The Frankfurt badminton club isn’t alone in voicing concerns over the challenging allocation of sports facilities.
Bornheim – Members of the frankfurt Badminton club recently caught a break during the Christmas holidays. Just before the break, the club secured training slots at the Marie Curie School in Riedberg, avoiding the anticipated hiatus during the school-free period.
While the Marie Curie School isn’t as conveniently located as the Valentin-Senger-Halle in Bornheim, the club’s usual base, it provided a workable option. Maximilian Enders,a board member,noted that the arrangement was particularly helpful given that some players were away on vacation.Both adults adn children managed to continue their training on Mondays and fridays.
Despite this stroke of luck, the club continues to face a systemic issue. Securing training facilities during holidays involves critically important bureaucratic hurdles. School gyms are typically closed during breaks, and clubs must apply for access well in advance. Missing the application window can result in weeks of inactivity, disrupting training schedules.
Maintenance Takes Priority
Roland frischkorn,chairman of the Frankfurt sports district,acknowledges the widespread dissatisfaction among clubs. However, he highlights the necessity of the current system.School gyms, heavily used throughout the year, require thorough cleaning, repairs, and renovations, often scheduled during holidays.
“Cleaning shouldn’t take up the entire holiday period,” argues Enders. To an outsider, it truly seems logical for clubs to retain access to the halls during breaks, with the city notifying them when maintenance is scheduled.
Frischkorn, while not a city spokesperson, sheds light on the complexities. School gyms are managed by the education department, while training slots for clubs are allocated by the sports department. The sports office can only assign what the school office makes available, creating a bottleneck.
Though Frischkorn doesn’t explicitly state it, the priority is clear: school operations come first, and gyms must be in pristine condition when classes resume.
Pushing for Improved Processes
For sports clubs, the current system remains far from ideal. Frischkorn points out that holiday training slots in school gyms were unheard of two decades ago. however, he remains committed to advocating for a more streamlined process.
He also defends the city against accusations from the badminton club, which criticized the sports department’s management in an open letter to Mayor Mike Josef last December.
The club expressed frustration over the lack of dialog, with phone calls going unanswered and emails ignored.“We’re left in the dark and have to follow up repeatedly,” says Enders.
Frischkorn offers a different perspective. The club’s last-minute training slots were secured thanks to sports office employees working during their vacation. He also highlights the department’s staffing challenges, with frequent resignations contributing to delays. This may explain why the office failed to respond to a media inquiry for over a week.
Manfred Becht
e of luck, many clubs within the city are struggling to secure adequate sports halle due to rising demand, especially over the holidays.
“The allocation of school halls for sports purposes is a well-established practice in Frankfurt,” explains Michael Reinoß, the department head for sports at the city’s directorate of Education. Since the halls remain empty in the evening, on Saturdays, and during the holidays, sports clubs use them to help ensure that tax money is being put to good use.
Though, he points out that the availability of these facilities depends on other factors, such as maintenance, construction work, or community events.
Between 2021 and 2023, the city of Frankfurt experienced an average of 1,200 to 1,300 closures per year for various reasons, Reinoß says. In Berlin, for example, schools kicked off construction projects during the summer break. Publicly run facilities in Frankfurt are also limited by government spending.
Clubs that don’t rely on school halls are thus in a better position.The Badminton Club Frankfurt, such as, was able to organize a Christmas break training camp in the Nicolaus-August-Otto-Schule in Nied, a neighboring city to the southwest pf Frankfurt.This gave the players more flexibility in scheduling their practices,especially as some had plans to be away over the break.
Still, maximilian Enders considers it a disadavantage that the Badminton Club still doesn’t have its own hall,unlike larger clubs.However,he emphasizes that the club tries to collaborate with other clubs in the city to ensure a steady supply of training opportunities for its players.He hopes that the city will increase such collaborations in the future.
Frankfurt’s badminton landscape remains one of the moast active and competitive in Germany. In particular, the city is home to some of Germany’s top players, including Mathias Christiansen and Isabel Herttrich.
