LitCam - Fußball trifft Kultur – LitCam gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH

Hello again Frankfurt – Our FtK network meeting

Hello again Frankfurt – Unser FtK-Netzwerktreffen

Around 40 FtK teachers and trainers from all over Germany came together last weekend for our first FtK network meeting in 2023.

In addition to the training courses on offer, the program focused in particular on sharing current challenges and success stories at the individual locations. We were able to use the facilities at the Protestant Academy on Friday and spent Saturday in the conference rooms at the Haus des Buches.

The main topics at this network meeting focused on suggestions for respectful cooperation as well as the implementation of group rules, strengthening teamwork and promoting reading fluency in the context of DaZ and DaF. Based on the very positive feedback from our FtK teachers and trainers, we are confident that the impetus provided here will be applied in the weekly work with our sponsored children and young people in line with our support approach and will have an impact.

With this in mind, we would like to thank all social pedagogues and workshop leaders for the inspiring days and of course our participating FtK teachers and FtK trainers for their dedicated participation.

Cup deposit for a good cause

With their cup deposit donation on the last home match day, the VfL Bochum fans supported our Bochum “Fußball trifft Kultur” locations with over €4,000.

On a seemingly ordinary Bundesliga Saturday at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion, we at LitCam had the honor and pleasure of collecting donations for our FtK locations in Bochum. The highlight: VfL fans were able to support us directly and easily by dropping off their empty deposit cup in one of nine collection garbage cans. The converted proceeds went in full to our FtK locations in Bochum.

Whether before the game, during the half-time break or after the final whistle: many motivated helpers – mainly teachers and pupils from our cooperation partner Werner-von-Siemens Hauptschule Bochum – collected cups without end. Our loyal FtK mascot Litti was also there, helping out diligently and drawing attention to the campaign. At the end of the day, a whopping €4,000 was raised, which we were very proud of and grateful for.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank VfL Bochum, our volunteers and the VfL fans who supported us and our beneficiary children with this campaign and the associated commitment. We had hardly expected such a willingness to donate on the part of the fans due to the unfortunate outcome of the match for VfL, chapeau!

Bochum stadium tour – in the spirit of sustainability

VfL Bochum 1848 has been running the integrative educational program “Fußball trifft Kultur” with the non-profit organization LitCam since the 2015/16 season. As part of the program, VfL has now been able to accompany pupils from the Werner-von-Siemens School in Bochum on a stadium tour focusing on sustainability aspects at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion.

As part of the guided tour of the Vonovia Ruhrstadion, the pupils of the Werner-von-Siemens-Schule were able to gain exciting insights into the history and development of VfL as well as some insights into the club’s sustainability efforts. For example, they learned what the biggest drivers of VfL’s CO2 footprint are and how VfL is trying to minimize them.

After all, a home match day at the Vonovia Ruhrstadion is always associated with a wide variety of environmental impacts. Fans and teams travel to and from the stadium. There are many different snacks and drinks to buy in the stadium. The stadium turf has to be watered. The floodlights shine brightly on Castroper Straße. All of this has an impact on the environment. By introducing a holistic sustainability strategy, VfL aims to systematically record and minimize its negative impact on the environment.

One focus of this programme year is to make children more aware of ecological awareness and sustainable action at “Fußball trifft Kultur”. The fact that soccer clubs such as VfL Bochum communicate their business activities in a tangible way helps us to increase children’s interest in this area.

Children’s PK on Hafenstrasse

FtK program sponsor and RWE fan favourite Felix Herzenbruch answered questions from the FtK kids from the north of Essen at a children’s press conference last week. He passed the barrage of questions from the remarkably well-prepared children with flying colors.

Naturally, the children’s press conference took place in the real Rot-Weiss Essen press conference room and the necessary equipment such as microphones and notepads were also provided. The curious pupils from the fifth and sixth grades of Gesamtschule Essen Nord were full of questions such as “Are Schalke and RWE players actually enemies?”, “How long have you been at Rot-Weiss Essen?” or “Which dream club have you always wanted to play for?” When Felix Herzenbruch told them that Arjen Robben was the strongest opponent of his career to date, the children could only marvel. Of course, the obligatory autographs and a few selfies were not to be missed at the end.

Our cooperation partner Tani Capitain, CSR Manager of Rot-Weiss Essen, as well as our teacher for skills lessons, Büsra Sahin, and soccer coach Masataka Fukuoka, who works as a junior coach at Essen’s youth performance center, were also present.

The children’s press conference made it particularly clear why the involvement of soccer clubs in “Fußball trifft Kultur” is an important part of promoting education. The professional soccer environment manages to motivate children to participate in the program, especially because many children have a connection to their home club. Tani Capitain was all the more pleased with the successful event: “It’s great that the kids have now been informed so extensively by Felix Herzenbruch at their own children’s conference. The preparation for the questions and the engagement with Rot-Weiss Essen is a successful project work.”

And the next extracurricular highlight will soon follow when the children are allowed to run in with the professionals in front of thousands of spectators in the stadium on Hafenstrasse.

News from the Johann-Daniel-Preißler-School

Neues aus der Johann-Daniel-Preißler-Schule

On Tuesday, 14.3.2023, the program included the twice-weekly FtK rules offer of skills lessons and soccer training. The 25 children from years 5 and 6 who were supported this school year were very committed to the program and gave an insight into their current perceptions and feelings about the program and their personal developments associated with it.

In the form of mini-interviews, we wanted to get an impression of how the children at Johann-Daniel-Preißler-Schule find their way around the program, what they particularly enjoy, what they work on individually and what they take away from the program in particular. Remarkable and at the same time unsurprising was the perceptible anticipation among all the children for the final tournament in Duisburg in June, where all the FtK groups from all over Germany will come together to play soccer for the FtK Cup and to exchange ideas. It was also noticeable that many children felt that teamwork and fair and functional group behavior, which is practiced and taught above all in soccer training, were very important.

In skills lessons, a soccer quiz was on the agenda that day to improve the children’s reading skills. This was followed as usual by the “second half” of our support program, soccer training. The focus here is on various team exercises to promote social and integrative group behavior. As a small highlight at the end of the day, the children were allowed to celebrate the goals they scored with their favorite goal celebration in front of the camera as part of a goal-scoring unit – just as true soccer professionals should.

Images: LitCam/Witters

Penne, pesto and puff pastry

True to the motto “healthy eating”, the FtK kids from Anne Frank Comprehensive School in Dortmund experienced a fun and inspiring cooking workshop – and learned how to make a good pesto themselves, among other things.

On January 24, 2023, the Dortmund project group from Anne Frank Comprehensive School welcomed Monika van Leyen from kids Kochstudio. Our 24-strong group stormed into the kitchen with a lot of fun, joy and personal responsibility.

After putting on their chef’s hats and tying their aprons, the pupils were divided into two groups. One group was responsible for the main course, the other for the dessert, with Ms. van der Leyen explaining the procedure in an age-appropriate way. They cooked, baked, set tables, ate and, of course, tidied up together. It was a successful afternoon with penne and homemade green pesto, cucumber salad and puff pastry rolls with vanilla ice cream.

Cooking studio Monika van Leyen

All in all, the children really enjoyed the cooking course. For many of them, it was the first time they had cooked completely independently in the kitchen. Even if an intermediate step was forgotten, the group was caught in time and worked as a team to find solutions. This noticeably strengthened the group dynamics and sense of community. In addition, the students took on responsibility and mostly mastered their tasks independently. The students’ willingness to help each other was particularly noticeable. At the end of the day, the students thanked Ms. van Leyen and went home feeling very satisfied and inspired.

New Year’s reception 2023

On January 26, 2023, we welcomed sponsors and cooperation partners to the Haus des Buches for our fourth New Year’s reception.

Oliver Schlimm, Head of Human Resources at the Börsenverein Group, hosted the evening in his traditional entertaining manner.
LitCam Director Karin Plötz gave an exciting review of the past year 2022, which had a lot to offer, from our major project “Löwenstark – Fußball trifft Kultur” to the Kulturstadion at the Frankfurt Book Fair and the fifth edition of Lese-Kicker.
A special reason to celebrate was the 15th anniversary of our nationwide educational program “Fußball trifft Kultur”, for which we hosted an illustrious panel discussion.

This consisted of personalities who have shaped FtK and who all represent an important part of our program in different ways: Nia Künzer (former soccer world champion, head of the department for integration, social support and volunteering), Anton Schumacher (pedagogical director of the youth training center at Eintracht Frankfurt) and Jonas Schuster (pedagogical director of the youth training center at 1. FSV Mainz 05).
All three talked about their very own and at the same time unifying experiences from the program – with one or two anecdotes and a little reminiscing about the past.
In addition, a variety of impressions from the youth performance centers were described and Nia Künzer gave exciting insights into her day-to-day work as head of the department responsible for integration.

Following the impressive round of talks, the buffet was opened – special thanks go to Ms. Durgun and her team from Elzem-Cateringservice for the freshly prepared and particularly tasty Anatolian-Oriental dishes.
We would also like to thank Weinhaus Grüneburgweg for providing the drinks that harmoniously accompanied the evening’s finale.

We would like to thank all our guests for the very pleasant exchange and the support they gave us and look forward to seeing you again soon at different locations.

Experience climate change up close

Incredible natural phenomena, the tropical rainforest and unthinkable environmental disasters – the exhibition “The Fragile Paradise” gave our FtK kids from Duisburg impressive impressions of climate change and its consequences for the environment.

In November 2022, the Duisburg “Fußball trifft Kultur” group made its way to Oberhausen: a visit to the Gasometer was on the agenda. The “Fragile Paradise” exhibition particularly piqued the children’s interest. During the tour, they embarked on a journey through the eventful climate history of our planet. They learned about the animal and plant world through photographs and videos.

The children marveled at the variety of creatures, the natural phenomena and the size of the exhibition. On the other hand, the children saw images that shocked them and made them think. Among other things, the children looked into the nature scenario with VR glasses, experienced the largest rainforest reserve in the world, the Tumucumaque National Park and many animal species in their new habitats.

This made the children aware of the effects of natural phenomena on the climate history of our planet. In addition to raising awareness of the consequences of human intervention in the ecosystem and the severity of climate change, there was also the opportunity to learn about climate protection projects.

All in all, it was an inspiring and successful excursion for the children. Many were pleasantly surprised at how much the gasometer sparked their interest in climate change.

The Wild Bunch as guests in Düsseldorf

A very special highlight awaited the Düsseldorf FtK group this winter – “Die Wilden Kerle” cult author Joachim Masannek paid the children a visit at the Merkur-Spiel-Arena.

After a successful tour of the arena in midsummer of the 2021/22 school year – with a look behind the sacred halls of the players and officials, dressing rooms, press box, training pitches, but also first steps on the Fortuna Düsseldorf pitch and other non-public spaces – there was a reading in the winter of this school year as part of Lese-Kicker 2022 in honour of the young heroes of the Flurstraße community elementary school in Düsseldorf. The meeting point for all “Fußball trifft Kultur” participants was the Bundesliga club’s home ground – the Merkur-Spiel-Arena.

In a good mood and kissed by the midday sun, everyone made their way through the already familiar arena towards the grandstand seats. To be precise, to the VIP seats, what a great atmosphere! Before the official reading began, the audience was treated to an entertaining anecdote about the beginnings of the Wild Bunch, the “real” Wild Bunch. After all, Joachim Masannek is not only the director, screenwriter and children’s book author of the Wild Bunch, but also their coach and father! An internationally renowned story of the young footballers that is actually based on true events.

After the reading, the children were of course allowed to get autographs from the cult author. In summary, it can be said that the children were very enthusiastic about Mr. Masannek’s reading, as he was very entertaining and skillfully involved his audience. The children were able to participate interactively in the story and “help tell” it. In addition to the reading, the children also really enjoyed the book “Die Wilden Kerle – Juli und der geheime Joker”.

The Lese-Kicker 2022 as a guest at FtK Braunschweig

Der Lese-Kicker 2022 zu Gast bei FtK Braunschweig

On Wednesday, November 30, 2022, the Lese-Kicker 2022 stadium tour was a guest at Eintracht Stadium. With an exciting reading and “exclusive” stadium insights, there was plenty on offer for our FtK kids from Braunschweig.

As part of the stadium tour of our nationwide reading promotion project Lese-Kicker 2022 , author Birgit Hasselbusch presented her latest soccer book “Hallo, hej und Marhaba – Freundschaftsspiel mit Doppelpass” to our FtK kids from Diesterwegstraße elementary school – a story about the integrative power of soccer and how it brings children from different backgrounds together. The reading took place in the press room of Eintracht Braunschweig’s stadium – a special atmosphere with enthusiastic children who took part in the reading with a lot of fun and curiosity.

The children were not only wonderfully entertained by the reading. The author also impressed them with her ability to speak backwards and had a few anecdotes from her sports journalism background to tell. An all-round successful event, in which the children also had the opportunity to spend time on the edge of the pitch of the Eintracht stadium with its blue tartan track and so soak up a little stadium atmosphere from a player’s perspective – without the missing loud crowd, of course.

With this project Lese-Kicker LitCam awards a prize to the most appealing children’s and youth book in terms of idea, linguistic realization and graphic design that best succeeds in inspiring people to read about soccer. As part of a Germany-wide reading promotion campaign that accompanies the Lese-Kicker The books are also judged by 100 school classes from all over Germany. This means that Lese-Kicker is not just an award ceremony, but a nationwide reading promotion project in which the children of the participating schools are encouraged to read and engage intensively with the books with the help of teaching materials tailored to the books.

Find out more about Lese-Kicker 2022 here.