In its strategic needs planning for early childhood education services, the city of Hamm sees a further need for daycare places in the Heessen social area. Among other things, this is intended to eliminate overcrowding and transitional groups. Specifically, there is a need for 60 daycare places in the U3 and 135 daycare places in the Ü3 sector for the 2027/2028 daycare year. The daycare centers are run by the city of Hamm, churches, social associations and, for the past five years, the Heessen sports club DJK Spielverein Eintracht 22/26 Heessen e.V. On the occasion of the 5th anniversary, we spoke to the managing director Konstantin Rühl.
Mr. Rühl, what was the club's intention in setting up a daycare centre?
When we were asked by the city of Hamm and the mayor at the time whether we could imagine becoming a sports club in the Heessen district to run a sports daycare center, we gave the topic some initial thought. It quickly became clear that this was a great opportunity to make the club fit for the future. We hoped that the daycare center would lead to an increase in membership, firm and stable structures, as well as extensive voluntary work - supported by full-time staff.
"Another firm goal was to have a greater presence in the district and to do community work beyond sport."
Running a daycare center is not part of the day-to-day business of a sports club. What challenges did you face?
There were numerous challenges in various areas, especially of a financial nature. A high investment volume of around 2.4 million euros had to be managed. A risk for the association and especially for the Executive Board. Accordingly, the members also had to be consulted and agree to the project. The association's statutes had to be amended, a sponsoring association founded and lease agreements between the association and the city of Hamm adapted. The topic of "construction" was time-consuming and extensive. But running a daycare center does not start overnight. At the same time as the construction, the sponsorship had to be recognized, a pedagogical team had to be found and put together, which in turn had to develop concepts for the actual goal of "childcare", plan and implement the establishment of the daycare centre and finally fill the daycare centre with life from 2019.
Has the daycare center been accepted and have expectations been fulfilled?
Since the beginning, all our expectations have been fulfilled and some of them have even been exceeded. Sure, the responsibility is huge and the work is challenging, but it is also incredibly valuable and a total success. Membership has increased and the club is now also more diverse in terms of sport. The daycare center itself has also developed enormously in the first 5 years. We now look after over 100 children in our daycare center, as in addition to our 4 existing groups, we also have two additional transitional groups on our grounds. In addition to being recognized as a sports daycare center and a child-friendly sports club, we are also a certified family center, which contributes enormously to our work in the district. This gives us access to funds that enable us to realize projects that are accessible to the entire district and beyond.
What happens now?
Our second daycare center is due to start operating next year and will then take over childcare for the two transitional groups plus two additional groups at a second location. With the elimination of the transitional groups, the space freed up in the Marienstadion offers potential for expanding the sports infrastructure. This should be implemented over the next 5 years if possible. We also hope to be able to expand our range of sporting activities. The swimming department promises significant growth and plans to start competing. The soccer department is also set to grow and field more teams.
Photos © SVE, Kita Kusselkopp at the Marienstadion of the SVE Heessen