This year’s team consist out of around 15 alumni, spectators and current GCEs, equipped with a brand-new set of jerseys provided by the sports faculty. To prevent a repetition of the of the mediocre performances of the last years, we committed ourselves to hold a few practices beforehand. Nevertheless, the last tactical directions were given during the train ride. We arrived at the University of Regensburg without much trouble and were blessed by a beautiful sunny day.

This was accompanied by a pitch in splendid condition, which is no comparison for the Wilde-Liga pitches we were practicing on. Moreover, there was a sufficient supply of drinks, food and snacks. Everything was set to show our skills and surprise the competition which travelled from all over Bavaria to Regensburg. The tournament started with a group phase, followed by knockout rounds. Each game lasted 15 Minutes and was played 6 vs. 6 (+goalie).

After starting nervous, we were able to take control of the first game. The only thig which we weren’t able to do was scoring a goal, so we ended up being a draw. Because our second opponent didn’t show up, we already advanced to the quarter finals, without having scored a single goal. This shouldn’t be changed in our next game, which was mainly played between the boxes. Unfortunately, we conceded a goal just before the end of the match.

After the lunch break, we actually faced another team of the University of Bayreuth the scientific computing program. As in previous games our defence was solid, but just couldn’t make use of our chance in offence. This was changed roughly 3 minutes before the end, with Mateo scoring an artistic goal (see picture). The goal seemed to wake up our opponents, who now attacked us with the mute of despair, but the GCE defence once again was standing strong, and we manged take home the win and advance to the semi-finals.

Even though our mood was great, we also started to feel exhausted from the previous games. Moreover, since there weren’t many teams left, we had little to no break before having to play our semi-final. Right around mid-game our opponents went up front. But if anyone thought that would be it, it wasn’t. Quickly after being behind Mateo scored a beautiful equalizer. From that point onwards the match was much more spectacular, since both of the teams weren’t able to prevent passing mistakes, leading to good chances at both sides, with an optical advantage on the GCE side. After the extra time of 5 minutes not only the game ended with a draw, but we also ran out of energy. Since there was a winner to be determined, there was a penalty shoot-out, which we unfortunately lost.

It was just as all of us were pleased with the performance and would gladly make our way home, as we realized we also had to play the next match for the third place. Hereby we couldn’t offer much of a fight and lost the game 2:0 and were finally able to get home. We proudly reached Bayreuth at 8pm and with this much later then expected. We hope that we can built up on that performance in the next year.

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Natur und Sport gleichzeitig denken

Im gut besuchten Hörsaal verdeutlichte Prof. Dr. Manuel Steinbauer den Zuhörern anhand von mehreren Beispielen, wie sich die Dynamik ökologischer Systeme und der Einfluss menschlicher Aktivitäten im Laufe der Zeit verändert haben. Zukünftig wird der ehemalige GCE-Studierende erforschen, welche Auswirkungen der Outdoorsport auf die Natur hat und wie das Potenzial des Sports genutzt werden kann um Menschen für Umweltthemen zu sensibilisieren.
Auf die Relevanz des fächerübergreifenden Themas „Sportökologie“ angesprochen, hebt Prof. Steinbauer zwei Gründe hervor: Zum einen würde unsere Gesellschaft dazu tendieren Natur und Sport „gleichzeitig zu denken“, d.h. wenn wir einen Naturaufenthalt planen, wird dies häufig als Sportereignis geplant. Wollen wir z.B. in die Alpen fahren, dann, um dort zu wandern. Zum anderen würde der Sport großes Potenzial bieten, den Menschen Naturschutzthemen näher zu bringen.

Von GCE über System-Paläobiologie zu Sportökologie

Sportökologie war nicht immer der Forschungsschwerpunkt des in Mittelfranken aufgewachsenen, interdisziplinär arbeitenden Wissenschaftlers.
2004 begann er den Bachelor „Geoökologie“ an der Universität Bayreuth und setzte das Studium von 2006 bis 2009 mit dem damals neuen Masterstudiengang „Global Change Ecology“ fort. Darauf folgten die Promotion im Jahr 2013 und ein dreijähriger Aufenthalt als PostDoc an der Universität Aarhus in Dänemark. Von 2017 bis 2019 war Prof. Steinbauer Professor für „System-Paläobiologie“ an der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Im August 2019 folgte er dem Ruf der Universität Bayreuth und kehrte als Professor für „Sportökologie“ zurück.
Auf die Zeit als GCE-Studierender zurückblickend, hebt der 36-Jährige besonders die einzigartigen Erfahrungen durch die Teilnahme an internationalen Umweltkonferenzen und wissenschaftlichen Tagungen hervor sowie die gute Methodenausbildung.
Ab dem kommenden Wintersemester wird der GCE-Alumni nun als Professor die neuen GCE-Studieren unterrichten.

Dieser Text wurde für das Elitenetzwerk Bayern geschrieben.

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