Sports facilities before closure?: Swimming pools fear "energy lockdown"

Due to the energy crisis, many sports facilities – after Corona – have to reckon with being closed again. The DLRG warns that this would be a major setback, especially for swimming pools. Especially since a reduction in opening hours would hardly bring any savings.

The chairman of the Bundestag Sports Committee, Frank Ullrich, has warned against the closure of sports facilities due to the energy crisis. “An energy lockdown would be a devastating signal for sport,” said Ullrich of the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”. The general movement, physical and mental health have suffered enough from the corona pandemic.

“As a result, everything must be done to keep sports facilities open.” In Germany, almost 24 million people are active in a sports club, said the SPD politician. “Doing sports is an indispensable part of our society and this importance must not be ignored, especially in an energy crisis.”

He also thinks it is “not very effective” to shorten the opening times in swimming pools, “since the pool technology also runs away from visitor operations and therefore hardly brings any savings”. The federal government should not leave the municipalities alone with a view to the sports facilities. The President of the German Life Saving Society, Ute Vogt, told the “Rheinische Post” that a closure of swimming pools would be a “disaster” for swimming training.

In the past two years, hardly any training has been able to take place “because the pools were closed for a long time due to the corona”. The DLRG has been trying to catch up with additional courses since last summer, said Vogt. “This painstaking work would be undone by another lockdown of the swimming pools.”

Closings would also be a hard setback for lifeguard training, said the DLRG President. “In the past two years, only half as many lifeguards have been trained as usual. We’re noticing that, especially in the outdoor pools.”

Vogt called on the municipalities to use savings potential – for example by not heating outdoor pools. In view of an impending gas shortage in Germany, there is a discussion about which sectors would be given priority in the supply. Leisure facilities such as swimming pools would probably have to prepare for shutdowns in the event of a gas emergency.