The University Sports Center Munich (ZHS) is awarded university of the year by the General German University Sport Federation (adh). On Sunday, November 13, the director of the ZHS, Michael Hahn, as well as the TUM vice-president, Prof. Dr. Hans Pongratz, and the team of the ZHS received this honor in Potsdam in the course of the 113th adh plenary meeting. "We are very happy to have received this honor from the adh. This is an exceptional honor for our team and for the many years of good work which they have performed," says Hahn. Prof. Dr. Renate Oberhoffer, who is the Dean of the Department of Sport and Health Sciences, is pleased "that the massive efforts of the ZHS staff are appreciated in this manner. The faculty is very proud to be in a network with the ZHS. In this way, the scientific research by the TUM and the practical applications stand in closer cooperation. In the ZHS, our important goal, i.e. the promotion of the health of students and our staff members through movement, is ideally implemented."
World Beach Volleyball Championship for students
The ZHS highlight of the year 2018 was the World Beach Volleyball Championship for students which was held in July. In the context of the 150-year celebration of the Technical University Munich (TUM), with which the ZHS is affiliated, the TUM, as only the third university in Germany, carried out a student World Championship. 128 athletes from 29 countries participated in this event, which took place in the Olympic Park. Luciano Cabral, the vice-president of the International University Sport Federation (FISU), concluded after the award ceremony that, "The World Championship organized by the TUM was an outstanding event in the history of the FISU. For all of those who participated, it will long remain embossed in their memories!"
Approximately 16,000 students, 1,400 courses and more than 100 kinds of sport
The daily business of the ZHS consists of providing an attractive sports program for the students, alumni and staff members of the Munich universities. Around 1,400 courses in more than 100 different kinds of sport are offered each year by more than 700 trainers. Per semester, about 16,000 students, alumni or staff members of the Munich universities make use of this offer. "As a provider of popular sport, the ZHS is one of the central figures in the Munich academic landscape and thereby represents a place for the meeting of many students, alumni and staff members from various universities," explains Hahn.
Aside from the sport programs, which accompany the semester, the ZHS organizes various high-performance sporting events like German championships or supports students who participate in university competitions. With success! The ZHS once again won the cross-competition university ranking this year. "As a university sport facility in an Olympic city, high-performance sport has traditionally played a very special role. In our sports facilities, we have ideal training conditions for many kinds of sport. Many top-class sportsmen, who do not come from Munich and who do not necessarily want to become a member of a Munich club during their studies, then find a homeland with us," summarizes Hahn.
"The great number of German university championships held in Munich at the highest organizational as well as sporting level, and the above average participation of Munich students in national and international student competitions is evidence for the special efficiency of the University Sports Center of Munich," says Jörg Förster, the executive committee chairman of the adh, to exclaim the decision.
New building by 2022
For the future, ZHS director Hahn announces a further development of the sporting offer. By 2022, on the TUM campus in the Olympic Park, a modern new building will be constructed for the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences as well as the ZHS for a cost of 135 million euros. "The new building will give us further possibilities for offering an excellent program in the future as well," explains Hahn happily.
To the Homepage of the University Sports Center (ZHS)
To the Homepage of the General German University Sport Federation
Contact:
Michael Hahn
Zentraler Hochschulsport München (University Sports Center of Munich)
Connollystraße 32
80809 Munich
Telephone: 089 289 24650
Email: mic(at)tum.de
Text: Dr. Fabian Kautz
Photo: Julia Frasch /adh