club is lucky that the new tennis hall is higher up, it is now very busy. “We were supposed to start our summer tournament on Thursday, that didn’t work. Then we are immediately up to the tennis hall and thank God we can play our tournament there. “
If you look at the extent of the catastrophe at the tennis courts in Eupen, you would think that all plans for tournaments have been thrown overboard here, but none of them. “We now have a tournament that starts on Thursday, we have interclub games next weekend, we have regular tennis operations and the ITF tournament is on August 7th and 8th. I don’t see now why this shouldn’t take place. We can function outside and then I hope and assume that you can get to tennis. Somehow it has to go on. “
Somehow things have to go on for the Royal Judo and Ju-Jitsu Club as well. While the two tennis clubs can continue, this club lacks a place to stay. The announcement by the sports association that they want to find a solution and that the clubs in the halls have to move closer together gives Ralph Godesar a positive feeling. “That would be a great help if we could start our training operations again. Especially after the Corona period, we didn’t do any training for months and that’s not such a good feeling for the children and adolescents. “
“But I think it will only be a small interim solution,” said Godesar. Especially since the club lacks all of the material. The hall was also designed for these martial arts.
While the clean-up work is in full swing everywhere with countless numerous helpers, one statement runs like a red thread through what is happening at the sports clubs: Somehow it has to go on.
Robin Emonts
