Contents
Read content on one page
Page 1 — Join the sports clubs!
Page 2 — 1848: National Assembly grants citizens the right to association
Friedrich Merz expressed a wish. “If one in ten of those who demonstrated today joins a political party,” said the CDU chairman in Caren Miosga’s new talk show, “then at least that much will be helped.”
He’s right, that’s a good idea. But there are others, because there are other institutions that strengthen our civil society, that hold our country together: the sports clubs.
The zeitgeist promotes self-optimization in the gym and recommends yoga to combat the unreasonable demands at work. At the same time, the willingness to get involved in clubs is decreasing or is becoming more difficult due to modern working life. But without coming together, there can be no cohesion!
In sports clubs, thousands upon thousands of adults teach children how to throw, jump, do gymnastics, swim and run every day. They train them, they educate them, they do social work. These adults do this for little, if any, pay. They therefore strengthen the common good and do important things for their country, even if many people would never say it that way and they may not even be aware of it.
Like every team sport, the fighting game handball is full of analogies to our free coexistence. If you want to play handball, you have to find your place in a team and a club. Only those who discover their talent, explore their limits, find and strengthen their personality can achieve this. Handball works as a collective, but at the same time it is an ideal means of self-realization.
Kicking football on the lawn or playing table tennis in your own garage are nice. But sport develops its greatest power when it is organized in clubs and associations. Then its rules have a stronger effect because a large international community has agreed on them and is ensuring that they are adhered to.
Sport is a driver of integration, especially in clubs
Not every whistle from a referee, not every verdict from a sports court increases justice. But in sport, the same laws apply to everyone, regardless of origin, name and parents’ wallet. Those of sport seem more contemporary than those of the church, whose members, like those of parties and unions, are dwindling. Those in sports are consistently high.
Therefore, its pacifying function on society is enormous. Sport is a driver of integration, it enables equal opportunities and benefits from diversity. Not every sport is equally diverse. Athletics tends to attract people with college degrees, hockey attracts people with money. German handball has been trying for a long time to attract more people with a migration background.
Football best lives up to the claim of being a place for everyone. You play it with eleven people, so you need a lot of active people and helpers who ensure that the games and training operations run week after week. This is only possible in a club.
Friedrich Merz expressed a wish. “If one in ten of those who demonstrated today joins a political party,” said the CDU chairman in Caren Miosga’s new talk show, “then at least that much will be helped.”
He’s right, that’s a good idea. But there are others, because there are other institutions that strengthen our civil society, that hold our country together: the sports clubs.
The zeitgeist promotes self-optimization in the gym and recommends yoga to combat the unreasonable demands at work. At the same time, the willingness to get involved in clubs is decreasing or is becoming more difficult due to modern working life. But without coming together, there can be no cohesion!
