The “Integration in Ice Hockey” program of the German Ice Hockey Federation e. V (DEB) reached further milestones in the past few weeks: The Saale Bulls from Halle implemented a high-profile campaign for tolerance and against racism at the start of the Oberliga playoffs, which was launched by DEB and the Yasin Ehliz sports promotion was supported.
With the Red Devils Bad Nauheim, another club will actively promote integration within the IIHF project “hockey is variety” in the future and will now be a base club for the DOSB’s federal program “Integration through Sport”.
Saale Bulls set an exclamation mark for tolerance and against racism
The Saale Bulls from Halle have set an important example for tolerance and against racism. The opening matchday of the playoffs in Halle against Memmingen on March 15, 2019 was under the motto “Sport connects Sachsen-Anhalt“. The players from the major league team wore special jerseys for the warm-up with individual messages promoting tolerant coexistence. In addition, the campaign was presented by the stadium announcer shortly before the start of the game.
“Sport brings us together Sachsen-Anhalt“ is an alliance of various sports associations Sachsen-Anhalts who decided to launch a joint action during the International Weeks Against Racism (March 11 to 24, 2019). The alliance was created after the events in Chemnitz in 2018.
Manuel Hiemer, President of the State Ice Sports Association Sachsen-Anhalt: “The discussions between the regional association, the Saale Bulls and their cooperation partner ESV Halle quickly led to an agreement to carry out the campaign at a prominent location at the start of the playoffs. In the future, children and professionals from the two clubs will jointly convey the message of the campaign “Sport connects Sachsen-Anhalt" transport."
The DEB supported the project in Halle in collaboration with the Yasin Ehliz sports promotion. The warmup jerseys were designed and financed together: “An exemplary campaign that we are happy to support. Because ice hockey brings people together across language and cultural barriers. “We experienced it ourselves and would like to act as mediators and partners in the area of integration,” says Abdullah Ehliz, father of national player Yasin Ehliz.
The Yasin Ehliz sports promotion is committed to the areas of talent promotion and integration. It supports clubs or projects in the young talent sector nationwide.
“We are pleased to have an experienced partner like Yasin Ehliz Sports Promotion and the entire Ehliz family at our side in the area of integration and diversity in ice hockey. They pass on their experiences to other families with a migrant background and thus provide important support in the area of integration,” says DEB-Employee Julia Eisenrieder, who is responsible for the integration projects of the DEB responsible is.
The photos from the opening matchday of the playoffs in Halle against Memmingen:
Bad Nauheim installs diversity officers
As part of the “Hockey is variety” project initiated with the IIHF, numerous clubs in Germany are committed to giving children with a migrant background access to ice hockey. In addition to the EHC Straubing, the base clubs as part of the federal program “Integration through Sport” (DOSB) now also include the Young Talent Department of the Rote Teufel Bad Nauheim. The Red Devils are one of the first ice hockey clubs in Germany to have a diversity officer installed in the organizational structure. In addition, other clubs are to become support clubs for the federal program. Appropriate discussions with the DEB to run.
Further milestones of the DEB- “Integration in Ice Hockey” program
The cooperation within the framework of the DEB-Trainer training with the speaker pool of the Bavarian State Sports Association as part of the “Integration in Ice Hockey” project will be continued. A corresponding training event for all trainers DEB will take place in September 2019.
Julia Eisenrieder (Integration in Ice Hockey Project Unit) and Karl Schwarzenbrunner (Federal Coach Training and Science) took part in a DOSB workshop as part of the federal program “Integration through Sport”. Under the project name “ASPIRE”, international sports associations presented their best practices in the area of integration and encouraged cross-exchange.
In Baden-Württemberg A four-week trial training course for preschool children was implemented last fall. Under the motto “Little Heroes on the Ice”, the following clubs are taking part in the campaign: Freiburg, Ravensburg, Esslingen and Balingen.