It is the big dream for every young ice hockey player: making the jump to the National Hockey League (NHL) or the step into Germany's highest league, the German Ice Hockey League (DEL). It's a long way to go, but if you have enough talent and commitment, you can achieve these goals. No one knows this better than the players and coaches of the German national ice hockey team. Each of them started small - with their first attempts on the ice, their first ice hockey game or their first goal or save. In the #homevisit series, the national players and the national coach return to their homeland. In the fourth edition, we report on national coach Marco Sturm and his sponsorship of a school project in Dingolfing.
At the end of July, this year's national coach retreat of the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund (DEB) instead of. During the three days of the event, the coaches led by national coach Marco Sturm exchanged views on, among other things, sports-related topics and defined the targets for the new season. Traditionally, there is a photo session as part of the national coaches' retreat, but one national coach was missing from this event this year - Marco Sturm! And there was a reason for that: the Dingolfing native was heading home on Autobahn 92 at the time. The goal: the Hans Glas triple gym in Dingolfing.
There, the Herzog-Tassilo-Realschule received the “School without Racism – School with Courage” award at a ceremony. Through the project, almost 85% of the school family had committed in advance to counteracting any form of discrimination, especially racism, through sustainable activities (such as theater performances, exhibitions or initiatives). In this context, it is also about moral courage and courageous intervention if any kind of violence (psychological, verbal or physical) occurs. Marco Sturm took over the sponsorship of the project, even interrupted the national trainers' meeting to be at the event and drove almost 300 kilometers to his home town of Dingolfing.
“This was an absolute matter of the heart for me,” explained the national coach after the event. “The children and their teachers were so committed to the project in advance and really deserved the award.” The liaison teacher Margit Lindl returned the praise to Marco Sturm. “As a representative of sport, you not only embody ideals such as fair play, but also heart and character,” explained Lindl, highlighting his social commitment within the framework of the Marco Sturm Foundation. “There is probably no better example than the various national teams and sports clubs where people from numerous countries work together for success.”
Tolerance is a tradition at the Dingolfing secondary school - and this should be continued more than ever, especially after this award. Margit Lindl put it aptly: “Justice and equal treatment are high values that are worth fighting for again and again.”