They have been in operation since the summer: seven calisthenics facilities spread across the entire city of Aachen. Calisthenics means intensive physical training without additional weights, using only your own body weight, usually on simple outdoor sports equipment reminiscent of classic gymnastics on parallel bars or horizontal bars. To make the training even more varied, the city has now set up a so-called sports box in a pilot project, which contains additional sports equipment to supplement the training. Yesterday (Tuesday, September 24), this box was officially inaugurated at the Rütscher Straße calisthenics facility. Dr. Markus Kremer, City Councillor for Personnel, Fire Service and Sport, was delighted with the new facility: "Numerous surveys conducted as part of the sports development plan have shown that people want more sports facilities in the city: People want more outdoor sports facilities. That's why we are particularly pleased about the new calisthenics facilities." These training facilities would be perfect for the much-desired outdoor sports that are independent of clubs.
Although the training is independent of any club, an Aachen sports club has taken on the sponsorship for each of the facilities. PTSV Aachen looks after the calisthenics equipment on Rütscher Straße and will create additional training opportunities by offering supervised courses. A commitment that sports department head Kremer praised: "These facilities can only be run well if there are people who keep an eye on them and feel responsible for them as sponsors."
"Ideal implementation"
With the aim of strengthening the existing sports infrastructure within the city area, the city of Aachen and the Stadtsportbund Aachen planned and built the seven new outdoor sports facilities. The project was realized with 500,000 euros from the "Modern Sports Facility 2022" funding programme of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the renovation and modernization of sports facilities and a contribution from the city of Aachen. The state government had made a total of 23 million euros available for NRW. Detlef Berthold, responsible for sports facilities in the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, came to Aachen and was enthusiastic: "We have a really successful implementation here in Aachen, almost ideal." He particularly praised the exemplary cooperation between the city and the city sports association. Björn Jansen, Chairman of the Stadtsportbund Aachen, agreed: "With a facility like this, it's not enough just to put it up. Planning services in advance and maintenance are also part of it."
Opening the box via an app - equipment is free of charge
Training weights - known as kettlebells -, a training rope, modern medicine balls, skipping ropes and much more: the contents of the SportBox greatly expand the range of outdoor training options.
The box can be opened via the "SportBox - app and move" app, the sports equipment can be borrowed free of charge and used at the facility. A one-off fee of 50 cents is required to install the app. After that, use is free of charge. You have to log in with your personal data each time you use the app. Only then will the door to the sports equipment open. The athlete is also responsible for ensuring that the equipment is returned to the locker at the end of training and that it is locked. According to information from the municipal sports department, this procedure works very well in other municipalities.