{"id":44883,"date":"2022-05-03T10:57:04","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T08:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.steinmuehle.de\/blog\/2022\/05\/03\/with-or-without-a-disability-young-people-train-together\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:35:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:35:34","slug":"with-or-without-a-disability-young-people-train-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/blog\/2022\/05\/03\/with-or-without-a-disability-young-people-train-together\/","title":{"rendered":"With or without a disability: Young people train together"},"content":{"rendered":"

Play soccer together, have fun together<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in club sports are rare\u2014but working together as a team can change that. Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Marburg and Steinm\u00fchle, which have been partners for nearly three years, have teamed up with the Kerstin-Heim and fib e.V. to form a unified soccer team. Training sessions are now held regularly\u2014and everyone is having a great time together. <\/p>\n

The kickoff event at the Steinm\u00fchle grounds was well attended. It\u2019s not every day you get to meet a women\u2019s World Cup champion! Projects like this are close to Nia K\u00fcnzer\u2019s heart. Her stated goal: greater social inclusion for people with disabilities. <\/p>\n

“That’s what we want to achieve,” says Egon Vaupel. As chairman of the soccer department at Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Marburg and chairman of the Steinm\u00fchle club, he serves as a link between the two institutions. Known as a doer, he quickly enlisted the support of Steinm\u00fchle School Principal Bernd Holly and Managing Director Dirk Konnertz. Also on board: Special Olympics Germany in Hesse, the State Sports Federation, and the Marburg-Biedenkopf Sports District. <\/p>\n

The young people quickly took a liking to the soccer-golf course and soccer billiards. At the goal-shooting station, the challenge was to see who could take the hardest shot. \u201cWe don\u2019t take everything too seriously,\u201d explained Anne Effe of Special Olympics Germany. \u201cThe focus is on having fun\u2014and above all, on the fact that people with and without disabilities are playing soccer together here.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Blau-Gelb Marburg Sports Club and Steinm\u00fchle wholeheartedly endorse this philosophy. After all, \u201cFriendship for Life\u201d is the motto of the men\u2019s and women\u2019s soccer teams at the stadium on Zwetschenweg. The fact that Steinm\u00fchle is currently moving into its new sports hall\u2014which will also be used by people with disabilities\u2014brings everything together: \u201cWe share the same philosophy. It\u2019s just a perfect fit.\u201d <\/p>\n

The sports student council, along with students from Steinm\u00fchle\u2019s advanced sports course, were heavily involved in planning the obstacle course, explained physical education teacher Marcel Kalb. This had both a sports-related and an educational component. <\/p>\n

The newly formed Unified Team will meet every 14 days for practice at the Steinm\u00fchle, starting immediately. Of course, it\u2019s unlikely that as many spectators as at the kickoff event will show up again. To kick off the initiative, the Marburg Lions Club donated 1,500 euros, which was officially presented\u2014a great opportunity for a group photo featuring numerous representatives from the participating institutions and the local political scene. <\/p>\n

Perhaps some of you will still remember, even weeks or months from now, the active team that will now be getting together every other Monday starting at 5 p.m. at the Steinm\u00fchle grounds to have fun. Your presence and applause are always welcome. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Play soccer together, have fun together Opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in club sports are rare\u2014but working together as a team can change that. Sportfreunde Blau-Gelb Marburg and Steinm\u00fchle, which have been partners for nearly three years, have teamed up with the Kerstin-Heim and fib e.V. to form a unified soccer team. Training […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":44890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,85,108,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collaborations-partnerships","category-news","category-social-engagement","category-sports-health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49313,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44883\/revisions\/49313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}