A fireworks display that should sweep everyone away in Graz!

"Long live the sport“, The“ national anthem ”of all those who are hungry for exercise by Reinhard Fendrich will probably also be that of the city of Graz in the coming year. Because 2021 is the state capital's official sports year. And for this, politicians (all parliamentary groups unanimously) came up with quite a few ideas together with the sports department and the representatives of the associations and clubs as well as the athletes. One thing is clear: nobody should stay on the couch - let's go!

At a press conference today, the details of the sports year 2021 were presented, as was the budget: 2,5 million euros are added to the regular sports budget, which has been increased from 4 to 5 million. “In one of the past summer vacations I was thinking about what Graz could need. We have already reached a very high level. What if you set the focus for the year? ”Says Mayor Siegfried Rush return. The result is the cultural year 2020, which unfortunately will move into the coming year due to the corona crisis and will enter into a symbiosis with sport: “I believe that these two areas can be merged very well,” Nagl is convinced. The message of the mayor is: "To get everyone to do sports."

Examples have been taken from the Scandinavian countries. “The Swedes are on average 13 years healthier than us. And if you use one euro as a preventive measure, you save six euros on repairs, ”said Nagl, demonstrating the positive effects of sport. And he adds one more thing: "We want to set off fireworks that should sweep everyone away."

Sports Councilor Kurt Hohensinner sees Graz in the coming year as an arena for everyone: "We need this stage to arouse enthusiasm." The city has also applied to join the international network “Active Cities”. The aim is to be there by the end of 2021. “From the recognized sports city to the most sporty city”, this is how Hohensinner sees the Grazer Weg.

There are three priorities that are set in the sports year:

1. Get more people interested in sport (young, employed, older ...)
2. Strengthen clubs (financially and organizationally)
3. Develop the holistic power of sport (integrative, social, preventive, health promoting and maintaining etc.)

Hohensinner, who is also a councilor for social services, announced: “All families who have the SozialCard will receive free access to the sports clubs.”

Organizationally, the sporting year 2021 will be taken care of by the newly founded association “Active City”. The former head of the sports department could act as chairman Gerhard Peinhaupt be won. At his side are the holding line director Barbara Muhr (President of the Austrian Tennis Committee), councilor Marion Kreiner (Ex-snowboard world champion) and the gymnast Julia Meder. The program coordinator is the managing director of Sportunion Steiermark Markus Pichler. He was delighted: “I've been in sport all my life and have heard a lot of Sunday speeches. When it came to opening wallets, they were mostly just smoke and mirrors. Here, for the first time, I have the feeling that we are making progress, because without a budget increase this just doesn't work. "

Pichler also provided some details: There will be monthly projects, like some ice sports in November. A project pool will also be available from which clubs and individual initiatives can draw. Awareness raising is also a big issue. This also includes training in nutrition, etc. for the population. An opening ceremony in the opera marks the start of the theme year. In summer 2021 there will also be an athletes 'festival to honor the athletes' achievements, and the final chord will also be a festive one.

But since the best ideas always need a graphic and textual implementation, an agency competition was launched together with the CIS. The renowned Graz advertising agency Moodly emerged as the winner. She created the claim "LET'S GO GRAZ ”. The sports year should also be remembered everywhere in the city and in as colorful a way as possible. Stefan unger von Moodly stated, “It was a sporting task for us. Something should move. We want to play the city and encourage people to share their personal 'Let's go' moments with us. "

FP club chairman Armin Sippel revealed what is close to his heart: “In the coming year, we don't want to dictate sport from above, but to pick people up where they are.”