The two years of the corona pandemic have affected the youngsters differently. There’s football. In Wieselburg, youth leader Markus Wippl sees no tendency towards fewer children. “After the first lockdown we even had more children than before. Now everything is leveling off again,” says Wippl. However, what saps the strength of all children, carers and parents is the coordination of appointments due to cancellations after quarantine cases. Wippl does not believe in a deficit in the children’s movement: “There were always years with more or less talented children. That hasn’t changed,” says Wippl, but he still has one point of criticism: “In my opinion, the children should be less regulated. The urge to move is still there. As clubs, we should create the structures so that the children can act out the urge.”
Thomas Auer, chairman of the judo club in Wieselburg, is a little contrite. Because of around 90 active athletes, only 20 remained after two years of the pandemic. “At the moment we are at the level where I took over the club ten years ago,” explains Auer. Above all, the generation of eleven to 15-year-olds has disappeared from the judo club. Auer sees a lot of catching up to do in terms of movement among the beginners. “First we have to teach the children how to do somersaults. If we run two laps in the hall, most of the children will already run out of breath,” reports Auer about the worrying conditions.
But Thomas Auer also holds the parents responsible. “Parents used to watch the training sessions and thus got interested in the sport themselves. Today, some of the children are simply handed in for care. In some cases, even the children have to persuade the parents to drive them to training,” concludes Auer.
