Eight years ago, the competitive sports team of the German Sailing Federation moved from Hamburg to Kiel. Since the end of the 2016 Olympic year, DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner and her team have been working at the Olympic Centre in Kiel-Schilksee. "I previously had my office in Hamburg for eight years," says DSV Sports Director Nadine Stegenwalner, "it was a very good decision to move up here."
Competitive sport belongs in the Olympic Centre"
An eleven-strong DSV team regularly works in the national base offices for competitive sport. There are also two federal volunteers, known as BFD volunteers. The coaches and around 100 active or prospective top sailors from the Olympic, prospective and junior squads make the federal base a very lively and forward-looking sports facility.
An ideal environment
"You learn to appreciate it, and sometimes even love it," says Nadine Stegenwalner with a view of the concrete architecture from the 1960s, which was once designed on a grand scale for the 1972 Olympic Games. "A beautiful large harbour, good and spacious harbour areas and good cooperation with the harbour masters, Sporthafen Kiel GmbH, the state capital of Kiel and the state of Schleswig-Holstein inspire our work here and serve competitive sport," says Nadine Stegenwalner, naming the most striking advantages of the location.
However, the "pleasant environment" is also closely linked to the well-coordinated team and the short distances. For example, when Nadine Stegenwalner looks out of the window during a phone call in her office, she looks directly at the ramp, where young optimists and Olympic dinghies are pushed into the water for training and regattas. "Of course, you often have one eye outside to see if everything is going well. We can also help very quickly if necessary."
Exclusive athletics area
The athletics area, which is exclusively available to the German Sailing Team, is popular and highly frequented. "Our sailors don't have to share it. We know how flexibly such facilities need to be accessible and usable," explains Nadine Stegenwalner. There are few places where the athletes meet as regularly as on these 150 square metres, which offer outdoor equipment and plenty of space for coordination training and individual courses. There are no treadmills here, as the area surrounding the national training centre invites you to get plenty of exercise in the great outdoors with picture-book landscapes, such as running paths between the lighthouses of Strande and Bülk.
Huge boat hall
Another important part of the national base is the boat hall, including workshop, sanitary and drying area, sauna and measuring rooms, with an area of around 2,700 square metres. In busy times, the two dozen or so motorboats and more than 100 Olympic dinghies and boards of the sailors from the German Sailing Team and the junior teams from the Schleswig-Holstein Sailing Association pile up here. The large boat hall is largely available to the German Sailing Team. "The cooperation with the city of Kiel as the owner is excellent here, as everywhere else," attests Nadine Stegenwalner.
A professional team
Are there ever quiet times at the national centre? "No, it doesn't feel like it," says the conductor spontaneously and laughs. With ten very different Olympic disciplines, top performers and young talent, there is always something going on. Nadine Stegenwalner is supported by Marion Harm, assistant for competitive sports, Vincent Büsch, responsible for grants management and insurance, and the competitive sports officers Frithjof Schade and Lea Spitzmann. Olli Freiheit is also a sought-after contact as the national technology coach. Christian Aicham manages logistics tasks and challenges. As national base manager, Hendrik Ismar keeps an eye on the entire infrastructure and organises the junior programmes. With athletics coach Daniel Dettlaff and the experienced boat hall custodians Uwe Hötzel and Götz Meckenstock, Kiel-Schilksee has a strong team for competitive sport.
In international comparison, the opportunities are "very good", says Nadine Stegenwalner. "Perhaps not everything here is brand new. We are at home in the legacy of 1972. But basically, we are in very good hands at this location with the athletics area, the boat hall, the offices, the meeting rooms and also the DSV lounge directly on a beautiful sailing area."
A location with a history
It is a location with history at one of the largest yacht harbours along the German Baltic coast. No other currently active sailing performance centre in the world can claim to have hosted an Olympic regatta twice on its doorstep. The Bay of Strande and the Kiel Fjord, which today serve as an efficient, albeit cold winter training area for the German Sailing Association's squad sailors, were the stage on which German Olympic sailors won gold, silver and bronze respectively in 1936. Paul Borowski's dragon crew secured silver there in 1972, while Ulli Libor and Peter Naumann in the FD and Willy Kuhweide with Karsten Meyer in the Star boat won bronze medals. Most of them also trained previously in the area that continues to be the breeding ground for the Olympic sailors of tomorrow.
An ideal maritime environment
In addition to the competitive sports team, Schilksee is also home to the DSV technical, youth and special sailing disciplines. If you look from the harbour towards the land and the gigantic building complex with flats, a row of shops, maritime outfitters, an ice cream parlour and restaurants, you can reach the offices of the competitive sports teams via a staircase on the far right. The DSV Lounge, which was established a few years ago in the premises of the former "Luzifer", which is still well known to many sailors, can be reached by athletes and visitors via a wide staircase in the centre of the complex. During Kiel Week, the DSV Lounge becomes the living room and favourite meeting place for the athletes and thus a showcase for their sailing sport. The high attendance of the athletes regularly shows how much they enjoy being there together. "The DSV Lounge first appeared at Kiel Week 2017," says Nadine Stegenwalner, "it has developed really well. We are delighted to see that our athletes feel so comfortable here."
