Mayor Dr. Schwenke presented awards for services to Offenbach sport

Jutta Gardon joined the karate department of TSG Bürgel in 1996. From 1998, she took on various positions in the karate department - as treasurer, secretary and press officer. She has been an active co-trainer since 2004 and head of the karate department since 2009. She set up the karate children's group, organized the annual club championship and has also been organizing the annual karate camp at Ronneburg Castle since 2010. She has also been secretary of the TSG Bürgel board since 2020. She has also been involved in her sport beyond Offenbach, organizing the training for instructors in popular sports in Saxony-Anhalt, as a member of the table crew at the 13th Karate World Championships in Halle-Saale in 2005 and organizing the 2nd German Karate Championships of the IKF in Offenbach in 2006. "People like you keep an entire department alive - and are therefore also a pillar for your club, TSG Bürgel," said Schwenke, thanking them for their commitment.

Siegfried Hildenbrand has been a member of Rot-Weiß Offenbach since 1980 - the club that had only been founded three years earlier. He played active soccer there as a player-coach until 1985; from 1985 to 2003, he was 2nd chairman of the club, as well as a coach and representative on the match committee. He also built up the youth department with four youth teams at the time. He finally became 1st chairman of the club in 2003. During his time in office, the clubhouse was built at great voluntary expense. This gave Rot-Weiß Offenbach a proper home for the first time. Unfortunately, this was destroyed by arson in November 2010. Today, Hildenbrand supports the current first chairman of the club in word and deed: "Mr. Hildenbrand has succeeded in the task of supporting his successors as former chairman on the one hand, while at the same time giving them the space to carry out their tasks in their own way at Rot-Weiß Offenbach," said Schwenke at the award ceremony in the city council meeting room.

Hans Kaiser has been a member of TSG Bürgel since he was seven years old in 1962. He has played many hundreds of handball matches for his club. He has been active as a youth coach since 1978 and led the male handball B youth team to the championship and promotion to the top division, the Oberliga. He was head of the handball department from 2006 to 2011 and has been deputy head of the department since 2011. In addition to handball, Hans Kaiser was 2nd Chairman of TSG Bürgel from 2020 to 2025 and has been 1st Chairman of the club for the past year. "Taking on the legacy of Rolf-Dieter Elsässser is not an entirely grateful task, and TSG Bürgel is a large and broad-based club, now the second largest in Offenbach. Being chairman here is a particularly challenging task," said Schwenke, expressly thanking Hans Kaiser for his commitment. In 2019, Hans Kaiser was already awarded the gold badge of honor by the state sports association and the silver badge of honor for active players by the Hessian Handball Association for his many years of voluntary work. The award of the sports plaque is the first honor he has received from the city of Offenbach.

Klaus Schürmann joined the EOSC at the age of 23. He has been an active swimmer since 1964 and a water polo player since 1969. In swimming, he successfully competed in district, Hesse and German championships until he was a senior citizen. But he didn't just swim himself. For many decades, he was active as a junior coach and as a swimming coach for non-swimmers from the age of 4. "Today we complain that many children can no longer swim - it wasn't because of you," Schwenke emphasized when Klaus Schürmann received his award. Thanks to his commitment, many children learned to swim and many young people were able to take part in swimming training. Klaus Schürmann was also the EOSC's senior swimming coach for many decades. He was a national league water polo player from 1969 to 1974. But here, too, he not only played himself, but was also a youth coach for many decades, organizing various training camps. From 1969 to 1973, he coached the first team and was later active as a senior water polo player. He also coached young water polo players and was involved in the Hessian Swimming Association for water polo and in particular for the promotion of young talent. Klaus Schürmann has been a sports badge examiner for the swimming discipline since 2010 and is involved in the city of Offenbach's sports badge days. As the former operations manager for Offenbach's swimming pools, Klaus Schürmann has also been able to turn his hobby into a career.

Sigrid Stih has been a member of TSG Bürgel since 1972 and was an active handball player there until 1997, playing in the A youth and women's teams. At the same time, she worked as a handball coach for 36 years from 1978 to 2014, first in the female B youth team, then as a coach of various youth teams and the second women's team. Sigrid Stih has also held various roles on the handball department's board since 1983 - as auditor, women's representative, head of the female youth team, deputy head of department, secretary and responsible for hall occupancy. "What appears so clearly on a data sheet actually encompasses an incredible wealth of tasks and appointments - and has done so for over five decades. Sigrid Stih has been involved in handball at TSG Bürgel for over 50 years, as a player, coach and board member," said Mayor Schwenke, paying tribute to her commitment. "You can be sure that the TSG Bürgel handball department knows what it has in you".

Horst Müller's heart beats for chess. In 1960, he joined the "1946 Offenbach" chess club, which merged with the 1880 Offenbach chess club in 1969 to form the Vereinigte Schaftgesellschaft 1880 Offenbach (VSGO). From 1974 to 1976, it played in the then four-track national chess league. From 1979 to 1982, VSGO won the Hessian team championship with him and was promoted to the newly created 2nd Bundesliga. He also won numerous individual championships at city and state level. He is still active and successful as a chess player today: in the VSGO 2nd team in the Landesklasse Ost. He is team captain and integrates the club's promising young players into this team. Horst Müller has been an honorary member of the VSGO board for more than 50 years without interruption. His positions during this time range from 2nd chairman to tournament director for teams, tournament director for individual tournaments, youth director or youth manager and equipment manager. The promotion of young talent is particularly close to his heart. As a licensed youth coach in school chess, he led school chess clubs for many years. As the club's school chess officer, he coordinates his team's activities at several schools in Offenbach. He organizes the annual school chess championships for primary and secondary schools. "Horst Müller is also always there at the Mainuferfest when it comes to setting up, dismantling and stand duty; I've often met him there. His greatest concern is to inspire people of all ages to play chess. I wish him continued success in this," explained Schwenke during the evening of honor.

Kristoffer Uhlisch has been a member of LG Offenbach since 1995, until 1996 at TGS Bieber, since 1997 at SG Rosenhöhe, now OSC Rosenhöhe. He has held a C-license as a competitive athletics coach since 1998. He was successful in sport at Hesse and national level: with the TU Darmstadt relay teams at the German University Championships in 1999 and 2000 and a 3rd place in the 400 meter hurdles at the Hessian Championships in 2001. Even in his "sporting senior years", he still has a number of successes to show, on the track and over the hurdles, as well as in the all-around and as a participant in senior European and World Championships in the decathlon. Kristoffer Uhlisch has been organizing various major athletics events in Offenbach for 25 years: in 2000 he launched the athletics school sports festival and has been organizing it ever since, since 2005 he has been organizing the Rosenhöhe forest run, which he initiated, and since 2006 he has been co-organizing the Behördenwaldlauf. He has also been involved in the City of Offenbach's German Sports Badge Action Day since 2009 and organized the participation of a girls' team from the LGO in the International Athletics Meeting with Offenbach's Italian twin town of Velletri in 2010. In 2008, he became 2nd Chairman of LG Offenbach, since 2009 he has been Head of the Athletics Department of SG Rosenhöhe and has also founded the athletics department of OSC Rosenhöhe. Finally, Kristoffer Uhlisch became 1st Chairman of LG Offenbach in 2017. In 2017, he also introduced and implemented the nationwide new version of children's athletics at LG Offenbach as a coach. He has been a member of the board of the Offenbach-Hanau athletics district since 2003 and has been deputy chairman since 2024. "I'm not exaggerating when I say that behind the success of LG Offenbach and the athletics department of OSC Rosenhöhe is a name that is visible to everyone at competitions: Kristoffer Uhlisch," Schwenke stated appreciatively at the award ceremony in the town hall.

Hans-Dieter Werner's main focus is his voluntary work for tennis in Offenbach and Hesse. He is a very good doubles player and has played in the national league as well as internationally. He was active as head umpire and referee at major international tennis tournaments and also officiated a match between Boris Becker and John McEnroe, for example. He spent eight years as honorary sports director at TC Rosenhöhe and eight years as tournament and active referee for the Hessian Tennis Association. He was match director of the Southwest Regional Tennis League for ten years. He also co-founded the German Referees Association. He was a helper at numerous celebrations and events and helped as a moderator of the home matches of the men's Hessenliga of the TC Rosenhöhe. For a short time, he was also 2nd chairman of TC Rosenhöhe. "Even in his youth, there are reports that he and his teacher organized city championships in every conceivable sport in the Palatinate," said Schwenke when honouring Hans-Dieter Werner. To this day, he is still one of the tournament directors of the DTB youth ranking list tournaments in Offenbach. He was also the initiator and organizer of the Offenbach Open, the Offenbach Tennis Championships, even though these no longer take place. Away from tennis, Hans-Dieter Werner is the organizer of the Offenbach Golf Championships, which are being held for the 10th time this year and at which donations are collected for social causes such as the Krabbelstubb', the children's hospital and the Tafel. On average, 1,500 euros are raised per event. In 2008, Hans-Dieter Werner was awarded a letter of honor by the state of Hesse for his wide-ranging commitment to tennis.

Gudrun Bayer has been involved in sport on a voluntary basis for over 50 years. From 1974 to 1997, she gave voluntary lessons in children's gymnastics and women's gymnastics. She was active on the board of the sports club for tennis, children's gymnastics and women's gymnastics, and prepared and helped organize the TRIMM Festival in Offenbach. Gudrun Bayer has now been a volunteer at the fencing club for 30 years. After a trial training session for her son, she joined the board of the fencing club in 1995. She supports the youth work, is responsible for organizational issues and the board minutes. She has also been in charge of the cafeteria at all tournament events since 1995, e.g. international and national tournaments, German championships, Hessen championships and beginners' tests. Since 1997, Gudrun Bayer has been entrusted with the preparation and organization of German Fencing Championships in Offenbach, and in 2002 she prepared the Olympic Day of Sport for Hesse for fencing in Offenbach in cooperation with the Olympic Society Frankfurt and the City of Offenbach. Since 2019, Gudrun Bayer has been President of the Offenbach Fencing Club 1863 e.V. She supports young fencers in all matters relating to the club. She organizes the summer and Christmas parties, awards ceremonies and anniversaries. She takes care of important bureaucratic tasks such as funding applications for a new hall floor or digitalization. She organizes participation in municipal events such as the Mainuferfest, the Festival of Lights and the Christmas market. Since 2019, she has also been the overall coordinator of the Rhine-Main base training program at the state base. She supports the state association training courses at the Offenbach Fencing Club and is responsible for staff and housekeeping at the fencing center. She organizes tournaments such as the annual international Stephan Haukler Tournament or the U13 cooperation tournament with Eintracht Frankfurt and the FTV. "I particularly remember the reception of Ukrainian refugees, whom the club supported in many practical matters. The Ukrainian youngsters are fully integrated into the fencing club and are very successful in sport," emphasized Schwenke during the award ceremony at Offenbach Town Hall. Gudrun Bayer was last honored in 2024 with the Erich Müller Prize from the Rolf and Uta Düncher Foundation.