At the end of the European Week of Sports 2022, the Hessian Minister of the Interior and Sports, Peter Beuth, conveyed his thanks to the Frankfurt Sports District, which is in charge of Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region, for the many active offers and events. As part of a symposium of the state program "Sportland Hessen bewegt", State Secretary Stefan Sauer and Head of Department Jens-Uwe Münker also presented a funding decision in the amount of 80,000 euros to the Sportkreis Chairman Roland Frischkorn. Frischkorn said in his opening words of the symposium, "unfortunately" the European Week of Sports is over: "Behind us lies an all-around successful presentation. Clubs, the independent scene and our partners have once again shown what sport can achieve. Sport has once again made it clear that it is more than just competition - it is also, for example, culture, education, health and understanding. The clubs are health providers number one in our country."
Frischkorn's enumeration of the diverse offers included, for example, the approximately 30 school campaigns, the Mainova Running Kids project, the FamilySportFest, the sports weeks on the Mainkai, the action day at MyZeil, plus a wide variety of sports such as soccer, athletics, dance and boxing, or seminars on stress management and occupational health care. "Of course, more is always possible, we can also do that, through networking and cooperation."
State Secretary Sauer also advocated raising synergies, through intensive cooperation and communication of all partners from sports, politics, municipalities, business. "Together, we need to raise awareness that exercise in all phases of life provides health and enjoyment of life," he said."
The symposium was organized by the Hessian Working Group for Health Promotion, sponsors and cooperation partners were the Hessian Ministry of the Interior and for Sports, the State Sports Federation of Hesse, the Sportkreis Frankfurt and #BeActive FrankfurtRheinMain.
In the keynote speeches and in an intersectoral discussion round, it became clear that public space with its green spaces, pedestrian zones, squares and streets is co-decisive for our quality of life and thus an important location factor of a municipality. Especially the urban space offers many potentials for the promotion of movement as an everyday experience and is therefore an important resource that should be used for sports and exercise. As part of the European Week of Sport, the state program "Sportland Hessen bewegt" together with its working group "Bewegungsförderung im öffentlichen Raum" (Promotion of movement in public spaces) highlighted the opportunities and challenges, showed successful practical examples and also conveyed concrete recommendations on how low-threshold offers for movement and sports can be created - for example, through financially feasible design of pedestrian zones and sidewalks through stairs or seating with multifunctional use.
