Many children risk their first attempts

Advertising for ski jumping has created a mini hill on the Schneeberg market. The fun was the focus for most young eagles.
Schneeberg. Ski jumping at the Schneeberg market: Max Leon Ledermann wears ski boots and a helmet. Wolfgang Riedel from Peter Riedel GmbH in Raschau, which provided the transportable mini-hill on Saturday for the children’s fair, explains to the little fellow from Schneeberg what to do. First the six-year-old tries the pure descent, then for the first time over the K-4 hill. Wolfgang Riedel holds him by the hands.

Max Leon glides over the small jump table and lands the jump. Only on the third attempt, which every child has, does he take off from the very top. "Great," says Max Leon. His mom is proud: "He is anyway a lively, sporty boy." The youngster already has the swimming badge, and he plays football. In ski jumping, Andrea Ledermann is more cautious: "You imagine it as risky."

Heike and Frank Schindler see the action as nice promotion for the sport. They also allow their daughter Annika to jump on the mini hill. It doesn’t bother them that the five-year-old wears a skirt. The girl bravely works her way up and back down. "She is very lively, but she hasn’t ski-falled yet," says Heike Schindler. She also admits that as a mother she’s always a bit anxious. For dad Frank, however, it’s clear: "If Annika really wants it, I would support her." And his daughter is happy: "My dad always supports me."

Alone by Saturday noon, more than 60 children had dared to try the facility. Mayor Frieder Stimpel calls it a successful action: "In addition, Volksbank donates one euro for each jump. The money will go into children and youth work." For the girls and boys, jumping is free. The more than 1,000 euros in expenses for the action are covered in other ways. "About half is financed by Volksbank. The rest cover the fitness studio Fit up and us as a city," says Stimpel.

Coach Herbert Neudert from SV Fortuna Pöhla, however, considers the advertising effect to be rather modest. Because a club that would take in the talents is missing: "From Schneeberg to Pöhla is just too far for many." Nevertheless, Neudert came with some of his young protégés to the mountain town. "For them it’s fun. Normally they already jump from 20-meter hills."
His colleague Rolf Mädler from WSV Johanngeorgenstadt sees it a bit differently: "For my little ones who don’t yet dare to tackle larger facilities, it’s just good." Jared Bennett from Antonsthal was accordingly excited: "It’s a huge amount of fun."

published on 02.06.2014 (By Katja Lippmann-Wagner) © Copyright Chemnitzer Verlag und Druck GmbH & Co. KG