Long runner and new Highlights

Both excellent in teaching and in prevention- and health promotion. To create a balance between seminars, lectures und learning sessions, students have the possibility to choose their favorite discipline from around 90 different kinds of sports. The offers of the recently started winter term were now introduced by the HSZ.

 

"The demand is as overwhelming as ever", states Peter Lynen, head of the HSZ. In the first five minutes, around 4000 people registered already for courses of the winter term 2016/17, in the first half of an hour, the registrations counted up to 6000. "The run on our offers is enormous", adds Lynen and that also has a good reason: "There are no inter-faculty offers - beside the nightlife". So the sport offers build a bridge across this matter - everyone is able to participate in the courses, so that friendships can be created and bonds between the students of different subjects can be tied. "Fitness with music" isn't called "Kontakthüpfen" without reason - "the name says it all", states a pleased Lynen. In sports he also sees the possibility "to create bonds beyond language barriers", which is quite important for international students.

The objective of the HSZ is to fulfil the demands of diversity. Those, who couldn't be enthusiastic about sports in school yet, can discover in University, how varied sport can be, that it does somebody good and that it can be fun. That is why in this semester, apart from the "long runners", there are also a lot of new offers. Because of the great demand, free running has been introduced and also cheerleading can be learned now. "Not like in America, in which only girls are dancing in the front row - mechanical engineers start up together", confirms Lynen.

The new internet appearance

Apart from the new sport offers, something else has changed in the HSZ: the web page. "We have a new internet appearance since 26 of September", declares Caterina Clemens, press officer of the HSZ. She adds: "The design matches the one of the University, it is optimized for mobile devices and attractive due to its strong illustrations." Lynen made clear that the web page has also been completely translated into English, which is unique in Germany,. Until now, the relaunch and also the HSZ are very satisfied, because of the positive feedback.

It is just the same rearding the work in teh health sector. "The offers are quite varied and there is a high demand", states Clemens and emphasizes that the sector should also be extended. Yoga and Pilates are very popular and now also the Facial Training will be included in the programm. In charge from 2009 to 2011, the HSZ organized a project for health promotion. Since then the so called "Pausenexpress", which consists of exercises during lunch break for the often seated employees, takes place. "This model is considered as a positive example for movement offers by the Federal Ministry of Health", declares Lynen. So it seemed just to be the right thing to create an offer for students as well, which resulted in enjoying great popularity. From January 2017 on, the HSZ is responsible for the realization of an Europe-wide project, in which 17 Universities from seven different countries participate. "Participating are Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal", mentions Lynen. "The project should work out "Good Practice" models for those who are abstinent to sports", he explains, so that the fun regarding sports will be extended Europe-wide. The project will be supported by Erasmus+ and limited to two years.

"Apart from the varied sport offers, the events are the second major pillar of the HSZ", Melih Özkardes, coordinator of events at HSZ, emphasizes. There will be a lot of events in the winter months "to create a bond and to present Aachen as Place-to-be", he adds. The Gala Ball on November 26 is one of the highlights of this winter semester and there are just a few entrance tickets left, the Ice Hockey Uni-Cup on December 8, whose advance ticket sale is an event for itself, or the University Sports Show on February 8 with "performances fromone's own ranks", describes Özkardes.

Snowevents

And it wouldn't be winter without the Snow Events of the HSZ, in which the students of RWTH "can try out Snowboarding and Skiing in Landgraaf", states Uli Weber, employee at HSZ and responsible for the winter sport offers. "The HSZ also organizes skiing courses for different levels and then the learned skills can be tried out at the extra tours in the mountains", declares Weber. In these skiing tours, offered by the HSZ and organized by the students, the cooperation is very important. "It is not only about skiing, but also about having a great time together", he adds. The students, which were trained to be ski and snowboard instructors at HSZ, are in charge of those excursions. This training will be accepted by the German Ski Association because of its quality - and this is also a feature of the University Sport in Aachen, Germany. "We are an educational and service institution. Sport isn't only of importance when it comes to balance, but also offers the opportunity to develop one's knowledge and to learn something.

For the future, the head of the University Sports Center hopes, that the existing sports complexes will be renewed and that new ones will be established. "Referring to representative surveys, we know that around 70 percent of students would like to participate in University sports - but up to now, we can envy only around 20 percent. To improve the situation, there are discussions about the establishment of new sports complexes at Campus Melaten", describes Lynen, who is confident regarding the coming semesters.

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