"Sport, exercise and physical activity outdoors are gaining relevance to society. A number of the World Health Organization's Sustainable Development Goals are closely related to the experience of nature. We have extensive expertise in the field of 'outdoor' at the faculty and want to position ourselves even better here in the future," says Prof. Dr. Filip Mess, Professor of Sports and Health Didactics and Dean of Studies for teachers at the Department of Sports and Health Sciences.
In May, employees of the department and the University Sports Center (ZHS) therefore founded an outdoor group. Around 30 people attended the kick-off event on the water sports facilities of the University Sports Center (ZHS) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) at Lake Starnberg. The group was initiated by Dr. Andreas Thomann, who is in charge of training snow sports instructors at the department on behalf of the Bavarian State Government.
Networking, SWOT analysis and research proposal to the BMG
"Our goal at the first meeting was to promote networking and to show who is already active in which area in research and teaching," explains Dr. Thomann. The fact that employees from five chairs of the faculty as well as from the Applied Sports Science unit and the ZHS were on site shows the enormous breadth of the subject area. "On the one hand, we already have studies in various fields, from psychology to didactics - for example outdoor teaching - and biomechanics. On the other hand, there are also courses that specifically use outdoor elements - for example, a practical field trip to the 3,770-metre-high Wildspitze will be made as part of a sports biology lecture in order to carry out measurements there," explains Thomann.
"The meeting was very good to get an overview of the different competences and to be able to work together purposefully", summarises Prof. Mess. To this end, a joint SWOT analysis was carried out on the topic, goals were formulated and responsibilities agreed for the next one and a half years.
In a second step, project proposals are now to be drafted, for example for a research call by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). In addition, a symposium on "Outdoor" is planned at the faculty for 2020.
Contact
Dr. Andreas Thomann
Departmentmanagement Department of Sport and Health Sciences
Georg-Brauchle-Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Phone: 089 289 24671
E-Mail: Andreas.Thomann(at)tum.de
Text & pictures: Dr. Fabian Kautz