German masters muckymuck featured in national drive

Dieter Massin (below) is the poster boy for masters
track in Germany — literally. A national campaign to get Germans off
their tushies is under way, with this video-rich website touting Dieter, who’s known more as an official and Eurovets leader than an athlete. Stefan Waltermann reports on the old country: “This is an interesting story that has been all over the German media. The website you are pointing to is the official website of the German Department of Families, Seniors, Women & Youth. . . . They are running a very large campaign in Germany, allocating huge amounts of Euros to promote an active lifestyle for folks over the age of 50.”

Stefan continues:

If you call up the website again, you will see the image that you will find on countless billboards all over Germany: “Count Actions (feats, achievements), not Wrinkles” with the logo “Alter schafft Neues” meaning aging means creativity, or old age creates something new.

The German government picked Sabine Ball (83), Curt Brandis (82), Ruth Dorsch (79), Lothar Geisler (70), Dieter Massin (68) and Barbara Wegner (69). You find photos of all seniors on the website as well. Their portraits will appear all over Germany. Two representatives of the masters generation are involved in athletics, Dieter on the elite level and Lothar Geisler on the fitness level.

Our dear president of the European Masters Association EVAA, Dieter Massin is quite a character, by the way. He has a wonderful column in his home newspaper that is running for countless years. He is surprisingly prolific. I found up to five columns a week, almost all relating to hometown sports. All are written in the local idiom, a pretty cool slang typical for the industrial Ruhr valley region of Westphalia. Dieter created a website for his character, Juppa. Very funny, by the way.

Personally, I firmly believe that Dieter Massin is a great choice to promote an active lifestyle and demonstrate the potential of older generations. Now, his face will be all over Germany as well.

Christel Donley, another multi-eventer with German roots, summarized what Dieter is saying in the video:

Dieter mainly states what we all know: “Age creates new things.” That’s the headline.

I would actually say: “Age can create new things.”

It’s his report on his own life and his position in track and field, and all the committees he belongs to and did belong. His philosophy is ours: There is no finish line (Nike slogan). We can live life to the fullest, if we stay healthy and active!

Yes, it is always interesting to hear how other people at the age above 50, 60 or more “master” life, but that does not have to come from Germany. His statement, we are more than a “consumer part” is very true.

I have met Dieter and talked at great length with him in Riccione. Mainly, we were both refugees, at the same time and came from the same region. Though he is much younger, some stories were almost matching.

Now I’d like to see USATF interview a bunch of us and put our stories online as cool little videos. Easy to do!