In Germany, the connection between school sports and club sports is still at an unsatisfactory stage. This problem is, among other things, a topic in the 15th episode of DEB-Podcasts, “Coach the Coach”. Karl Schwarzenbrunner invited Ben Schulze, an expert in this field. In addition, Schulze, who recently became an employee for school and children's handball at the German Handball Association, will give a lecture in the DEB-Trainer training on the topic of didactics.
Schulze first gives an insight into the starting points of the didactics that he used in the DEB-Trainer training. “It can be divided into three basic building blocks: goals, content and methods,” explains Schulze. You have to choose them appropriately depending on the sport and intention. Personally, the topic of didactics is still neglected in the trainer training of the professional associations. “The more trainers build up didactic and methodological competence, the better,” he says: “You can’t just come from being a trainer through your specialist skills.”
Schulze then describes two common methods that exist for conveying content. But he also points out that “there is no silver bullet when it comes to conveying content. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages." On the one hand, he describes the inductive method, in which solutions are to be developed by the players themselves, but the coach gives them a goal. “In a 5-on-4 situation, the only goal I give as a coach is that the players should score a goal. The players then have to find the solution themselves.” This is contrasted with the deductive method, in which the trainer directly specifies both the goal and the solution.
“The trainer can,” describes Schulze, “apply corrections in both cases. We live in a time where there are no longer any athletes who will sign everything the coach says,” he emphasizes the use of the inductive method, especially in team sports. Finally, on this point, Schwarzenbrunner appeals, DEB-National trainer for training and science: “As a trainer, I have to deal with didactics and also reflect on whether my goals and content were adequately chosen.”
As a result, a lot of space is taken up by the deficits in the connection between competitive sports and school sports. “Organized sport has to take care of the primary school sector,” says Schulze. In his view, this is mainly because school sports have access to all children and not just the fraction in the clubs. “If we manage to lay the foundations in primary schools and increase children’s activity, then we have already achieved something incredible,” says Schulze.
It is important to also create opportunities for cooperation between schools and clubs. He criticizes the current structure: “The connection between club sports and school sports is almost non-existent in Germany.” Experts are needed for physical education at primary schools and the small number of sports lessons needs to be changed: “Sport needs one at primary schools higher priority, that’s essential.”
Schulze has recently been an employee for school and children's handball at the DHB. In the area of children's handball, his job is to support coaches and deal with their further training opportunities. The biggest goal in this area is to build a platform that provides valuable content to trainers and teachers. According to Schulze, school sports should be at a different level in ten years. “The activity of students is becoming more and more important,” says Schulze, so we need to “develop an awareness that school sports can do more than is the classic idea.”
Interdisciplinary thinking in order to meaningfully link sport with other subjects could be helpful by creating modules. Schulze hopes for “daily school sports that are linked to other subjects” and “a strong link between organized sports and school sports, in which specialist coaches are integrated into school sports”.
Here go to the podcast episode with Ben Schulze.