Top-class sport at TUK: active even in Corona times
In today's world, sport is playing an increasingly important role in many people's lives. Whether for self-fulfilment, for health reasons or simply to experience sporting togetherness, sport is an integral part of everyday life for many. Especially during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, sport has in many cases become an increasingly important counterbalancing factor to the restrictions of everyday life. While most athletes had to give up their passionate sports for several months, others, including track and field athlete Lilli Ulrich, were able to get back into action after a short time. Thanks to her "partner university of elite sport", the TU Kaiserslautern, Lilli was able to resume training after just a few weeks, which proved to be extremely valuable later in the year. It became clear that it is extremely important to have reliable partners, especially in difficult times. The Technical University of Kaiserslautern recognized this over 15 years ago and has proudly borne this distinction ever since.
Together with Unisport, TUK has been providing its student athletes with excellent conditions for competitive sport, studying and, above all, combining the two. Athletes can use the university's sports facilities at any time for their training sessions, where they can work on themselves day after day. During their studies, however, the athletes are no less committed - and if there are any scheduling conflicts due to the high training workload or national and international competitions, the predicate always tries to find a solution in favor of the student athletes. In exchange, the athletes usually compete for the university at national or international university championships.
Lilli Ulrich is one of the youngest athletes in the TUK partner program and has been part of it since the beginning of 2020. She has been studying sport and health sciences at TUK since the winter semester 19/20 and is also a 100m hurdles specialist. The twenty-year-old has been competing in the sport for nine years and, thanks to her versatility, also regularly takes part in heptathlons. Originally from Neustadt, she lives and studies in Kaiserslautern. For Lilli, the partnership with TUK brings numerous advantages that help her progress both in her studies and in her sports career: "As I can only train once or twice a week in my home town, I'm very happy that I can use UNIFIT and especially the outdoor sports facility at Unisport. Especially during the corona pandemic, it was a great advantage for me that I was able to start training again immediately after the reopening!" Lilli was recently able to announce several successes, as she became a multiple Palatinate champion in late summer 2020. Including in her favorite discipline, hurdling. In addition to regularly taking part in the Southern German Championships, her greatest sporting success was her participation in the 2018 German Championships. Until she moved to Kaiserslautern, Lilli was a coach and supervisor for children aged five to twelve at her home club TSG Neustadt for five years. She is keen to continue in this role after completing her studies.
Lilli is one of many athletes who impressively demonstrate that it is possible to integrate sport into everyday university life, even at the top level! The strong and reliable partnership makes this possible even despite the coronavirus pandemic. As a partner university of elite sport, the dual career in terms of the compatibility of studies and elite sport at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern is not only supported, but even encouraged!
Author: Sebastian Kelm