Press Release

Virtual Education Sport

Timo Boll presents digital learning project

Borussia Düsseldorf today presented a world first at a press conference, a virtual tour through the fascinating world of table tennis. In close cooperation with WERFT 6, the specialist in visual communication, and the school administration office of the state capital Düsseldorf, the table tennis record champion has developed a digital learning project for schools, presented by exceptional player Timo Boll.

"Smart School - Virtual Education. Digital learning taught in a playful way." With this approach of the "Düsseldorf Model", a 3D-based walk-through of the German Table Tennis Center with Borussia Düsseldorf's venue ARAG CenterCourt was created, where numerous Olympic and Paralympic, World Championship and European Championship medals have already been forged as well as national and international titles won by Borussia Düsseldorf.

On a journey of discovery through the center, which is unique in Europe, with the competition and training hall ARAG CenterCourt, two training halls, fitness area, sauna, hotel, administration and table tennis boarding school, the students are introduced to the theory about table tennis from A to Z. The students also learn how to play table tennis. The information on A for serve, M for material or T for technique can be found in hidden table tennis balls, both in written form and in videos in which Timo Boll, Borussia coach Danny Heister and national player Ricardo Walther vividly explain the respective topic.

This is accompanied by numerous worksheets with a variety of tasks for the children and young people, which are explained and applied in the digital sports lessons. Easy to use, easy to navigate and with a healthy mix of exciting learning content and practical exercises. Even various sports badges can be taken by teachers in this way. In addition, there are many details worth knowing about the sport and the table tennis center that can be discovered on the tour through the 360-degree presentation, on computer, tablet or cell phone.

The unique and innovative learning content for digital sports lessons, created with a lot of heart and soul, is now available to schools on the current learning platform "It's learning". In the future, the virtual tour will also be made available to schools using other platforms and to anyone interested in table tennis. On "It's learning", a tour of the memorial site for history lessons was successfully implemented at the end of 2020, and table tennis is now following for the first time as a topic for sports lessons. 

"The Corona pandemic continues to be a concern. Sports activities can improve cognitive skills and promote health and well-being. Under pandemic conditions, new, creative formats are needed to bring sports and fun to children and to support our traditional urban clubs," says city director Burkhard Hintzsche.

"The idea for this unique project came about during the first Lockdown, when I myself saw with my own children at home what challenges digital learning has in general, as well as in particular in the design of sports lessons," explains Borussia manager Andreas Preuß. "With the virtual journey through the fantastic world of table tennis, we are entering completely new territory, giving the students a fascinating opportunity to discover our sport with all its facets independently in a motivating way, simply prepared, cool presented and this with the participation of our professionals, first and foremost Timo Boll. I am proud of this project!"

"I found fun with computers at an early age as a child and am a real technology nerd," confesses the table tennis world star. "So I think it's great to combine technology and learning. The fact that we were able to incorporate table tennis into this great project also makes me happy for my club Borussia Düsseldorf."

"Implementing the Düsseldorf Model Sport in the area of table tennis and together with the industry leader Borussia Düsseldorf was incredibly fun. During the implementation and with the ongoing project, it has been noticeable what potential and what exciting opportunities this creates for students. Now, of course, we all hope that this tool will be used quite frequently in sports lessons at Düsseldorf schools," explains Jean Hardy, Managing Director of WERFT 6.

Benjamin Schmitz, sports teacher at the Marie-Curie-Gymnasium: "It's super motivating for the kids to get to know a sport like table tennis in distance lessons. It's perfect how they are taught the theory, as everything is structured in a playful way. The profile is a kind of labyrinth, which gives it an exploratory aspect that is animating and exciting. It is also very convenient for a teacher, as everything is pre-made and elaborated and can be used and adopted directly. The worksheets only need to be uploaded to the study group, it requires hardly any work. Sports theory is not very popular with the students, but in this playful way they have a lot of fun and enjoy it."

"It's exciting to discover the building and learn a lot about table tennis, including things I didn't even know," says ten-year-old Matthias Jax, a pupil at the Lindenstraße elementary school and Borussia junior player.

The virtual tour through the world of the fastest backstroke sport is available on the Borussia Düsseldorf website at www.borussia-duesseldorf.com and everything about the digital learning project "Table tennis" at https://werft6.com/virtual-education-borussia-düsseldorf, information on WERFT 6 can be found at www.werft6.com.

Features

Virtual tour

In the 3D tour, there are 26 points from A-Z on the topic of table tennis.
From "A for serve" to "Z for home", the fastest ball sport in the world is brought closer to the students!

Playful learning

Use the assignment sheets and documents already created that are in the tour.
Or use them as inspiration for your own ideas that you can tailor especially for your class.

Touchpoints with tasks

In addition, there is also a matching task for each letter, divided into difficulty and effort.
The more stars, the more challenging the task