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His colleagues say he is a legend. Pioneer and Counselor call him those who have been trained by him. “Well, actually I’m just the emergency nail. A few decades have passed over me,” says Rainer Desch himself. And the 78-year-old Wednesday evening also has a suitable example: “As we know, it is The divorce rate in sport is quite high. I often step in for the fathers of families. Only in the care of course,” he says.
The hall in Linz’s Olympic Center on the Gugl, which this evening mainly belongs to the volunteers, laughs. Desch’s mild smile reveals that he is not only pleased with the successful joke, but also with the recognition. Since Wednesday he can call himself a district winner. Because he has been working tirelessly as an athletics trainer for the “Igla Long Life” sports union in Schärding for many years.
With Instagram to the national victory
Since the end of July, Sportland Oberösterreich has been searching for the sports heroes of the year in cooperation with OÖ Nachrichten, Tips, Life Radio and TV1. Namely after those who pull the strings in the background. A winner was chosen for each district, who was rewarded with a check for 1000 euros. From these 16, three winners were chosen at state level.
The name of the person with the most votes is Stefan Schmidt. Although not known from film and television, but from social media. Schmidt lets his more than 2000 “followers” participate in the training of the LAZ sighting region Wels-Hausruck via the Instagram platform. Because many children and young people “have their mobile phones in their hands all the time” anyway, he wants to inspire them in this way and, above all, motivate them to become active in sports themselves. The joy that the native of Fürth shares is contagious: Many young people not only follow him on Instagram, but also in training. In order to motivate, you also need enough time. Second-placed Christoph Ortner knows that too. As a volleyball trainer in Gallspach, he spends the evenings from Wednesday to Friday training with the youngsters and serving at games on the weekends. “But it pays off. Today, for example, a girl from my first junior group is at the awards ceremony. You get a lot in return and you become a team,” he says.
Christian Punzenberger, youth coach of the Sportunion Neumarkt im Mühlkreis, also got a lot back. “I’m happy every time I go to our team’s matches, because there’s always someone there that I trained once and brought here,” says the third-placed player. And who motivates him when things don’t go well? “It’s always going well. That’s the nice thing about working in a club. There’s always someone who fixes it,” he says. From Punzenberger’s mouth it sounds natural. But it’s not.
“Please keep working!”
The volunteers have many stories to tell about their work in the association. Franz Teufel, district winner from Steyr, has been in the rowing club for so long that there was often a mix-up. “I said to a child that I know dad from playing football. I was corrected. It was grandpa,” he says. The Kirchdorfer district winner Paul Köchl has built a club hut for the archery club Pyhrn-Priel. On our own and with our own financial means. “I needed a few days. But I like doing it,” he says.
State Councilor for Sport Markus Achleitner (VP) also emphasized this passion: “I can only say: Please continue to work with this commitment. So that others are also encouraged to get involved. Without the volunteers, our society would not exist in this form,” he says . Gino Cuturi, representative of the media company Wimmer Holding, is pleased that this “heart’s prize” is used to point out “positive things in the country”. “Today it is no longer a matter of course that someone voluntarily devotes their time to other people,” he says. Susanne Dickstein, editor-in-chief of OÖN, put it impressively: “If there are no volunteers, this country will stand still.”
16 volunteers were brought in front of the curtain on Wednesday. The thanks are due more than 200,000. There are so many who keep the sports sector running.
The district winners in the volunteer election
- Braunau: Nicole Jankowski, ATSV Braunau
- Eferding: Stefan Schmidt, LAZ Wels-Hausruck
- Freistadt: Christian Punzenberger, SU Neumarkt i. M
- Gmunden: Katharina Stadler, ASKÖ TSV St. Konrad
- Grieskirchen: Christoph Ortner, Beach Volleys Gallspach
- Kirchdorf: Paul Koch, BSV Pyhrn-Priel
- Linz: Philumena Bauer, Ister Rowing Club
- Linz-Land: Karin Steinhauser, ASKÖ Wilhering
- Perg: Stefan Schützenhofer, Union Katsdorf
- Ried: Stefan Wöllinger, Hohenzell Sports Union
- Rohrbach: Eberhard Schürz, SU St. Martin/Mühlkreis
- Schärding: Rainer Desch, SU IGLA long life
- Steyr: Franz Teufel, RV Steyr 1888
- Urfahr environment: Michael Brückler, SU Schweinbach
- Vöcklabruck: Harald Bayer, fistball Tigers
- Catfish: Klaus Hatheier, SV Flic-Flac
Source: Nachrichten
