For the project launch in summer 2022, we interviewed two top German athletes: World Canoeing Champion Sideris Tasiadis and Germany’s best skier Thomas Dreßen, winner of the Hahnenkamm downhill event in Kitzbühel 2018.
Sideris Tasiadis from Augsburg talks about his experiences on the way to becoming a top athlete: “I always had two backpacks with me in the morning: one with school supplies and one with my training equipment. There was little or no support from the teachers or the school. I knew I had to manage both on my own. I couldn’t have done it without my family and my home club. Today, I still make my own training plans, take care of nutrition, sponsorship, social media and visit local schools to introduce canoeing to children and young people.”
Thomas Dreßen’s conclusion about his time at the Austrian ski boarding school, on the other hand, sounds completely different: “This school was worth a mint! We were able to concentrate fully on skiing from December to April – without schoolwork, without lessons. But the rest of the time we had to attend school, even on Saturdays, and we learned the subject matter in seven months. The cooperation between school and sport worked excellently, all my classmates are now successful in sport or in their professions.”
Thanks to two impressive athletes and personalities for many valuable impulses and their commitment to our heartfelt concern #NextGenSportsEducation.
