Scoring points for Chemnitz

Malte Ziegenhagen

He is one of the NINERS' absolute crowd favourites - basketball player Malte Ziegenhagen. However, the Berlin native fights for his adopted home of Chemnitz to the highest degree not only on the court, but also off it. He is involved in social projects, is pushing Chemnitz's bid to become the Capital of Culture and runs basketball camps for children.

The first winter camp has just come to an end. How would you sum it up?
Malte Ziegenhagen: I am absolutely delighted and still overwhelmed that so many children signed up. My goal was 60 children - that's what I had hoped for. I still didn't expect that there would actually be 60 kids in the end. You can tell that Chemnitz is becoming more and more involved and identified with basketball. Basketball has arrived with the kids. So I think it's really great that so many children are enthusiastically taking part in the RAISE UP ACADEMY.

Do you think that basketball is competing with football?
It's always a good thing when children have a lot of choice. There's no competition, it's a different offer. I believe that the children are taught values here, just like in football. I don't want to compete with that at all. The winter holidays are there for camps or training opportunities. And that's what we offer the children. We want to keep it that way in the future.

In 2017, Malte Ziegenhagen founded the RAISE UP ACADEMY, which means to raise or grow together. "I first came into contact with the camps at my last college in Florida," he says, explaining what motivated him to do so. "I thought it was really great to interact with the children." There was no such camp in Chemnitz in 2018. The professional basketball player organised his first camp in the summer with almost 35 children aged 7 to 14. "It was totally exciting and new. It's a challenge for me every year. In 2019, we already had 60 children. I was totally overwhelmed." But the RAISE UP ACADEMY is not just about the sporting challenge. Last year, the kids visited the permaculture garden on the Sonnenberg. This is also used as an educational garden for children. Here they looked after the beds and designed colourful stakes for the garden. This year's academy included a visit to the Alternative Youth Centre (AJZ).

Why do you emphasise extracurricular activities during your camp?
For me, it's important to be involved in society. That means being a small part of it. The AJZ offers so much and it was important to me that the kids see what's on offer. Values that are important to me are taught here. The children have come out of their comfort zone here, have been challenged with activities such as climbing or skateboarding and have had to overcome their fears. That's what I like to tease out.

How was the programme at the AJZ received?
It was very exciting to see how they reacted. For example, many of them had never stood on a skateboard before. At the end, there was a small feedback round in which they could rate the activities. The reactions were consistently positive.

You want to develop the largest youth camp in Germany. "Baking small rolls" is not your thing? Where does the ambition come from?
I didn't think 2018 was a good year for Chemnitz: with the pictures of the city that went around the world in the summer. That's why it was important to me that the children get a brand that they can identify with. I've lived here for a while now and it feels like Chemnitz is somehow lagging behind the other two big cities, Leipzig and Dresden. And you can still be proud to come from this city. That's why I want to build something here that the kids are proud of, because they come from Chemnitz and are part of the RAISE UP ACADEMY.

The NINERS team has developed into an identifier in recent years. And I want to achieve the same with the academy. My next goal is to organise the camps throughout Saxony. We've already had some talks with potential cooperation partners. They should become more established. They have already become a brand in Chemnitz.

At the 2019 summer academy, you were in the permaculture garden on the Sonnenberg. You said that you wanted to bring this neighbourhood closer to the kids. Why the Sonnenberg in particular?
It reminds me of my home. I grew up in Tempelhof. With Neukölln and Kreuzberg around the corner, it reminds me of Sonnenberg. It's diverse and I like that. The people are honest and I feel at home here. That's why I hope that the cultural projects on and for Sonnenberg will continue to establish themselves.

Malte Ziegenhagen has already travelled a lot through basketball. At the age of 16, he played in Argentina for twelve months and lived in the USA from 2011 to 2015. Before joining Chemnitz in the summer of 2016, he had already spent a year in the first division in Bayreuth. In four years with the NINERS, during which he never missed a competitive game, he not only became a crowd favourite, but is also about to write himself into the history books of Chemnitz basketball. With 1,738 points, he ranks second on the club's all-time scoring list, just behind Jaivon Harris (1,764) and ahead of team-mate Virgil Matthews (1,677). With 133 competitive games for the NINERS, he has the fourth most appearances in a Chemnitz jersey behind Virgil Matthews (166), Jonas Richter (162) and Andreas Worenz (134). He could move up one place in both lists. Ziegenhagen could also be part of the greatest success in the club's 20-year history. Promotion to the Bundesliga is within reach.

Do you get nervous when you think about the rest of the season?
I have to be honest and say that it's difficult to judge. The play-offs have their own rules. But I have a very good feeling about the team. Everyone knows what's at stake and we have players in our squad who have already been promoted. We simply need that experience. We lacked that last year. If we stay injury-free, it will be difficult to stop us.

When you started in 2016, could you have imagined that you'd still be here four years later?
(as if shot from a gun) No.

It's also a very long time for a basketball player?
Absolutely. Actually, the goal was to stay for one, maximum two years and then move on. But there are many reasons that simply drew me back here. Everything fits together and I feel very much at home here.

This is also evident in your commitment to the city, which goes beyond basketball. Where does this passion for a city that is not your home come from?
That's a good question that I've never been asked before. When the Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig asked me if I would like to attend the presentation of the Capital of Culture bid, it was a great honour. There was such a bad atmosphere in the city in 2018 and I wasn't used to it at all. I've been here since 2016 and for me Chemnitz has always been a very quiet working-class city. Then you see this reporting in the media. My teammates were suddenly afraid that they would be beaten up on the street just because of the colour of their skin. Something happened inside me because I'd never been exposed to right-wing extremism like that before. That's why I took a stand, because I want the city to move forward. We have built up so much with the NINERS and I am a part of that. I don't want this work to be in vain, I want it to continue to grow. I already saw that as a threat, also because Chemnitz has become a kind of home for me. I don't want to have a home that is portrayed in such a bad light. That's why I got involved accordingly.

In mid-December, Malte Ziegenhagen was part of the ten-strong team that presented Chemnitz's bid to become European Capital of Culture 2025 to the jury in Berlin. With the captain of the NINERS, the broad concept of culture came into play: team spirit, fair play, fan culture, internationality.

You play basketball in front of several thousand people every week. Were you nervous before the presentation?
I was very nervous. I wanted to do my part, which lasted three minutes, well and not fail. It was a really tough situation. As I said, I play in front of 5,000 people and then you go into a room for the presentation in front of 15 people who judge you and say yes or no. It was a really big responsibility. That was a really big responsibility for the city. I was sweating so much.

And after the presentation, we went straight on to the away game.
Straight to Quakenbrück (laughs). My performance was subterranean and I only scored three points. But we won, that was the main thing.

Are you optimistic about our chances in the Capital of Culture?
I hope so. It's just a great thing that the city needs. And why shouldn't we be able to do it? There is a lot of competition, especially from Magdeburg. But good work is being done in Chemnitz.

Because we were just in the period from four years ago. Where do you see yourself in 2024?
(Laughs) In the sports business, you never know what will happen in a long time for an athlete. But I wish I was still in Chemnitz in four years' time. And to remain a part of the process that is currently progressing and growing.