Golfing made easy

Frank Joachim Seidel

Anyone who thinks of golfing as an older man with a cap, polo shirt and sports car is mistaken. At Golfclub Chemnitz e.V., every sixth member is still an adolescent. Work with children and young people is a top priority here, which is why Frank Joachim Seidel, club manager and golf coach at Golfclub Chemnitz e.V., together with many volunteers and hard-working club members from Ictus Academicus e.V., launched the "Children golfing for children" project. The challenge was to unite 875 children on the golf course in Klaffenbach to mark the town's 875th anniversary. The campaign starts on Thursday, 14 June. He tells us whether 875 children will come together and why golfing may soon be on the school curriculum in our Maker of the Week interview.

Did you manage to get 875 children together for 14 June?
Frank Joachim Seidel: Unfortunately, we didn't manage that, but we have 453 children, which is definitely a record! This year is the eighth instalment of the "Children golf for children" project and we have never had so many children.

What happens on the golf course on the day?
We close half of the golf course, that's over 20 hectares, which is freely accessible to the children. The whole event starts at 08:30 and ends at 13:00. There are several courses on the golf course and there are different stations for the children to master. These are from a wide variety of areas: from science to sport to dexterity. The Faculty of Mathematics at Chemnitz University of Technology, for example, offers puzzles, the Mozart Foundation presents singing education, the volunteer fire brigade is on site with a station and the city sports association itself also presents two stations on sports opportunities. There will also be plenty of sports to try out: Tennis, ice hockey, football, boxing, baseball, football and much more.

How did you come up with the idea?
The idea came about eight years ago, on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of Chemnitz University of Technology. At the time, we were a group of students who had founded the Ictus Academicus e. V. association, and our task was to do something with the numbers one, seven and five. Our association endeavours to spread the sport of golf, whether to primary school pupils or university students. We want to show that golf is not just something for "grown-ups", but a sport for young people that can be played well into old age and in the fresh air. That's why we set up the 1-7-5 project "Children golfing for children" and tried to attract 175 children to the golf course at Klaffenbach moated castle to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Chemnitz University of Technology. We wanted to show the children what possibilities there are for organising their free time: off the couch, away from the TV, away from the smartphone. That's what we wanted to achieve with the project. And because not just 175 children came together the first time, but 383, we have subsequently carried it out every year. This year, we took 875 years of Chemnitz as the occasion. It's also a huge talent scouting event, so to speak, because there are so many clubs and children on site, which is a great opportunity for all Chemnitz clubs.

Does golf have problems recruiting young talent?
Every sport will struggle in the coming years. It's not getting any better. Unfortunately, children are no longer coming to the clubs of their own accord, but I think the sports or the clubs need to do a U-turn and realise that children are more and more tied up at school. If we want young talent, then we have to go to schools, that's where the children are. We follow this principle and go to schools, openly present our sport and are successful with it.

How do you get children interested in golf?
There are so-called tee-off school projects that we organise here on the course. In cooperation with the Klaffenbach primary school, for example, the children can try out their first tee shots. Most of the children have no connection to the sport yet, but are completely open-minded. They just give it a go and approach it without any preconceptions. Most of them say it's fun, they think it's cool and they want to do it again. We have around 100 children who are active players.

And how do you keep the children playing golf?
It's important that fun is the top priority. If the children also socialise on the golf course, then they enjoy coming to training. You shouldn't try to impose a stubborn technical approach. But the trainer-child relationship is also important. Golf always presents the child with challenges, it is not an easy sport, which makes it interesting for children again, but fun and exercise should come first.

Not everyone approaches golf as open-mindedly as children do. Why is there a prejudice that golf is an elite sport? And is that true?
In Germany, the development of golf is still in progress but on the right track. But if you look at America, England or Sweden, golf is a popular sport there. Here, you usually still have to justify yourself: You play golf - how did you get into it? It wasn't long ago that you had to pay horrendous fees to join a golf club in the first place. Golf was simply a higher-class sport that was not affordable for everyone and this is still stored in people's minds. However, developments in recent years clearly show that golf as a whole is opening up and becoming accessible to everyone.

Of course, it cannot be denied that golf can only be played on a golf course that has a certain amount of land. And this area has to be managed on a daily basis. At this point, of course, there are fixed costs for employees, machines, etc. It is simply inconceivable that such a large area can be managed for a low club fee. However, with the slightly higher membership fee, members also have permanent access - day and night - to a 55-hectare area in the countryside. This is becoming increasingly attractive for many people.

Frank Seidel himself was originally a handball and badminton player until he picked up a golf club for the first time through the tee-off school project. He was 16 years old at the time. (The youngest member of Golfclub Chemnitz e.V. is three and a half years old.) Together with seven fellow students, he founded the Ictus Academicus e. V. association in 2010. The project "Children golfing for children" was not only intended to highlight sporting alternatives, but also to generate donations for a good cause. This commitment was honoured in 2015 with the "Star of Sport" in bronze and silver. The fact that a golfing initiative made it this far in such a competition was a first in Germany. The German Golf Association immediately became aware of the Chemnitz project. "We were actually just a group of students. But something big has emerged from a small idea," enthuses Frank Joachim Seidel.

You also try to bring golf closer to pupils by cooperating with local schools. What would it be like to offer golf as a school sport?
That's my goal, that we can establish this in Chemnitz. The Erfurt Sports High School has already taken the step of including golf as a sport with eight courses. I work almost every day to ensure that this also succeeds at other locations, for example in Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. Here in Chemnitz, we have already built up a good network with the primary schools, the university and the city sports association. The school in Klaffenbach is right next to the golf course, so the children can come to training by bike or sometimes on foot. That would be a very good idea and I would like to see it continue.

Speaking of wishes: Chemnitz is applying to be European Capital of Culture 2025. What do you wish for the city until then?
I would like the city to support sports programmes even more. We must make a commitment to children and young people. Together, we need to work against the trend of children being taken away from nature more and more. I notice, for example, that coordination in movement is deteriorating. Children are missing out on their environment and we need to work on this together with the city and create more programmes. Culture also has something to do with club structures, and this is where we could provide support and create new exercise programmes, including directly in the city's schools. Golf is ready for this step and is open to this development.