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When Petra Riedinger-Andrä is asked about her personal highlight in the history of the International Coaching Course (ITK) at Leipzig University, the coronavirus period comes to mind. When the lockdown came in March 2020, the programme had to be adapted at lightning speed: the course participants did their exercises in their stairwells or even in their beds, filming themselves for later evaluation. They were taught the theory via an online course on laptops in their halls of residence. All this was organised within a week, while elsewhere people were still considering what to do. "The ITK was one of a kind and still is," says project manager Riedinger-Andrä. This year marks the 60th anniversary of this unique training programme for coaches, athletes and PE teachers from around the world. The celebration will take place on 30 October.
"We have put together a varied programme for the day, starting at 8am," says Riedinger-Andrä. The team and current ITK participants invite Leipzig University staff and invited guests to take part in early morning sports. A celebration will follow. Some of those present will be people without whom the ITK might not have survived the period of German reunification. At the end of the event, an exhibition will be opened in the break hall of the Faculty of Sport Science at the Jahnallee campus. Photos and videos will tell the colourful story of the ITK. Old films on VHS tapes from the 1990s have been specially digitised.
First course started on 1 April 1964
Riedinger-Andrä and her colleague Simone Zimmermann have been looking back on the ITK’s impressive track record over the past six decades: since the ITK was founded on 1 April 1964 at the former German University of Physical Education (DHfK) in Leipzig, 5,832 course participants from 147 countries have been guests in Leipzig. Zimmermann explains that the ITK was set up at the behest of SED officials to help the GDR gain international fame through sport. Coaches and PE teachers from various countries, most of which had no sports institutes or sports science universities, usually came to the DHfK in Leipzig for eight months to first learn the basics of coaching theory and physical education and later to concentrate on specific sports in theory and practice. From the end of the 1970s, the ITK was also very important for competitive sport: at that time, sports officials would swap places for top GDR athletes in high-altitude training camps in Ethiopia or Tunisia for places at the ITK. The courses were financed entirely by the GDR.
Survival depended on "a certain amount of tenacity".
ITK staff member Simone Zimmermann, who was a student representative when the Faculty of Sport Science was founded shortly after German reunification, cites her personal highlight of the ITK’s 60-year history: "For me, it’s the fact that the ITK survived the reunification at all." This undoubtedly required a "certain amount of tenacity" on the part of the right people in the right place at the right time. First, she says, the course that was running at the time was cancelled. The ITK then became an annual project until the courses were held regularly twice a year. Today, the ITK at Leipzig University is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Free State of Saxony.
Riedinger-Andrä is convinced that there is nothing like the ITK model anywhere in the world. "This format, whereby different sports are offered at a university in a rotating format in several languages and with a practical focus, is unique." Participants from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas get to know Leipzig and other parts of Germany, our culture and sports system. They train, work and live together for several months, getting to know each other and each other’s cultures. "These new human and intercultural experiences contribute to international understanding and the breaking down of prejudices," she says. The participants "soak up" the knowledge they have acquired in Germany and apply it in their home countries.
Anyone applying for an ITK course must have a degree and practical experience as a coach, athlete or PE teacher in their home country. Some even give up their jobs back home and head into the unknown after the five-month training programme in Leipzig. To help them get back on their feet at home, the ITK provides follow-up, online-based support in the form of tutorials after their return. Back home, the participants put into practice the projects they developed during their time in Leipzig. These might be swimming courses for pregnant women, sports courses for children or inclusive sports programmes such as sitting volleyball.
What does the ITK stand for’ Petra Riedinger-Andrä doesn’t have to think long about this question either. "We stand for high academic standards and help students from all’over the world to develop both technically and personally. The ITK is diverse, demanding and definitely one big family."
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