Gymnastics as a Hobby: Explore Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics

I discovered my passion for gymnastics as a small child. I joined the gymnastics club for the first time when I was four years old, and my father taught me how to swim. He was a swimming champion, which, by the way, was also the reason why I could be found in the swimming pool almost every day.

I came to Jahn-Neunkampf through my former gymnastics coach. He knew I was a good swimmer and participated in track and field championships at school. So, at the age of 18, I started training specifically for this competition and competed. Thanks to my good athletic skills, I promptly became Palatinate and Rhineland-Palatinate champion. This also qualified me for the German Championships, and my score immediately put me in the first group of the best ten.

During many years I competed and always finished among the ten best in Germany. Sometimes it was necessary to train twice a day. The nine disciplines include floor, parallel bars and vault gymnastics, athletics with 100-meter sprint, shot put and long jump, and swimming with 100-meter medley swimming, 25-meter diving for time and artificial jumping from one and three meters.

I had the highlight of my career in 1997, when I became the German champion in the men's over-30 category, at which point I stopped competitive sports. After that, I still won the championship title in the elective quadruple jump in my age group four times at the German gymnastics festivals. This competition is very special, because these four very different sports use different muscles.

In total, I pursued the Jahn Neunkampf as a competitive sport for more than twelve years. Today I am no longer active, but the sport is still part of my life. So I play tennis and volleyball to stay fit, and I look after my son, who has also discovered a passion for artistic gymnastics.