"Sport free!" is not only the motto for pupils

Luise & Paul Ogorsolka

Luise and Paul Ogorsolka are saddened by the fact that sport is one of the many areas of life that have been particularly restricted by the pandemic. As PE teachers at two primary schools in Chemnitz, they want to counteract the lack of exercise that not only pupils but most people have experienced this winter. The result can be found on their YouTube channel "Dein Sportlehrer". The married couple have produced training videos from school sports and many other disciplines.

What motivated you to offer sports lessons online?
Paul: We created the videos so that our students could do sports at home during the lockdown. The basic idea was for them to do sport with us, so to speak. Over time, the videos spread and became so popular that others wanted to try them out too. So we thought: "Why not?" and made the channel available to other teachers across Germany via Twitter and Instagram so that children from other schools could also benefit from it.

Were there already child-friendly training videos on YouTube before you?
Luise: Some children's sports programmes are almost too childish for primary schools and the training videos of some successful YouTubers are too revealing for children. There are already lots of sports videos on the internet or YouTube, but these are often aimed at younger children from nursery schools, but primary school children are much more "grown-up" and want to be treated as such. We orientated ourselves on that.
Paul: We wanted our videos to come as close as possible to PE lessons at school. We made sure that there was intensive movement time in our videos: That we don't spend five minutes of ten talking, three minutes doing sport and two minutes of credits, but that the ten minutes are really training time. It was important to us that the videos were short and snappy, strenuous and yet easily explained for the children - simply suitable for beginners. That's why many parents took part in the training. Especially now, when many people are working from home or homeschooling, the videos should show something that is easy to do at home and that is good for you.

So your videos were originally intended for primary school children, but now the whole family is taking part?
Luise: Yes, we've had a lot of feedback. Even the secretary at our school is taking part in my leg programme, for example. It also appeals to adults. We have been sent or shown films and photos of our pupils doing sport with their parents or siblings in front of the TV or another medium. I think that's really nice because it's an effective family time when you do something together.
Paul: Our partner workout, for example, was quite funny during filming, we had to record some situations several times because we were laughing our heads off. I think a lot of people had fun with that at home too. Dad can also do it with his 8-year-old son or daughter.
Luise: The videos should also be entertaining for the children so that they have fun and can be quickly inserted. Often the videos that exist are 20-30 minutes long, but you don't have that kind of time during homeschooling. And so the children can do five to ten minutes of sport during their break.

It takes about five hours from training in front of the camera to the finished video on YouTube. "We've got faster at filming over time, but it still takes a long time to record and edit," reveals Paul Ogorsolka. The DPFA Regenbogen primary school, where he teaches, has made its gym available for the project, as well as a tripod, so that Luise and Paul Ogorsolka only need their own smartphones to film. They reach over 400 subscribers with each video and their training sessions have already been viewed over 21,000 times.

Why is your channel called "Dein Sportlehrer" and not, for example, "Deine Sportlehrer"? Was it planned differently?
Paul: We had hoped that it would "explode" even more - that other sports teachers besides the two of us would join the channel and produce their own videos for it. But unfortunately that hasn't happened so far, so we just left the name as it is. We had planned that perhaps a lot of sports teachers would join in one day.

You offer training sessions not only in "traditional" school sports, but also in a wide range of other disciplines, such as yoga - why did you choose this?
Luise: Because I really enjoy doing yoga myself and wanted to give children access to this sport. So that they realise that yoga is a really cool thing and that they can perhaps mobilise together with their mums or dads. It's a nice addition to what we offer.
Paul: Stretching isn't exactly met with enthusiasm by pupils. It's different with yoga, then they know a few figures like the "tree" or the "cosmic dancer". It's more visual and more appealing to the children than calf stretching exercises, for example. We can also see that the children are shortened and yoga can make them more flexible again.
Luise:...and also stronger. Yoga is not just stretching, but also mobilisation and strengthening, but in a gentle way. Some children don't want to "power through", some simply feel more at ease in yoga.

When is a good time for your training videos?
Luise: During the breaks. With our daughter, for example, we make sure that she always has a 15-minute break and we write down which exercises she can do during this time. And in the afternoons, the children can train together with their parents from time to time.

How do you organise the training sessions?
Paul: We based them on what would have been on the curriculum in January: strength training, jumping rope and so on. First we included full-body exercises and then we split it up. Then a trainer said to us: "Why don't you make a video about coordination", so that's what we did.
Luise: It's time-consuming, but it's fun. With the aerobics videos, we wanted to help the teachers a bit so that they can look at the steps again. Or you can also tell the students to watch the video at home and practise the choreography. They can then put together a sequence of steps and the teacher will then assess it.

How long do you want to continue the channel?
Luise: We don't actually want to end it. I think we always come up with something that we would like to do. Something that is still close to my heart would be athletics. That we take up the individual learning areas.
Paul: Perhaps we could also film a few examples of outdoor sports. So far, we've sometimes produced two to three videos a week, but we can't do that anymore because we're back at school full time. But maybe we can make one video a week.

What advice would you give to people who don't do sport or haven't done sport for a long time?
Luise: Don't take on too much and do what you really enjoy. And don't set your goals too high. If you haven't done any sport before, you don't have to manage 15 minutes of endurance training. You should just do moderate exercise and go outside. It's important to us that children can explore their world of movement and that they can play outside. Sport is also important, but I believe that if the children are outside all afternoon, you can achieve a lot.
Paul: You shouldn't overdo it at the beginning. It's usually the case with adults that they go jogging for half an hour at the start of the new year, maybe they've never been running before, then everything hurts for a week and they don't feel like it anymore.
Luise : Maybe also train together with friends or family and, above all, regularly. That you always go for a bike ride or play a round of football on Tuesday afternoons. I would definitely recommend that you set yourself this date. And maybe also look at what clubs there are here in Chemnitz. A club cushions a lot. Club work is extremely important to me and that people realise that the clubs are a place where children can find support. It is so important that the children are anchored there and in the end it is a foundation stone for them to be able to do sport for a lifetime. It also creates great friendships.

Is Chemnitz well-positioned in terms of club sports?
Luise: Yes, but membership numbers are unfortunately declining, mainly due to coronavirus. Many people can no longer afford the club membership fee or are wondering why they should pay it now when they can "only" train online.

What worries you that some sports lessons and club sports have been completely cancelled and it's still too early to say when they can start again?
Luise: What bothers me most about the whole situation is that club sports have fallen asleep to the extent that you really can't do anything together in the club anymore. The children also no longer cycle or walk to school, they are only at home and at the end of the school day their range of movement is minimal. That's a huge disaster. The children sit most of the time. But I think the mood is changing again now. I think the children just want to move around, they want to be with each other, they want to interact, lose and win together.
The children who are now back at school are more immobile. Eight weeks makes a big difference, it's frightening. And then, of course, you wonder what happens next. Many may not be able to reconnect with the club or may stop playing altogether. It's essential to react and work on support for the clubs.
Paul: Coaches from the clubs often came to the school for trial sports lessons, which didn't work for over a year.
Luise: I think the big drama is yet to come. And we're trying to counteract this and keep the children happy. School sport is hugely important, but at the moment lessons can only take place in the core subjects. We have advised our pupils to do sport anyway.
Paul: I then shortened some of the coordination video and put it online for other teachers so that they could also have a "moving break" with the children. It includes exercises like the jumping jack.
Luise: The children also crave movement. When we're in the yard break, they run, they have this natural urge to move and that should be fully supported. Sport is also a subject that picks up all the children. The children who are good at maths or German may not be quite as good at sport, but those who don't find it so easy in other subjects can prove themselves in sport.

What effects does the lack of sport (lessons) have on the pupils?
Luise: Overweight, back pain, the children become more immobile and their psyche also suffers because the children want to move. We humans are designed to move a lot during the day and if the children can't do that, then they are unhappy. This leads to secondary illnesses that I don't even want to imagine. The worst thing is when a child's body atrophies. That the muscles break down, that everything becomes shorter, that the children become crooked because they sit for so long each day.
Paul: And it's particularly important to do sport as your child grows - for example, abdominal and back training - otherwise you'll be constantly in physiotherapy later on.
Luise: At some point, your body can no longer compensate if you're so immobile. I think that causes problems for children later on. As a child, you develop the body that you will have at some point and the older you get, the harder it is to build up muscles. Of course you can, but it's better if you don't let it get that far.

From an athlete's point of view: What do you think about Chemnitz being European Capital of Culture 2025?
Luise: It offers a lot of opportunities. Because sport is culture and makes a big contribution. You can reach so many people with sport. For example, you could realise overarching projects that combine sport and art. I think a lot is possible here. Sport is very important in the city.
Paul: I came here from Dresden because Chemnitz has always been a city of sport in my eyes. You couldn't study sport in Dresden, for example. And being recognised as a sports city should be more important again.

Is there anything specific that you would like to see by 2025?
Paul: That something is done for the children. Cycling tours in Chemnitz, for example, are not yet suitable for children everywhere if you have to take them on country roads without cycle paths. We definitely need to make improvements to make it more family-friendly.
Luise: In general, I would like to see better cycling facilities and improved playgrounds. That more opportunities for children to exercise are created. Because at the end of the day, everyone wants children to go outside and they need places to do that.