Leverkusen in sports fever: Paralympic success and floating crisis!

Leverkusen is a sports city, but has to deal with considerable challenges in the field of swimming. According to current reports, up to 90 percent of children in primary schools in Leverkusen are non -swimmers. In order to counteract this problem, the TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen swimming school offers comprehensive swimming training, including water fun, getting used to water and the seahorse training. These courses take place in the Bergisch Hallenbad Neukirchen, where the course offer is severely restricted due to lack of staff and high demand, so that many swimming courses are quickly fully booked, such as ksta.de reported.

Despite the efforts of the DLRG and TSV Bayer Leverkusen, there are long waiting lists for seahorse courses. In the Bergisch Hallenbad Neukirchen, renovations are planned, which will begin in the middle of next year and will take around one and a half years. In an attempt to promote swimming sports, a swimming container called "Narwali" in Steinbüchel was tested. This enables swimming lessons for all children in just three months, a process that would normally take four years. Those responsible support the purchase of their own swimming container for Leverkusen, but the financial framework is unfavorable.

sporting successes and infrastructure

The Leverkusen athletes can still look back on sporting success. At the Paralympic Games in Paris, Leverkusen players won a total of six medals: two bronzes (Maurice Weteg, Irmgard Bensusan), two silver (Johannes Floors, Nele Moos) and two gold medals (Markus Rehm, Taliso Engel). In addition, TSV athlete Hendrik Müller won the world championship title in the pole vault at the U20 World Cup in Lima.

Another aspect of sports development in Leverkusen is the existing demand for sports halls. According to a development plan from 2019, at least ten sports hall parts for schools are missing. To counteract this, a new triple sports hall in the new railway city will be completed by summer 2025. This hall is mainly used for the school sport of the district administrator Lucas-Gymnasium, but is also available for clubs for hall times.

The support of sporting events is also strong in Leverkusen. The circular sports hall, a central event location, has extended its cooperation contract with the Ostermann furniture store by five years. Home games from basketball players, handball players take place here, as well as various sporting events such as the Leverkusen Cup of the gymnasts and the European Darts Open in 2024.