Sports wheelchair for Marin Spitzl: "It sits like a second body"

Created: 05/17/2022, 11:00 am

Marin Spitzl (front) is overjoyed with his sports wheelchair.

Happy with him (from right) Georg Nagler, Helmut Scharlach, Wolfgang Schäfer, Torsten Grahl, Michael Baumgartner, Ralf Gründling, Anja Finkenzeller and the board as well as members of SV, Burschenverein and Mooseisen Eichenried.

© Lea Warmedinger

Marin Spitzl from Eichenried dreams of playing basketball.

But the 20-year-old is in a wheelchair.

Now he has a special sports wheelchair - thanks to many donations.

Eichenried

– "I'm at a loss for words": When Marin Spitzl from Eichenried started a fundraiser on Facebook last August of his own accord for the great wish of a sports wheelchair, he never thought what he could literally get rolling with it.

His greatest dream was to cover the high cost of a custom-made wheelchair in order to be able to play in the Bavarian wheelchair basketball league.

On Sunday, that dream finally came true.

After the great success of the fundraising campaign by all clubs in the area and countless donations from the district and beyond, the originally hoped-for 9,000 euros were far exceeded with a total of more than 13,000 euros.

Marin Spitzl: "Thanks to everyone who donated"

Spitzl, who suffered from spastic cerebral palsy due to a lack of oxygen at birth, was "really happy about the subsidy" that the health insurance company refused him, the young man said on Sunday.

The victory of SV Eichenried, where Spitzl is considered a noble fan, was followed by the official handover of the newly manufactured sports wheelchair at the Eichenried sports field.

Mayor Georg Nagler was enthusiastic about the 20-year-old's training sessions, which he likes to post on Facebook and Instagram, and expressed his respect for this tough and technically challenging sport.

Among the more than 60 people were Wolfgang Schäfer, chairman of the USC Munich wheelchair sports association, sports consultant Helmut Scharlach and Anja Finkenzeller from Wurzer Umwelt, which, as Spitzl's training company, decided to sponsor him for wheelchair sports.

The boys' club, the SV and the Mooseisen Eichenried club as well as many other friends and relatives also came to this special occasion.

"Thank you to everyone who donated for me," said Spitzl, who, after serious operations and setbacks, now looks to the future with a lot of joie de vivre and a strong will.

He never thought that this action would go through the entire district - "I'm at a loss for words".

Basketball wheelchair is custom made

A special thank you goes to family friend and Mooseisen chairman Torsten Grahl, who with his organizational activities was a great support on the way to his own sports wheelchair, as well as his family, who always have his back, said Spitzl.

The handover was carried out by Michael Baumgartner from Ottobock and Ralf Gründling from Physio-Tech, who manufactured the sports wheelchair and were able to adjust the price to the amount of the donations.

"A basketball wheelchair is specially made, so everything is done by hand," explained Gründling.

"In principle, the wheelchair has to fit skin-tight," added Spitzl: "It was practically welded to me personally."

After production by Ottobock, Physio-Tech covered the seat and attached straps for stability in the wheelchair.

The process took around half a year, from hours of measurements to production and final fittings.

Mayor Nagler, among others, tried his hand at “Celebrity Throwing”.

He scored the most baskets with two goals from two attempts (picture left) © Lea Warmedinger

After the handover, some “celebrities” tried out what it felt like to sink the basketball into the basket from a sitting position on a chair at about the height of a sports wheelchair.

The prospective clerk for office management Spitzl is very familiar with it.

The young man said he was overjoyed with his new sports wheelchair in black and red: "He sits like a second body." The feeling when playing is not comparable to the wheelchair he had previously borrowed, which was much too big for him.

Spitzl is now looking forward to the start of the season in October with great anticipation.

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Lea Warmedinger