A membership of SV ISF demands a high level of commitment and a positive attitude, students should only join if they are willing and able to participate for the whole school year.

The word Sportverein translated literally means Sport Club and as such, the SV ISF
is the school’s official Sports Club. Needless to say, for non-native residents, the
concept of having an independent Sports Club to manage the school’s sports
programme can be a little perplexing but for this reason, it is very important to
understand the role of the SV ISF within the context of ISF.
Formerly, as a newly established international school in the early 1990’s, one of its
major difficulties was in trying to organise a competitive inter-school sporting
programme for ISF students, as there was very little synergy with the local State
schools in the area. However, in Germany, as all sports are organised and regulated
by the German Sports Federation (Deutsche Olympische Sportbund) in a three tier
pyramid-like structure (as illustrated below), establishing an independent Sportverein
within the school, opened up the competitive field considerably.

Tier 1 German Sports Federation
Oversees all 16 German States plus the National Olympic Committee

Tier 2 Landessportbund
In case of ISF, the Landessportbund Hessen administers and promotes all
sporting activities between its member Sportvereins

Tier 3 Official Sport Associations
In the State of Hesse, there are 38 different associations that deal directly with
the development of their respective sport

How the SV ISF functions

The function of the SV ISF is to provide a wide range of sporting activities which
includes: Basketball, Gymnastics, Soccer, Swimming, Track and Field and Volleyball.
The SV ISF recruits coaches and instructors in order to train its teams, who then
represent the school in not only friendly matches but also official leagues throughout
Hessen and against other International Schools in Germany and Europe.
In addition, it organises tennis and golf teams to compete in the German International
Schools Sport Tournaments (GISST) and arranges golf lessons at the golf club “Hof
Hausen vor der Sonne” in Hofheim.
By careful management of membership fees, some ISF financial support and kind
donations, the SV ISF is able to oversee a comprehensive training programme for all
the sports listed here, which are available on a weekly basis during period six, nine
and/or after school.

The SV ISF also organises all inter school matches and competitions, which can take
place during the week and/or at weekends. All of the relevant training schedules,
competition fixtures and contact points depending on the type of sport, age and ability
for all SV ISF members are here in this booklet.

Commitment to Excellence

When a student participates as a SV ISF or GISST team member, they do so as both
ISF and SV ISF representatives, which comes with a certain responsibility or
commitment to excellence. This includes, for example, sportsmanship, academic
standing, trust, respect, leadership and team spirit. This commitment should extend
to their team-mates, their coach and everyone in SV ISF and ISF throughout the
whole season.