That is the current situation.

The indoor situation in the city of St.Gallen is tense. Especially in the cold half of the year. There is hardly any free capacity during the week and occupancy requests from clubs have not been able to be met satisfactorily for a long time. This is what the situation is currently like according to the clubs and the city:

Number of gyms

According to the sports department, there are 42 gymnasium units in the city of St.Gallen, although a triple hall is referred to as three units. During the week, these units are divided into three training windows, meaning 630 training windows are available throughout the city during the week.

utilization

In relation to the clubs, the evening occupancy of the sports halls during the week has been constant at an average of 97 percent for a long time. School occupancy throughout the day is slightly lower at around 95 percent. For understandable reasons, neighborhood sports clubs in particular do not want to move to other neighborhoods, especially when it comes to children’s and youth sports. In most cases, this is the reason why there are still occupancies below 100 percent.

All sports halls in the city of St.Gallen are heavily occupied. The large halls in particular no longer have any free capacity. Today, various clubs are severely restricted (handball, floorball, badminton, volleyball, gymnastics). “The current capacity does not allow for any further developments regarding additional training units, number of members, extension of training times,” says the sports department.

Requirement

The sports department says: “St.Gallen has a large number of small halls. There is a need for triple halls, especially a multifunctional large hall that also meets the requirements for international competitions to be held.” The Kreuzbleichehalle, for example, is getting old. There have been no international handball matches in St.Gallen for a long time. The athletic center is now focused on athletics. According to the city, half of the 42 gymnasium units in St.Gallen were built before 1970 and are therefore older than 50 years. Around a third of the sports halls have now been completely renovated. Around a quarter of the sports halls require structural work.

In addition, many sports halls have specific deficiencies that need to be remedied in the short to medium term. In addition, many halls were built based on the old guidelines, which required smaller hall dimensions than the current guidelines of the Federal Office of Sport. Likewise, the recommended safety requirements are no longer met in many smaller halls.

Expansion plans

The city of St.Gallen’s community sports facility concept (Gesak) lists hall capacities that will be created in the next few years. For example, the new construction of the Riethüsli double gymnasium, which has three hall units and will be ready for occupancy in 2025, or the new construction of the Kreuzbühl double gymnasium, which also has three hall units and will be ready for occupancy in 2033. “In principle, it should be noted that the number of students defines the need for additional hall capacity and the halls are therefore primarily available for school sports,” writes the sports department. During the other school-free periods, the halls are available for popular sports and sporting events.

Optimization potential

The fact is: hall capacities will not increase significantly in the near future. The clubs are therefore interested in checking the occupancy plans for the halls. Pascal Müller, President of the STV St.Gallen volleyball club, says: “Every club and every group has a right to exist. From my point of view, however, it must be checked who occupies which halls and at what times.” It’s about distributing the available space in the best possible way.

The STV St.Gallen is a representative example. With up to 300 active members, the volleyball club is one of the largest sports clubs in the city. The STV teams are currently training in six different halls. This is a huge logistical and administrative challenge. Müller: “The creation of the club’s internal hall plan alone is an extremely time-consuming matter for us.” Müller describes the dialogue with the city as positive. “She wants to hear us out.” He also praises the exchange with other clubs from other sports. “We work together and help each other out.”

The sports department announces: “The city of St.Gallen is interested in a dialogue with the St.Gallen sports clubs so that solutions can be sought together that will relieve the tense situation somewhat.” For this purpose, the city of St.Gallen is planning to review and redistribute the hall areas in 2025. “However, it is not expected that the redistribution will alleviate the current shortage of halls.” Rather, scenarios should be worked out with the involvement of the clubs as to how the limited hall capacities can be better distributed. The last comprehensive inspection was carried out before the 2012/13 occupancy period. “We expect a lot from checking the distribution of halls,” says Müller

Solutions

In addition to increasing hall capacities through new buildings and optimizing occupancy plans, there are also other approaches. For example, reducing the use of gymnasiums. SP city parliamentarian Angelica Schmid submitted a proposal on Tuesday. It is entitled “Temporary artificial turf fields for more training capacity for popular sports”.

In it, Schmid suggests rolling out temporary artificial turf fields over the winter on existing and illuminated hard pitches. Just like what happens in the canton of Bern and the city of Basel. “Football should be played outside for as long as possible,” says Nathalie Grand, sporting director of the junior group of the Dardania, St.Otmar and Fortuna clubs. Creative solutions are required. Mobile artificial turf pitches or boxes would defuse the situation. There are currently more than 90 girls playing in the city’s junior group. Divided into four teams, there are at least 20 girls in the gym for each training session – or not in the case of appropriate outdoor alternatives.