Warnemünde / Apeyime: Simultaneously, on September 30, 2022 girls and boys aged 8 to 12 from Warnemünde and the village of Apeyime in Ghana competed in sports. The idea for this transnational project was born six years ago by Dr. Michael Kreuzberg and Dr. Andrea Werner. Michael has been involved in improving living conditions in the Ghanaian community for 20 years. He traveled to Ghana for the competition and helped prepare it. He took a small gift from Frieda from Warnemünde, Andrea's daughter, for Freda in Apeyime. Frieda had traveled to Ghana in 2019 with her mother and Michael to participate in the competition herself. It was there that Freda from Apeyime and Frieda from Warnemünde met for the first time. Freda was unable to participate in the 2022 competition herself because she no longer goes to school in Apeyime. However, she came to the village where her grandmother lives. This gave Michael the opportunity to hand over the gift in person.
For the third time, the comparative competition between Ghana and Germany took place. All children had trained well despite the pandemic break and were highly motivated. In Apeyime, the sports coordinator from the District Office for Education came to the village to observe the competition and to exchange ideas with the organizers.
The children in Apeyime started their competition in the morning. The German children in the afternoon after school. Many German children came directly from a school sports festival and had correspondingly heavy legs. In both countries the weather had meant well with the children. "By noon, the children in Apeyime had completed the sprint, triple jump and 6-minute run, after which they continued with the ball throw," says Kreuzberg. The German children started with the 50-meter sprint. This was followed by the ball throw, the triple hop and finally the 6-minute run. Especially the final endurance run, which was completed on a 25 x 25 m circuit on the grassy area of the stadium, motivated parents and coaches to cheer loudly for the children.
Late in the evening of September 30, the winner was clear: Ghana won in the overall standings. The German children did well despite the 2nd place. Especially in the age groups 9 and 10 of girls and boys very good performances were achieved. The throwing distances and running performances of the children from both countries should be emphasized.
The District Sports Coordinator was very pleased with the competition. He will propose to make Apeyime as a model school for similar competitions.
All participants are already looking forward to the 4th comparative competition in two years.
