Sportforum Hohenschönhausen
Berlin's training centre for top-level athletes and the next generation
Berlin's competitive sport belongs in the Hohenschönhausen Sports Forum. After all, Germany's largest Olympic training centre is located on the site.
With 45 hectares and 35 sports facilities, it is the second largest sports centre in the capital. The Hohenschönhausen Sports Forum was built in 1954 and top athletes and later Olympic champions trained here back in the GDR era. And even today, everything still revolves around sport.
The site is home to 20 sporting clubs, ten national training centres, a centre for school and competitive, and the "House of Athletes" with about 200 rooms to rent. Daily, more than 3,000 athletes use the Sportforum as their training venue, including Olympic gold medallist Robert Harting (discus) and the handball players on the professional Füchse Berlin team. As such, the Sportforum is the most important centre in Berlin for both peak and junior competitive sports.
From boxing to archery
Sportforum Hohenschönhausen offers training for almost any sport. In addition to the classics of football and swimming, there are also centres for fencing, boxing, archery, and judo. There are rinks for in-line skating, tennis courts, and shooting ranges.
The ice rink at Sportforum Hohenschönhausen is legendary in its own right. The 400 metre has been hosting international competitions since 1986, but the rink is open to the public, too, between September and April. A perfect spot for your first steps on the ice or to practise your sweeping pirouettes.
Berliners probably associate Sportforum Hohenschönhausen especially with the "corrugated steel palace" where the Eisbären Berlin hockey team practised and played in front of their enthusiastic fans until 2008. The Eisbären Berlin junior team now uses the centre for their matches. Other major users of the Sportforum in addition to the Olympics training centre include former East German football masters BFC Dynamo, SC Berlin, Berliner TSC, and the ALBA BERLIN youth team.
