At the end of this semester, Prof. Dr. Michael Krüger will retire after 25 years at the Institute of Sport and Exercise Sciences. In 1999, he took over the current department of "Sports Pedagogy and Sports History" from his predecessor, Prof. Dr. Hans Langenfeld, and continued the tradition of historical sports pedagogy. From 2001 to 2013, he served as the Managing Director, directly guiding the fate of the institute. It was a time of structural transformation, during which the foundation for further successful research and teaching development at the IfS was laid. From 2004 to 2012, Prof. Krüger also served as the Managing Editor of the journal "Sportwissenschaft" (now "German Journal of Exercise and Sport Research"), significantly influencing the development of German sports science. His interest extended beyond the academic realm to the pedagogical and practical aspects of sports, as demonstrated by his decades-long involvement with the journals "sportunterricht" and "Grundschule Sport". 

On July 3rd, Prof. Krüger was ceremoniously bid farewell within his lecture series "Sportpädagogisches und sporthistorisches Kolloquiums". The content of this final session of the prestigious event was, in reference to Friedrich Nietzsche, the topic "On the Benefits and Drawbacks of Historical Sports Pedagogy for Life". Regardless of how one may answer this question, Prof. Krüger's contributions were of great value to the institute and German sports science in general. As one of the most knowledgeable experts in (German) history of gymnastics and sports, he will be missed by the IfS and the German sports science community. We sincerely thank him for his many years of work and wish him a wonderful retirement, filled with both tranquility and exciting new challanges.