Rudolph Meyer impresses with his dissertation about street football in the neighborhood!

Rudolph Meyer impresses with his dissertation about street football in the neighborhood!

On May 23, 2025, the young scientist Rudolph Meyer was awarded second place in the Ommo Grupe Prize for his dissertation. This honor is awarded every two years by the German Association for Sports Science and is aimed at young talents in sports education. Meyer's work entitled "In the Cage - Street Football and Street Childhood in a Marginalized Neighborhood. A Streetwork Ethnography" deals with a previously little-researched area within sports science.

His dissertation, supervised by Prof. Dr. Ulf Gebken, uses her ethnographic approach to highlight how street football shapes the childhood of children in suburban areas. The jury particularly appreciated the innovative potential of the work, as it opens up new perspectives in sports education research. She also praised the poetic way in which Meyer introduced his readers to his perspective and expressly recommended reading the dissertation.

Merits in sports science

In addition to Meyer, Lara Stamm from the UDE Institute for Sport and Movement Sciences was also awarded second place. She wrote the dissertation with the title "Theory in the school subject of sport. A reconstructive study on the cultural significance of theoretical components in physical education lessons". This recognition illustrates how important the scientific examination of practice in physical education is.

In addition to the Ommo Grupe Prize, the 37th dvs section conference in Essen (2024) focused on the influence of demographic, social and technological change on sports education. The upcoming 38th annual meeting of the Sports Education Section will continue to be confronted with the challenges that these changes bring with them for teachers and the subject of sports.

Future developments in sports education

The upcoming conference will deal with various educational and didactic perspectives and is intended to address central topics in sports teacher training in the context of heterogeneous framework conditions and legal requirements. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of educational governance in relation to development, research and transfer in sport.

Educational policy and administrative problems that affect both sports science and school sports practice are also discussed. The exchange between the different actors should be promoted through various event formats in order to promote the professionalization of sports teachers.

The conference, which will be hosted by the Faculty of Sports Science and Education at the University of Leipzig in 2025, will also address current research questions on topics such as inclusion, democracy education and digitalization. A satellite conference for young sports educators is also planned, which will take place from April 30 to May 1, 2025 and is organized by Fides Berkel, Sabine Pawellek, Niklas Hecht and Robert Münch.

For more details about the award ceremony and Rudolph Meyer's work, read the article uni-due.de. Further information about sports education research can be found at ssoar.info and up to the conference spowi.uni-leipzig.de.