Forty-one years after its establishment, the German Society of Sport Sciences (dvs) is once again returning to Munich for the first time between September 13th and 15th. In the course of the 23rd Sport-Scientific University Days at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the members of the dvs elected Prof. Dr. Ansgar Schwirtz as their new president. In an interview, the Dean of the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences speaks about the office, the election as well as his goals as the new dvs president.
Dean Prof. Schwirtz: Congratulations on your election as the dvs president. What does this office mean to you?
"I believe that the office of the dvs president represents a great opportunity, which I would like to seize full of enthusiasm. The dvs, with around 1,000 members in Germany, is the agency which represents all sport scientists per se. The president of this society is the mouthpiece for German sport scientists and has, for example, the possibility of influencing or of establishing positive accents in the differentiation of competitive sports and in the design of school sports."
Do synergies exist in our department?
"I am firmly convinced that they do. Our goal as a department was and continues to be a representative for important sport-scientific facilities throughout Germany and also internationally. Through the office of the president and cooperation from the executive board, we can still achieve more effects and increase the brilliance of the TUM within the field of the sport sciences. In addition, I hope to be able to be available for all in-house colleagues as a positive, multiplying factor in its sections, commissions and for the sport sciences in general."
What concrete goals will you pursue as the dvs president?
"I would like to continue to establish the sport sciences even further, to represent this discipline at the universities, and would like to promote cooperation between the sport and health sciences even further. After all, both disciplines complement one another in different aspects and both profit from the interdisciplinary cooperation. Important to me is also the development of school sports. Full-day schools here offer a great opportunity. I will support the situation that school sports are also further supervised by qualified instructors and not transferred on a large scale to honorary training supervisors. Naturally, the support and further development of competitive sports is one of the greatest topics for me."
What will you place on your agenda?
"A completely important issue for me is to aid in bringing competitive sports once again into a more positive position for public attention. The many negative headlines of the past have nevertheless repeatedly brought it into criticism. Consider, for example, the continuous discussions about doping or of the current debates on the transfer sums in soccer."
How did your decision to act as a candidate for the office of the president come to be?
"In the course of the University Days, I was already approached beforehand by the acting dvs presidency as to whether I could imagine taking over this office. I think that the fact alone, that our department has been asked, demands a great deal of appreciation. I first contemplated intensively with this decision and then visited the acting president, Prof. Hottenrott, in Halle, and also met with the managing directors, Anja Kunick and Jennifer Franz, and discussed this in detail with both of them. I wanted to clarify on site what additional efforts this would mean for me, since the dean's office already entails an entire set of obligations and appointments in itself. However, in my opinion, the chances, which this important office brings with itself altogether predominate. In addition, the fantastic dvs team will also support me."
How will that look concretely?
"Prof. Hottenrott has now first assured me in our meeting that he would be acting, in the newly-created office of 'Past President', and would also continue to be taking on further deadlines. Secondly, Ms. Franz will be returning after her parental leave to once again act as managing director so that I will also have an opportunity to benefit from a proven worker who is very familiar with the material. I also look forward to cooperation with the Vice President, Prof. Balz (education), Prof. Vogt (Vice President for movement & health) and Prof. Demetriou (promotion of the youth). In addition, I have also been able to attain cooperation from Mr. Borkenhagen of the executive board."
You mean Frederik Borkenhagen, who was managing director of the dvs from 1991 to 2010?
"Exactly. He has a great deal of experience. I am very glad that he will be taking over the post of the Vice President for Finances in the future. Altogether the colleagues in the executive committee and in the management of the dvs have provided me with confidence that I will be able to carry out the additional efforts and have convinced me that the chances for our department will predominate."
Have you carried out even further discussions in order to make you decision?
"Yes, naturally. Particularly important for me was the consultation with the TUM President, Prof. Dr. Herrmann. I asked him quite concretely whether it would be in the interest of the TUM that I hold this office. He affirmed this explicitly and supported me in making my decision."
What will now be your next appointments?
"First, in November, there will be a meeting with the organizing committee of the next Sport-Scientific University Days to be held in 2019 in Berlin, during which we will also, so to say, pass on the relay staff from this congress at the TUM to the Humboldt University. In addition, in November, there will be a first meeting of the board at the dvs office in Hamburg. There we will come to a decision regarding our goals. And we will then begin to put these into action."
Further information on the German Society of Sport Sciences
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Ansgar Schwirtz
Dean of the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences
Uptown München, Campus D
Georg-Brauchle Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Telephone: 089 289 24600
E-Mail: birgit.gaal(at)tum.de
Interview: Fabian Kautz
Photos: TUM/Astrid Eckert