Sportbox in Jena is now available free of charge

Sports enthusiasts and those who want to become one can now use sports equipment free of charge at the newly inaugurated sports box at the SBSZ vocational school in Jena Göschwitz. As part of the "Restart - Sport bewegt Deutschland" program, one of 150 sports boxes throughout Germany was handed over in Jena. Thuringia is now home to the first sports box in Jena.

The sports boxes are public, free-of-charge rentals of training equipment that people can use for low-threshold outdoor sports. The equipment includes medicine balls, kettle balls, skipping ropes, badminton rackets, dumbbells and balls for various sports.

Head of the sports department Benjamin Koppe opened the sports box together with Matthias Rindt from the Jena Handball Club. In keeping with the inauguration, club representatives held a taster session in which visitors could test the equipment. In a school sports event, students from the vocational school were able to test what was on offer. Sports representative Vanessa Baum brought the sports box to Jena and, among other things, also campaigned for the location of the vocational school, whose sports hall could not be used for a long time due to the reception of refugees.

Sports department head Benjamin Koppe is pleased about the new sporting offer in the city:

"With the Sportbox as a rental offer for sports equipment of all kinds, we want to encourage more people to take part in physical activity outdoors again. A quarter of Jena's population is active in sports clubs. Nevertheless, individual sports activities are also becoming more and more popular. The easily accessible sports boxes provide a perfect offer for this."

As of now, children, young people, parents and anyone interested in sports can use the rental service free of charge at the SBSZ Göschwitz vocational school, Rudolstädter Straße 96, 07745 Jena.

How does the use of the sports boxes work?

The sports boxes are installed by the manufacturer app and move Gmbh. In order to use the Sportbox training equipment, registration in the app "Sportbox - app and move" is necessary. The application allows the box to be opened via a Bluetooth connection. All locations of the Sportboxes in Germany can be found on the move map in the future: https://bewegungslandkarte.de/

Background: About the Restart program

With the Restart Program, the German Olympic Sports Confederation and the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Home Affairs (BMI) want to strengthen sports clubs again after the Corona pandemic. The program is funded by the BMI with 25 million euros until 2023.

The sports boxes will be set up in 150 municipalities by the end of the year as an important component of the program. The municipalities are overseeing the program in cooperation with local sports clubs and fill it with life. With the sports boxes, the DOSB is pursuing the goal of increasing outdoor physical activity in society through the low-threshold sports entry offer and creating easy access in sports clubs. The central lending system via app for sports and training equipment gives interested parties free access to sports materials in public spaces. By cooperating with sports clubs that conduct guided training sessions at the rental facilities, all age groups and sporting ability levels will benefit from the offer, with non-members in particular being encouraged to take up club sports.