German Wheelchair Sports Association
| German Wheelchair Sports Association | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 29./30. October 1977 |
| Place of foundation | Bochum |
| societies | 330 |
| Members | 9000 (as of December 2010) |
| Association headquarters | Duisburg (office) |
| Homepage | www.drs.org |
The German Wheelchair Sports Association e. V. (DRS) is a professional association of the German Disabled Sports Association. V. It was founded in 1974 as the Working Group on Wheelchair Sports (ARGE) and converted into the German Wheelchair Sports Association in 1977. The DRS is a registered, non-profit association . It maintains a federal headquarters in Hamburg and a federal office in Duisburg . The association has over 330 clubs with more than 9,000 active wheelchair athletes. A total of 31 wheelchair sports are professionally organized under the umbrella of the DRS.
Goals and tasks of the DRS
The DRS intends to promote and develop sports and mobility for people with disabilities on a broad basis. The association offers advice and support for this purpose.
The association sees a fundamental task in the nationwide addressing of children and young people in wheelchairs as well as relatives, friends, educators, teachers, therapists etc. as well as in the mediation of local wheelchair sports groups of the member clubs. The DRS supports the peer counseling of the associations with an annual training weekend with an exchange of experiences. In addition, the DRS advocates better wheelchair care for children and young people. In separate courses, driving techniques are taught so that children and young people learn to use a wheelchair and increase their everyday mobility.
The DRS also organizes games and sports festivals with a folk character, in which all interested parties, regardless of the degree of disability, age and gender, are integrated.
The DRS is currently only allowed to train instructors in mass sports (disabled sports). Previous teaching concepts in which higher licenses were issued in neurological rehabilitation sports are no longer recognized.
Structure of the DRS
The German Wheelchair Sports Association is divided into several sections (e.g. advice, teaching, public relations). The wheelchair sports organized in the DRS are action sports, badminton , basketball , boccia, archery, curling , power chair hockey, fencing , weightlifting, golf, handbiking, hockey , martial arts, karting, athletics , rugby , swimming, sailing, sledge ice hockey , Sports shooting, dancing , diving, tennis , table football , table tennis, water skiing and winter sports.
The DRS cooperates with the German Badminton Association , the German Schützenbund (with joint championships) and the International Disabled Divers Association (IDDA). The wheelchair tennis department has been integrated into the German Tennis Association (DTB) since 2010 .
Members of the DRS
The association differentiates between ordinary, extraordinary, supporting and active members. Ordinary members can become clubs that practice wheelchair sports, extraordinary members can become legal entities. Sustaining members have no membership rights at DRS (membership is unilaterally limited to funding). Active members can be natural persons who want to use the services of the association without belonging to a sports club. Active members are not entitled to a sports license, so they are not allowed to actively participate in competitive sports.
Organs of the DRS
Association day
The association day is the highest body of the association. It is composed of delegates from the ordinary and extraordinary members.
Board
The management of the association is incumbent on the board. It consists of the chairman, two deputies, a sports supervisor, two assessors and an honorary chairman.
Sports Committee
The sports committee coordinates all sports matters, creates regulations and guidelines for competitions and courses and organizes participation in international competitions.
Legal Committee
The Legal Committee consists of three full members and three deputies, who must all be individual members of a member association.
Memberships and partners of the DRS
The DRS is a member of the following associations:
Cooperations exist with:
- Working Group Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (ASBH)
- German Statutory Accident Insurance (DGUV)
- Federal association self-help physically disabled e. V. (BSK)
- Research Institute for Inclusion through Exercise and Sport e. V. (FiBS)
- Support Association for Paraplegics in Germany (FGQ)
- Josefs Society (JG Group)
- Manfred Sauer Foundation
- Polio e. V.
- German Stroke Foundation
- Association of Professional Association Clinics (VBGK)
- Wheelmap.org
History of the DRS
The Wheelchair Sports Working Group (ARGE), founded in 1974, changed at its 3rd Annual General Meeting on 29/30. October 1977 in Bochum to the German Wheelchair Sports Association (DRS). On February 18, 1978, the association was accepted into the German Disabled Sports Association, and the following year the first German championships were held. In 1980, non-paralyzed wheelchair athletes (amputees, dysmeles, people with glass bones, etc.) are officially admitted to competitive sports. In 1981, the overall agreement on outpatient disabled sports creates the conditions for permanent financial support for wheelchair sports. A year later, an in-house magazine entitled Wheelchair Sports was published for the first time . Ulf Mehrens has been chairman since 1995 .