Munich: A hall for beach volleyball – Munich

A toddler lets sand trickle through his hands, over and over again. People sit in deck chairs, with beer or a soda. Others do exercises that look like yoga. And in the back a ball is thrown over the net. No, this is not a beach, on the Adriatic Sea or in the south of France – even if it feels a bit like that.

The location of the action is an air dome near the Laim S-Bahn station, on the edge of the Nymphenburg Palace Park. On this Saturday evening, Munich is currently the only place to be opened where you can play beach volleyball in winter if you are not one of the toughest ones. So inside, in the warm.

You enter through a lock door, because the slight overpressure inside must always be maintained. Beachdome is the name of the hall, and the fact that it is now here on the grounds of the ESV sports club has above all to do with Florian Runtsch. ESV President Birgit Unterhuber pulled out the email that Runtsch had written in July 2018: Since the summer days in Munich are limited – unless it has ever been considered, the beach volleyball courts with an inflatable hall in the not so warm months to roof over?

The air dome was only built for autumn and winter, it will be dismantled again in spring.

(Photo: Catherina Hess)

“We could already imagine that,” says Unterhuber, although the club had just built a new, expensive triple gym. At the same time, a beach hall was also a long-cherished wish of the club. With their realization, they are now offering “a new home for a cool sports community”. They have been playing in the hall for a month. The ESV has gained many new members as a result, says Unterhuber, “that is good.” Because because of the pandemic, many had previously been lost.

So they are happy that they have built “a castle in the air”, as Unterhuber says. Since Beach 38 in the Werksviertel at Ostbahnhof had closed its doors in 2019, there was no longer any way to do the sport in Munich in winter without getting frostbite. Runtsch pursued his plan vigorously and submitted a building application to the local building commission. Then came the coronavirus, “and the vision was broken for the time being”.

But even if everything dragged on because of the pandemic: At some point the financing was in place and the building permit was there. What was still missing: sand heating to keep your feet warm. To raise money for this, the entrepreneur started a crowdfunding campaign in April. It took just ten hours before he had reached his goal – 25,000 euros. After four weeks it was 40,000 euros; They needed that too, because with construction projects everything ends up being more expensive than planned.

Beach domes

The beach chairs in the Beachdome also offer a stylish beach feeling.

(Photo: Catherina Hess)

The construction phase started in May. Runtsch did a lot on his own, digging trenches with his father and laying cables. On the first weekend in October, the eleven-meter-high and 1,000-square-meter hall stood. In the future, it should arch over the fields from October to April; it is dismantled in spring. The hall is already being very well received, says Runtsch, who has also installed a beach bar there. Above all, people like how generously everything is designed. Birgit Unterhuber says that the hall certainly does not meet the demand – but there may be other similar projects soon. The association operates the hall, Runtsch manages it.

On Saturday they played a tournament, men, women, mixed teams. Before the final, there will be a pause for the official opening. Instead of cutting a ribbon, the city sports advisor Florian Kraus and city councilor Beppo Brem (Greens) should play a ball over the net with Birgit Unterhuber and a club colleague. None of them are beach volleyball players, they warn. Her sports are canoeing, gymnastics, badminton – and, well, Brem used to play indoor volleyball. It takes two attempts to open the hall. Anyone can rent the sand fields, on Saturdays there is a so-called come together for people who do not have a team or are new to the city.

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