The 30 participants aged 11-16 came from all over Germany to take part in the digital Girls Day of the Institute of sport and exercise sciences at the University of Münster. With great interest, the girls learned more about the scientifically-oriented research in sports science in the fields of neuromotorics & training, movement sciences and psychology of sport and exercise , which is represented at the institute. Under this year's leadership of the Neuromotorics & Training department, Dr. Nils H. Pixa through the event, whereby the participants first learned general information about the studies and sports science research at the Münster site, before they received in-depth insights into the work of three work areas and then Prof. Dr. Claudia Voelcker-Rehage (Head of the dept. of Neuromotorics & Training ) answered questions about sports science research topics, the study of sports science and careers in research.
In the field of psychology  of sport and exercise (Edda van Meurs & Lena Kober), the girls explored together who is in the stadium and what psychological effects have an impact on performance and well-being. We discussed what sports psychologists do and how they can help athletes, e.g. via visualization. It was exciting to find out together how referees deal with external influences, and the girls developed ideas together on how to counteract this.
The dept. of Movement Sciences  (Dr.Christiane Bohn, Meike Gerlach & Tabea Christ) presented exciting and important topics in the research field of movement science to the participants at this year's Girls Day.
With the help of playful experiments, the interested schoolgirls were introduced to some methods of scientific working methods and the very well equipped OpenLab of the institute was presented. In activities on balance and the influence of various sensory organs as well as motor control and motor learning, important areas of movement science were taught and selected current research projects were presented, such as "Skating instead of Ritalin". This gave an insight into the fantastic research opportunities at WWU.
The group from the Neuromotor and Training department (Dr. Melanie Mack, Robert Stojan, Tanja Janssen & Vera Belkin) presented two of their research projects on Girls Day, both of which aim to improve physical and mental fitness in old age. The scientists from the MIND2 project showed the schoolgirls how to use a virtual reality treadmill to record their ability to multitask while walking. Furthermore, the MIND 2 scientists simulated the process of performance diagnostics using spiroergometry. The PROGRESS project, which was also presented, aims to improve the movement behavior of residents in nursing homes through behavioral and situational prevention. Both terms were explained using examples and videos and then possible preventive measures in this setting were discussed.