SportHilfe foundation support for DCA /Germany
Source Sport, Education and training in Europe- Dual career for a dual life - EU funded project
When it comes to helping non-professional athletes in work, measures exist at the national and federal level. The cornerstone of the scheme is the private SportHilfe (SportAid) foundation. Its role is to mobilise and distribute funds to insure and help top-level athletes. About 3,800 elite athletes benefit from this support (the total budget is between 10 and 12 million euros per year). The foundation chooses sportsmen and sportswomen based on performance criteria, and also on social needs.
In addition to this, the foundation is committed to providing financial compensation to athletes’ employers when they are penalised by an absence or an incapacity caused by the sporting activity (training, competition and so on).
Numerous measures have also been implemented in the area of top-level athletes’ career change. On the initiative of the SportHilfe foundation, a club of former athletes was formed. It
selects athletes who want to follow career change training or pursue new studies after their sporting career. They can be helped with financial and human support, since the training courses can be funded and support provided. This initiative is supported by a partnership of 140 national companies.
The strong points of the way German sport is organised, then, are its flexibility and the cooperation between the public and private sectors, and these could be introduced more widely at the European level.
Useful link https://www.sporthilfe.de