RuS Summer Festival: Inclusive Water Sports Center Steinmühle Opens
Hessian Television conducted interviews and filmed our inclusive eight
Shortly before the start of summer break, we marked our partnership between Steinmühle and the German Institute for the Blind (blista) with the official opening of the inclusive Steinmühle Water Sports Center: At our club’s summer festival, a team of visually impaired and sighted athletes rowed in the “Blind Date” eight to the applause of all visitors, while a team from Hessischer Rundfunk broadcast the event live on the “Hessenschau” program.
Hessenschaureporter Robert Hübner and his team arrived at the boathouse early this Monday, before the start of summer break, to get everything ready: Interviews with Olympic eight-man champion Filip Adamski, para-rower Moritz Hagen, and Martin “Stromi” Strohmenger, the successful coach and rowing instructor at Steinmühle. blista and Steinmühle have been working together on inclusive initiatives for a long time, and now this collaboration is visible to the outside world as well. Across from the Steinmühle boathouse, a sign on the dock points to the inclusive water sports center. People with other physical disabilities are also welcome there, as long as their condition allows them to row.
Active Inclusion
At the summer festival, para-rower Moritz Hagen impressively demonstrated how visual impairment and rowing can go hand in hand. “It’s really about body control,” he told the reporter, adding that he was happy to be actively integrated as an athlete with a disability.
Moritz Hagen has been training intensively for about a year alongside Björn Eckert, another visually impaired rower. Both are highly ambitious.
Several prominent figures from the rowing world attended the event at the Steinmühlen Boathouse, where RuS Chairman Aron Stürmer and outgoing principal Bernd Holly led the program. In addition to Olympic champion Adamski, the event was also attended by the former world champion in the double sculls, Stephan Krüger, Steinmühle’s current rising star Marc Weber, and Lucas Schäfer—a native of Gisselberg, 2016 Olympian, and holder of the 6,000-meter ergometer world record, which was set at Steinmühle—were also in attendance. Steinmühle students Maxim Dyck, Maurits Juhre, and Lennart Holly were also in attendance. The athletes now row in the Bundesliga. We were also delighted that public figures attended our event, including First District Deputy Maria Zachow and Cappeler Mayor Peter Hesse.
Significant investments
“We see ourselves as part of the city’s community,” explained Egon Vaupel, chairman of the Steinmühle School Association, in his speech, referring equally to Steinmühle, rowing at Steinmühle, and the founding of the inclusive water sports center. Vaupel described Claus Duncker, the former CEO of blista and current treasurer of RuS Steinmühle, as “one of the driving forces behind this sustainable partnership.” The Steinmühle School Association alone has invested half a million euros in the project to date. The project, including its infrastructure and personnel resources, can currently be used equally by both institutions. Steinmühle maintains a cooperative relationship with blista and its new CEO, Patrick Temmesfeld.
Michael Neirich coordinates
When it comes to rowing, Steinmühle is looking to the future with optimism. The boarding school and the school have provided the team with more top rowers, as well as some who have (re)discovered rowing. Steinmühle physical education teacher Michael Neirich has taken on the role of coordinating the rowing program.
In light of these structures, RuS President Aron Stürmer, Vice President and Steinmühle School Principal Björn Gemmer, and School Director Dirk Konnertz look back on the summer festival with satisfaction and are optimistic about the future of rowing at Steinmühle. The sport is and will remain an important part of the school and boarding school.
Link to the Hessenschau report:
