“Sport for the sake of the people” is the motto of the largest club. Sports are offered for almost all interest groups. And that for 100 years.
The DJK Wrzburg is having two big anniversaries this year and very few in the city are likely to know about it yet. Because all celebrations had to be canceled due to the corona. “We postponed it by exactly one year,” says Jutta Bouschen, head of the office. On September 19, 1920, exactly 100 years ago, the nationwide DJK sports association was founded in the Sanderauer Huttenslen, which incidentally also wanted to have a big festival in Wrzburg in May. More or less at the same time, several sports groups came into being under this roof in the cathedral city. During the Third Reich, the German youth force was banned across Germany by the Nazis.
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In May 1950, 70 years ago, a large sports club, the Sportbund DJK Wrzburg, was re-established. At their best, the people of Zellerau had well over 2,000 members. In the anniversary year there are around 1800, which means that the DJK is still one of the largest clubs in the city. The corona pandemic has temporarily brought club life to a standstill on Frankfurter Strasse. “Of course, that was something unprecedented for us too,” said Bouschen in an interview with this editorial team: “I am very happy and grateful that the members have remained loyal to us despite the shutdown.”
Most members are swimmers and gymnasts
The DJK Wrzburg is a Christian multi-discipline association, so Bouschen. “You can tell that, for example, we have a spiritual advisory board just like other DJs.” The spectrum of sports ranges from the Japanese martial art Aikido to football to tennis on the courts on Mainaustrae. One does not refuse to participate in competitive sport, says Bouschen: “We generally don’t pay any more money for this.” In both basketball (men) and handball (women), the DJK once even had Bundesliga teams. The most well-known advertisements have achieved international fame: basketball player Dirk Nowitzki and handball sisters Anni and Steffi Placht.
In the 1980s, Bouschen was also the goalkeeper of the first handball team before they ended up in the Rhineland. She returned to Wrzburg about four years ago. DJK chairwoman in this double anniversary year is pharmacist and CSU city councilor Sonja Buchberger, her deputies are Astrid Hutka and Peter Reinhart. The swimmers and gymnasts are still far ahead in terms of performance. They also represent the departments with the most members.
“The Corona crisis has shown how important club life is for people.”
Jutta Bouschen, business manager–
The association has been experiencing a real boom in the KiSS area for years, with around 400 participants now. “We want to teach children from the age of one and a half how to enjoy sport in gymnastics, but also in many other areas such as ball sports,” says director Simon Lhr. The five-week summer program on the modern facility, which is also equipped with a beach volleyball field, ended at the end of August. You are optimistic about the restart in the third week of September: “We have now survived so much and feel well prepared.”
Not only the youngest, but also the elderly find a home at the DJK Wrzburg. “We offer cardio exercise groups and one that is aimed at people with dementia,” says Bouschen. It hurts that the latter has not yet been able to resume operations. “But their exercises live from touch.” The athletes and handball players are currently being rebuilt, although the latter have the problem that even the large DJK hall is no longer sufficient from a certain youth class. “It is not easy to find suitable hall capacity in Wrzburg,” says Bouschen.
Despite all the imponderables, she and her colleagues are optimistic, especially in this unplanned DJK anniversary year: “The Corona crisis has shown how important club life is for people. We hope that they will look back a little bit. ” True to the longstanding DJK motto: “Sport for people’s sake.”
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Zellerau
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Jrg Rieger
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Aikido
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Ballsport
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Basketball
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Basketballspieler
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Covid-19 pandemic
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DJK sports association
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The Third Empire
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Dirk Nowitzki
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Jubilen
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Track and field athletes
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optimism
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Schwimmer
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Sonja Buchberger
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