From Freiburg Alina Schwermer
Do you all want to play freely, guys?” Rica Derst sounds as if she was hoping for something a little different. As always, the badminton trainer brings a new voluntary exercise topic. But that afternoon in Freiburg it quickly became clear: the twenty or so amateur badminton players simply wanted to have fun today. Derst at least finds a few volunteers who practice the information with her. Soon shuttlecocks are flying through the gymnasium of the Max Weber School while nineties hits from Cotton Eye Joe to Backstreet Boys blare.
It looks like a standard company sports group, but many of them haven’t had a job here for a long time. Benefit e. V. is a sports club specifically for adults affected by poverty. Long-term unemployed, homeless people, refugees, addicts and people with physical or mental illnesses come here. Founded in 2022, Benefit now has an enormous range of offerings from dance to martial arts, from swimming courses to street football to Nordic walking. And their own welfare with social advice, a second-hand station for sportswear, joint excursions and everyday help from a social worker.
It is a sports club that hardly exists in Germany. There are certainly sports opportunities for children affected by poverty, especially in large cities. There are also projects for individual precarious groups, especially refugees and sometimes homeless people. But a sports club founded for all adults in poverty? The idea is revolutionary. Because in sports this clientele falls through the cracks.
“I am extremely convinced of the whole project,” enthuses Rica Derst, who works as a sports teacher. She is one of many young people who volunteer here. There is a fixed group of around thirty participants in badminton, participation is free of charge. Club membership is also possible for everyone with a solidarity-based, individual contribution system. At Benefit you can come and leave it for a while, and if you don’t feel like exercising you can watch.
This makes the offer low-threshold. It is impressive what progress the amateur athletes have made, says Derst. “Badminton is so cool, it doesn’t matter how fit you are.” The backgrounds are very different, many have physical impairments and mild degrees of disability. “You have to think more inclusively here: Can everyone take part in the exercise?” And consciously there are no games with winning and losing. Outside the sports hall, the participants have to prove themselves enough.
“Everyone here has their story,” says Uwe, “and all the stories are sobering.” Uwe, who only wants to be identified by his first name, has been there for over two years and the social psychiatric service recommended the offer to him. He has already taken part in almost all sports. Many people attend benefit courses several times a week or even daily, including Uwe. “It was important for me to get back into a routine and get to know people. We are a close-knit community. You feel that you are not alone with your issues.” He is eternally grateful for it.
A normal sports club with a monthly fee of 20 euros is not affordable for him. “Poverty has so many consequences that are not noticed from the outside.” He can’t just go to the cinema, the theater or grab something spontaneously, everything revolves around money. “At some point you feel inadequate yourself.” Many here in the club have fallen into poverty because of physical or mental suffering. “We should ask ourselves how we as a society deal with people who need help.”
Here in the hall, people don’t have to talk about their needs, but they can. The enormous solidarity among those involved in sports is noticeable. During the sports introductory course, which takes place after badminton and this time revolves around throwing, for example into a basketball hoop or onto bars, they often praise each other. Uwe likes that it’s less about competition here. “The higher, faster, further destroys humanity. If people are left, it does something to them.” Given the agitation against the unemployed, he doesn’t know which party he should vote for. Not working is not a lifelong decision. “You’re just in a bad situation right now. We’re not machines.”
It has been proven in numerous studies that people affected by poverty participate less in sport. So found a Swiss long-term study in Genevathat the lower the socioeconomic background, the less people exercised. The enormous inequalities increased even further in the study period from 2005 to 2019. An international meta-analysis of studies from Europe, North America and the Australian continent come to the conclusion that the differences are enormous even among children. And children from wealthy families not only do more sport, they also stay at it longer.
The reasons are varied, it’s not just about money. Those who come from a precarious household often feel less socially wanted in sports clubs and simply have less capacity for sport due to shift work, reduced range without a car or poverty-related stress. Those affected often suffer from physical and mental illnesses, which in turn make it difficult to do sports. Sports infrastructure is primarily built in wealthy districts. And once you’re out of society, it’s difficult to get back into routine and socialize with people.
Benefit e. V. is doing real pioneering work. But it is not an offer from those affected for those affected; the organizers come from the University of Freiburg. Co-founder Lukas Oettle dealt with poverty and sport in his master’s thesis and initially founded the trial course. “We then slowly built up the offering using a feedback system,” he says. “We want to reach people who have not been reached yet.”
Perhaps there is no other way to have this structure; people affected by poverty often do not have the resources, strength and contacts to set up a sports club. Benefit also tries hard to involve participants: They can request sports activities, become trainers themselves, and they are increasingly taking on tasks within the club such as supporting sports courses or looking after information stands. Nevertheless, it is clear: This is an offer from top to bottom.
There is also little connection to historical workers’ sport, which saw itself as a movement critical of capitalism. “We don’t see ourselves as directly part of the workers’ sports movement,” says Oettle. “We place ourselves more in the Sport for Development sector, although a formal structure has now been created in 2024 with the Sport for Development Network Germany.” Don’t overthrow the circumstances, but learn to live with them. “We don’t post criticism of the economic system on social media. At our core, what we do is fight poverty.” However, people take part in action days, for example against poverty and homelessness.
Enabling people affected by poverty to do more sport – which party wants to say no to that? With its more apolitical, humanitarian approach, Benefit is perhaps a child of contemporary NGOization. This certainly also has to do with financing. According to Oettle’s information, Benefit is financed from a mixture of foundation funds, funds from social lotteries, state programs, the European Social Fund and increasingly through charitable organizations for which sports are offered on behalf of. There are five full-time positions – even some regional football league teams would be jealous of that.
There is widespread evidence that people affected by poverty participate less in sport
This makes the comprehensive offering possible, but also creates dependencies. Oettle and his colleagues dream of several locations in Germany, an offer also for children, and more encounters between the milieus. Their range – from language teaching through sport to open participatory sports in the city – is already incredibly ambitious. In order to be able to plan for the long term, we would like to see more support in the municipality.
Some participants nevertheless become politically clear. “As long as we have this economic system, it is unlikely that anything will change,” says Uwe. The economic system and patriarchy must be addressed. “The bottom line is that we all lose.” But first, they’re doing something different here: gaining courage again. “I no longer see myself as a victim, but as a survivor,” he reports.
The special community enabled many participants to return to life. Like Felix, who also only wants to be called by his first name. He has been there since 2022. Felix, who has several handicaps and chronic illnesses, joined after rehab. “I wouldn’t be able to keep up with normal sport. I can also slow down here.” He also appreciates the students’ innovative methods. The offering has been constantly expanding, including in the social area, and members are being heard.
So there is now a group that supports each other in finding work again. Felix is also there. The group wanted to do bodywork with a teacher, and Benefit organized it. “More and more things are happening on our own initiative,” says Felix. We now also meet in private. Since no one can afford long trips, they go for walks and maybe go out for something to eat. “Things you would never do alone.” What did that do to him? “There is a new energy within me. Benefit brings people out of isolation.” And that is highly political.
