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Between a small forest and the Weissenbühl train station in the south of Bern lies the heart of the Swiss beach volleyball scene. The Beach Center Bern. Here, the Swiss young hopefuls train in the same sand as European champions Joana Mäder (31) and Anouk Vergé-Dépré (31). But the days of this talent factory are numbered.
In less than two years, the Swiss national beach team’s performance center will be demolished. It must make way for a new school building. Olympic bronze medalist Anouk Vergé-Dépré from Bern is particularly dissatisfied with this: “There is an enormous exchange of knowledge here between young and old. And there are almost no halls in Switzerland where all national teams can train all year round. Therefore, an alternative was needed. And it’s called: “Home of Beach”.
National performance center planned
The largest beach sports infrastructure in Switzerland will be built in the Bern conurbation, right next to the highway. After the Beachvolley Bern association submitted a petition with more than 3,100 signatures to keep the beach center, the city council gave in and made a piece of land in Ausserholligen available to the athletes. The catch: finances.
The project is huge. Four floors, four rooftop playing fields, four indoor courts. There are also four more fields in the adjacent Weyerli outdoor pool. Everything must be built as sustainably as possible. Reference date: As early as 2025! Of the required 15 million francs, Bernese beachgoers must raise another 1.5 million francs through sponsorship and supporters.
Crowdfunding is being worked on
They also use crowdfunding for this. A few thousand notes are still missing to reach the target of 80,000 francs within two weeks. Nevertheless, Fritz Mühlethaler, project manager of Home of Beach, is touched by the almost 400 individual donations. “There are children there who donate their pocket money.” If the crowdfunding is not successful, this would not be the end of the ‘Home of Beach’: “It was important to us that everyone could contribute,” says Mühlethaler. The beachers are more dependent on really large sponsorship amounts to secure the future of Bernese beach sports.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
