On December 8, 2022, representatives of the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, the State Sports Federation of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Research Association for Children's and Youth Sports of NRW met in Münster to discuss children's and youth sports in North Rhine-Westphalia. Among the topics discussed were possible research ideas and the topic of all-day schooling.
 

The German government's first Physical Activity Summit on December 13 in Berlin is intended to send a signal of change for sports development in Germany. To this end, a sports development plan will be drawn up in which the federal government, the states and municipalities, as well as civil society and the state, science and practice will work together. At the invitation of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Prof. Nils Neuber gave a keynote speech on the challenges and prospects of children's and youth sports at the kick-off event.

As part of the seminar "School Sport after Corona" by Prof. Nils Neuber, representatives of the School Sport Offensive NRW discussed the future of school sport with students and guests. Among the discussants were Jun.-Prof. Anne-Christin Roth (Deutscher Sportlehrerverband NRW), Martin Wonik (Landessportbund NRW), Laura Hantke (Sportjugend NRW), Dr. Gerrit Schnabel (Unfallkasse NRW) and Martin Schönwandt (Deutsche Schulsportstiftung).
 

In the series "Education and Sport" of the Center for Educational Research in Sports (CeBiS), the volume "Qualitative Research in Sports Education - Contributions to a Reflexive Methodology" has now been published. The volume was published by Benjamin Zander, Daniel Rode, Daniel Schiller and Dennis Wolff and illustrates the current spectrum of qualitative research in sport pedagogy in 20 contributions written by about 40 authors.
 

On November 25, 2022 Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber, Andre Magner & Jun.-Prof. Dr. Esther Pürgstaller held a lecture on the topic "And I thought we were only doing yoga here... - Basics and first empirical findings on body education in sports studies". The lecture took place at the annual conference of the Commission for Sports Pedagogy of the German Society for Educational Science (DGfE) at the University of Graz (Austria) under the motto "Is the body (still) the same? - A sports pedagogical keystone in dynamic change.
 

In a collaboration between Münster University Hospital, the Institute of Sports Science at the WWU Münster and the Münster district government, the "SPOPSY4HEALTH" project is investigating the extent to which mentally ill children and adolescents have access to sports activities. For this purpose, around 50 patients between the ages of 10 and 18 will provide information about their sports behavior. The project is being funded by the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia as a pilot project of the NRW Research Association for Children's and Youth Sports.
 

On Thursday, 01. December 2022, a lounge talk will take place from 14-16 o'clock in Ho101. The guests Jun.-Prof. Dr. Anne-Christin Roth (President of the German Sports Teachers Association NRW), Martin Wonik (Board of Directors of the State Sports Federation NRW), Laura Hantke (Board Member of the Sports Youth NRW), Dr. Gerrit Schnabel (Director School of the Unfallkasse NRW) and Martin Schönwandt (Chairman of the German School Sports Foundation) will discuss the topic of school sports after Corona - perspectives for a new start. All interested parties are invited, we look forward to seeing you there!
 

On 2.11.2022 Andre Magner ("Study success of male sports students - theoretical foundations, empirical findings and perspectives for teacher education") and Nadine Albrecht ("Effects of a movement-supporting, psychosocial intervention with boxing-specific elements on the self-concept of adolescent girls") presented their PhD projects at the CeBiS Research Day and discussed them with the participants. We would like to thank all participants for the productive exchange.
 

On Wednesday, 26.10.2022, the Münster School Sports Talk "Learning and Movement" took place in a hybrid model. Johann Sühling from the Westfälische Nachrichten reported on 28.10.2022:

It's the normal picture of a classroom: Around 30 children sit silently in their seats and look at the teacher, who is at the blackboard - a frontal lesson, precisely. Dr. Karin Eckenbach and Prof. Dr. Michael Pfitzner from the University of Duisburg-Essen discussed whether this is the perfect learning atmosphere on Wednesday at the 22nd Münster School Sports Talk at the Institute for Sports Science. They believe that exercise before, after and even during learning can improve the cognitive abilities of school children. However, this should not be limited to physical education classes, but should also be used in other areas of the school. Eckenbach and Pfitzner use examples to illustrate ways in which exercise can be used outside of physical education. One sticking point remains the question of how much exercise is necessary in everyday life. Even Eckenbach had to admit, "There is no perfect answer yet." But twice a week for at least 15 minutes is a minimum, she said.
 

What is the situation of physical education and school sport in Europe? How has the Corona  pandemic influenced this? What quality of physical education do we need in Europe? These and other questions were discussed by the international audience on the basis of scientific presentations at a two-day event in October 2022, organized by the Willibald Gebhardt Institute, CEREPS and WWU Münster. Dr. Denni Dreiskämper (sports psychology) held a presentation on the development of children's fitness and physical activity in the Corona pandemic.
 

At the beginning of October, 16 PhD students of the IfS participated in a three-day writing workshop of the Young Researchers Initiative. The writing workshop gave the junior researchers the opportunity to work on their dissertations in a focused way as well as to network with PhD students from the other departments. In addition, Dr. Dennis Dreiskämper gave a lecture on the topic of "Open Science" followed by an opportunity for exchange. Overall, the writing workshop under the guidance of Birte Brinkmöller, Robert Stojan and Katharina Ludwig was perceived as beneficial and will be repeated in spring next year.

At the end of the summer semester 2022, Axel Binnenbruck visited the Hungarian University of Sport Science in Budapest for the second time to deepen the cooperation established in the previous year. In addition to discussions about common intersections in research and teaching, which also enables a student exchange, primarily the topics of handball and the trend game Qatch were worked on with the Pro-Rector Dr. Csaba Ökrös.
 

The Corona pandemic has made it clear how important exercise, play and sports activities are for children and young people to grow up healthy. As spokesman for the NRW Research Association for Children's and Youth Sports, Professor Nils Neuber is therefore currently on the road a lot. For example, he spoke at the quality circle "Offener Ganztag" of the city of Krefeld, at the discussion event "Out of the starting blocks" with the SSB Münster, at the symposium "Learning requires movement" of the Ostfriesische Landschaft in Emden as well as at a conference of the association "Movement and Social Work" in Marburg.

For the first time at the IfS the DSLV award for study projects in the practical semester was presented. An exciting speed science contest was offered to the 60 people in the audience and challenged the jury from the learning locations school, university, ZfL and ZfsL tremendously. First place was won by Hannes John, closely followed by Elias Grosse (2nd place) and Ronja Haase (3rd place). Martin Schrömges and Antonia Elke tied for 4th place. Daniel Paterok provided the musical accompaniment to the ceremony. The keynote speech was given by Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber. The goal of the award was to highlight study projects from the practical semester.

On Wednesday, 26.10.2022, the Münster School Sports Talk "Learning and Movement" will take place from 6-8 p. m. at Ho101. The lecture by Dr. Karin Eckenbach and Prof. Dr. Michael Pfitzner will provide insights into scientific findings in the field of "Learning and Movement", discuss transfer possibilities and  practically test examples of a movement-based learning support on the basis of reflections on a moving school culture. The event will be held in a hybrid model followed by a lounge discussion. Registration takes place via the QR-Code. All interested parties are invited, we are looking forward to your coming!
 

Under the motto " Out of the starting blocks, children's & youth sports  - Now we're getting started!", Julian Lagemann (Sportjugend NRW), Leon Herbstmann (Youth Welfare Committee of the City Council of Münster), Thomas Michel (District Government of Münster) and Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber (Institute of Sports Science Münster/Forschungsverbund Kinder- und Jugendsport NRW) discussed the value added by exercise, play and sports in children and adolescents, as well as success factors, obstacles and special requirements as a result of the current framework conditions on September 29, 2022.The moderator of the podium discussion in the auditorium of the castle in Münster was moderated by Oliver Harbring. The event was organized by the Stadtsportbund Münster, the Institut for Sports Science at the WWU Münster and the Research Association for Children and Youth Sports NRW.

To conclude the past school year, a meeting of project schools was held at the Institute for Sports Science at the WWU Münster. At this meeting, teachers from the project "Learning and Movement" worked out strategies and possibilities for the development of school development concepts with the support of the external speaker and former head teacher Mrs. Jutta Meyer.
 

Together with the Stadtsportbund Münster and the Forschungsverbund Kinder- und Jugendsport NRW, the Institute of Sports Science is organizing a panel discussion on the potentials and possibilities of children's and youth sports in schools and clubs for the time "after" Corona. The talk event will take place on Thursday, September 29, 2022, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the auditorium of the castle.
For more information and the link to register, click here.

From the hand of the President of the State Parliament, André Kuper, and the State Secretary for Sport and Volunteer Work, Andrea Milz, Professor Nils Neuber has received the State Prize "Sports Science North Rhine-Westphalia 2022" in the category "Social, Educational and Cultural Sciences". The prize is awarded every four years by a jury for outstanding achievements in sports science. The award ceremony took place in the state parliament in Düsseldorf. The laudatory speech was given by Professor Maike Tietjens. 

Development opportunities for school sports were discussed at a two-day expert workshop held by the German School Sports Foundation in Berlin. In addition to digitization and inclusion, these included all-day school development, the support of social talents, as well as questions of educational equity and participation. Professor Nils Neuber represented the Institute for Sports Science at the WWU and the Research Association for Children's and Youth Sports in North Rhine-Westphalia.
 

Katharina Ludwig from WWU Münster and Dr. Karin Eckenbach from the University of DuE gave presentations on the topic of "Promoting learning through movement" at the Unfallkasse NRW booth at the Didacta in Cologne. After a scientific classification and the presentation of completed and ongoing research projects supported by the UK NRW on the topic, visitors were able to actively participate in the context of movement breaks.
 

The 35th annual conference of the dvs section of sports pedagogy from June 16-18 in Münster was held under the heading "Knowledge Transfer - a Central Topic in Sports Pedagogy". The diverse program offered the approximately 300 conference participants various formats around the conference theme, including three keynote lectures, four dialogue forums, an educational policy evening, a sports science forum together with the asp conference, and a total of 76 lectures and 29 posters. As a venue, the SportCampus Münster offered numerous opportunities for the long-missed professional and personal exchange.

Dr. Csaba Ökrös, sports lecturer and handball researcher at the Hungarian University of Physical Education - Testnevelési Egyetem (HUPE), will visit the Institute of Sport Sciences at WWU from 17-24.6.2022 June 2022 as part of an ERASMUS trip. His visit is the first exchange visit on the foundation of an Erasmus cooperation agreement initiated by Axel Binnenbruck, which, in addition to possible collaborative research projects, above all enables students to spend an exchange semester abroad. During the week, in addition to visits to courses, lectures and laboratory visits, talks will be held with the institute's management and with those responsible for the English-language science programs.

Two major sports science conferences, one common concern: From June 16 to 18, the conferences of the German Association for Sports Science (dvs) in the section of sports pedagogy as well as the German Society for Sport Psychology (asp) will take place. At the "Forum Sportwissenschaft" on June 17, the paths will cross: Starting at 8:30 a.m. in the Fürstenberghaus, interdisciplinary discussions will take place on the topic "Education needs movement - motor activity promotes attention and learning of children and adolescents". International experts, practitioners and science policy makers will exchange experiences, debate research content and approaches for the future. Interested parties can follow the discussions on site or via stream.

As part of the junior researchers' conferences of the dvs section of sports pedagogy and the working group for sports psychology, a joint lecture by Prof. Dr. Tim Bindel (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz) will take place on Wednesday, the 15th of June 2022, at 6:00 p.m. in the auditorium F1 (Fürstenberghaus, Domplatz 20-22). Under the title "Explain it to me like I am twelve - Dissertations are everybody's business" he will talk about modern science communication. The lecture is open to the public and we warmly invite all interested parties to attend!

The legal Entitlement to an all-day place in elementary school as from 2026 was the occasion for an expert hearing regarding all-day education in the Bavarian State Parliament. At the invitation of the Education and Social Affairs Committees, quality criteria, cooperation models and staff qualifications were discussed. Prof. Nils Neuber emphasized, among other things, the significance of movement, play and sport for a healthy adolescence of children and expressed his support for cooperation with Bavarian sports clubs on an equal footing. A more detailed report on the hearing about all-day education can be found on the website of the Bavarian State Parliament.
 

In the context of an expert discussion at the University of Paderborn on 20.05.22 Renate Nocon-Stoffers gave a lecture on the topic of theory-practice relation in the practical semester of sports at the WWU. The event was organized by the AG Praxissemester des Deutschen Sportlehrerverbandes NRW, in which the eight institutes forming sports teachers in NRW are represented. After an impulse lecture by the school researcher Prof. Dr. Gröschner, representatives of the locations presented their concepts of theory-practice relation in the context of research-based learning in the practical semester, which were discussed controversially right after the lecture.

 

Jennifer Liersch (University of Duisburg-Essen), Katharina Ludwig (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster) and Lena Radünz (Bergische Universität Wuppertal) presented their PhD projects in a short presentation at the International Congress for Physically Active Learning in Zwolle (NL). The subject of the presentations was, in addition to the presentation of the empirical projects, in particular the presentation of the various ideas of movement-based interventions for the classroom.

After intensive preparation, the Network for the Advancement of Boys in Sport has published a brochure which, in addition to theoretical and empirical basics, also contains ideas for the practical implementation of boys' development in the context of exercise movement, play and sport. The brochure can be downloaded free of charge here.
 

From 2nd to 4th March, PhD students from all departments were invited to take part in a digital writing workshop. This was organized by the junior scientists support initiative (NFI) as part of the commission for junior scientists (KFWN) and was intended to give the junior scientists the opportunity to take time together to write and work on their dissertations in a focused manner.

 

Easter discount offer from sport lernen! Until 29.04.2022, a 10% discount can be secured for various training courses. The offer is addressed to teachers of all subjects, pedagogical specialists, trainee teachers and all interested parties. Further information can be found in the flyer.

Shortly before joining the Institute of Sports Science at the WWU, Dr. Kathrin Kohake received the prestigious teaching award of the city of Hamburg. The prize comes with an endowment of 10,000 euros. The prize was officially handed over to her by Hamburg's Senator for Science, Katharina Fegebank, at a ceremony. Congratulations!

In October 2021, the Institute for Sports Science at the WWU Münster hosted the 3rd Expert Discussion of the Research Network for Children and Youth Sports NRW together with the expert hearing of the dsj-research association on the topic of "Generation 'Workout' - Children and Youth Sports in Transition". Now the documentation of the event has been published, which contains essential topics and ideas of the conference.
 

The Institute for Sports Science at the University of Münster successfully hosted a mini-Qatch tournament with four teams on February 20, 2022 as part of a third handball trend game event for future sports teachers. For the first time, the trend game event dealt intensively and exclusively with the handball trend game "Qatch" over two days, focusing not only on the history of the game, but also on methodology as well as training and game forms leading up to the tournament.
 

The new certificate course (ZL) at sport-lernen combines topics from the ZL "More movement in elementary schools" with those from the ZL "Learning and movement". For children and adolescents, movement is a basic need. Children of all ages have increasing difficulties in following school rules, sitting still for longer periods of time, or controlling impulses. The positive effects of movement in terms of cognitive performance and executive functions have already been empirically proven by several studies. Unfortunately, these results are rarely put into practice.

The volume "Kinder- und Jugendsportforschung in Deutschland - Bilanz und Perspektive" (Children's and Youth Sports Research in Germany - Review and Perspectives) has been published in the series "Bildung und Sport" (Education and Sport) of the Center for Educational Research in Sport (CeBiS). The volume was edited by Prof. Nils Neuber and includes 19 research and transfer contributions on current topics such as participation, integration, prevention, inclusion, intercultural learning or informal learning in childhood and adolescence. The IfS is represented in the volume with a total of ten authors.