From the point of view of the German association CEO Idriss Gonschinska, athletics wrongly has the image of being dusty.
“I don’t see it that way,” he said on the sidelines of the German championships at the weekend in Berlin. “We are far younger than our image.”
He referred to the membership figures of the German Athletics Association as justification. Accordingly, 48 percent are younger than 26 years and 30 percent younger than 14 years. Gonschinska wants to increasingly reach this target group via digital media. It is important to work much more with moving images. “People are interested in people’s stories,” explained the DLV’s CEO.
In an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” he previously admitted that the age distribution among the viewers was significantly different.
DLV boss is planning changes
“Perhaps we can reach younger people as far as the events are concerned through the networking of the real and virtual world and through a change in the event presentation,” said Gonschinska.
The motivation of young people has changed significantly. It’s “less about the performance principle than about feeling good, about self-expansion, about health”. For this, there must be new approaches and new binding formats. “The idea of developing a sports association as a brand, positioning oneself clearly and making it socially relevant helps to reach people,” explained Gonschinska.
