Passion for water
The club was a model of success right from the start. In 1923, the Jülich water sports club quickly became one of the largest in the city in terms of membership. And it still is today.
It is common knowledge that Jülich lies on the river. The fact that there were times when the people of the ducal city learned to swim in the Rur is actually logical, but has generally been forgotten. “Wonderfully clear water, tall bushes on the banks and gravel banks in the middle brought so much variety in terms of games and sports in the water that you can no longer imagine today,” says Theo Prell, chairman of the Jülich Water Sports Association (JWSV) until 1949, describing the beginnings in a commemorative publication. The increasing water pollution caused by industrial wastewater led to an association being founded to demand the construction of an outdoor swimming pool suitable for competitions in Jülich. That was in 1923.
Today, the Jülich water sports club has between 250 and 280 swimming enthusiasts in its ranks. This makes the Jülich club one of the “small” ones in the Aachen district. “Small but mighty” as the saying goes, because the club is literally riding a wave of success. They are now swimming in medals. Best success in 2022: the JWSV sent four starters to the NRW Championships, and in 2023 they went to the German National Championships in Berlin.
But competitive sport is only one of the divisions offered by the JWSV: Mondays are reserved for recreational swimmers and hobbyists. This is where children come once a week to swim for fun and possibly to practise for their certificates. And of course there is a separate training session for swimming beginners. But here, as everywhere else, the waiting times are long.
