History of the sports club TU Ilmenau e.V.
Was it a carnival idea or a real need when students at the one-year-old Ilmenau University of Applied Sciences got together and founded the “Motor” Ilmenau university sports club on November 11, 1954? Probably both. It is definitely a commendable achievement of the approximately 20-year-old “founding fathers” to start a regulated competition in the sports of football, handball and volleyball and to help determine the level in the former district of Suhl in a very short time.
It was clear from the start that the HSG wanted to offer its members a wide range of recreational sports activities in addition to the obligatory physical education classes. The founders also included people interested in athletics, Nordic and alpine skiing, table tennis, swimming, gymnastics and bowling. Boxing and fencing also came early.
1954 – 1963
In addition to the ongoing training and competitions, major events such as the 1st East German forest running championship in 1957, a three-country tournament for men’s national volleyball teams (in the Festhalle) and a series of East German student championships in boxing, fencing, football, badminton, orienteering and Organized and carried out winter sports. Last but not least, the good cooperation with the student sports department led to great success with this type of event. In general, there was close cooperation between student sports and the university sports community right from the start.
Although it was initially the HSG’s main concern to offer members of the university opportunities to work in a wide range of sports, they opened up early on to both the city of Ilmenau and the surrounding area. The best examples were the handball women, the swimmers and the track and field athletes. The latter were represented in the 1960s with a strong children’s and youth department.
1964 – 1990
With the new construction of the sports field in Hammergrund with the first circular track, the dedicated participation of swimmers in the construction of the Oberpörlitzer Bade and the sports fields on the Ehrenberg, the conditions for sports operations improved noticeably, at least outdoors. But what about the bad weather period? What options did athletes who were dependent on halls have? Festhalle, with three hours of clearing out the furniture, Kupferberg in Roda, Ehrenberg in Langewiesen!
The situation only improved with the construction of the new school sports halls on the Stollen, on the Lindenberg and on the Pörlitzer Höhe. And not just for the HSG athletes, but for everyone in the city.
Despite the essentially relaxed situation, the call for a hall for the university remained. A long, long dream that was realized on the 50th birthday of the Technical University with the laying of the foundation stone. What do the founding fathers – now they are all of retirement age – find today?
A large club, the SV TU Ilmenau, with 800 members in 18 sections, organized into 26 sports groups. True to the initial idea of the founders, to offer all interested parties a wide range of sports with a wide variety of goals and activities. Seniors, the handicapped and recreational athletes take advantage of the offers to maintain physical fitness. Others train in a specific sport to compete, with the ambition to demonstrate their skills at the highest level.
Since 1991
From the large number of successes achieved, the world champion titles of our skiers Bernhard Schneider, Henner Misersky and Renate Tröße as representatives of the orienteering section should be mentioned here. As well as the now countless wins in German championships in orienteering by Sebastian Bergmann, Christoph Brandt, Christiane Tröße and in casting by Yvonne Schramm, Jivelin Klett and Evgenia Petkina. Finally, the achievement of Steven Lambeck should be mentioned, who won the Rennsteig Marathon in 1998 and 2000.
All of the successes achieved, from winning a district championship to world champion titles, contribute to making the name of the university and the city of Ilmenau known beyond the borders of Thuringia, throughout Germany and worldwide.
Author: Joachim Bartsch (translated from German using Google Translator)