Voices of Inclusion: Young Commentators kick off Training for Rhine-Ruhr 2025

On 23 and 24 April, the six selected participants of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 Young Commentators Programme gathered in Düsseldorf for a training workshop with their mentors, as part of their preparation for the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games (16-27 July). A valuable opportunity to connect and learn more about the unique art of audio-description commentary. This workshop was organised as part of the educational project for student reporters ‘U-Media’, which is funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ Programme.

“A great group of motivated and interested young people”. These laudatory words from Lucas Schmelz and Maxim Brehme, professional commentators with T_OHR, the "Centre for Live Audio-Description in Sports and Society" ("Zentrum für Sehbehinderten- und Blindenreportage in Gesellschaft und Sport"), depict well how the two mentors have successfully engaged with the Young Commentators during the two-day workshop.

For participants Arndt Möller, Luis Bracht, Hilla Meyer, Oskar Auffenberg, Ann-Marit Micheel and Ernesto Scherer, it has been their first step into learning about their role as Young Commentators at Rhine-Ruhr 2025, and how to effectively offer live, inclusive commentary throughout the FISU Games. “It is a challenge because this kind of commentary is new to me, but it is cool and even though we still have a lot to learn, I know I made a lot of steps into being a good commentator for the Games”, said Auffenberg.

'Enabling participation for people with visual impairments'

Several of them also acknowledged the difficulty of audio-description commentary, but were open to corrections and constructive criticism, driven by their passion and motivation for the discipline. “They are not just here to push their own media careers, but also to help break down barriers in order to offer people with visual impairments a high-quality event experience and participation,” recognised Maxim Brehme. And after some repeated practice and intense work, all were very positive about the progress they had made in their work.

“A safe space where no one was afraid to make mistakes”

The practical workshop was also the occasion for the future journalists to properly meet each other since their official selection into the programme, then rapidly work together in pairs and bond as a group. “We really created a safe space between us, where no one felt judged or afraid to make mistakes. I think we are a really fun group, with many different characters,” appreciated 19 year-old Hilla Meyer, the youngest of the bunch.

An overall promising start, also noted by the mentors. “We felt the concrete progress from the first to last audio-descriptive commentary in two days. From being a bit nervous at the beginning, they all have become more and more comfortable, and in the end we can confidently say they will be great workers and commentators this summer.”

With months of preparation ahead, these young voices are well on their way to delivering inclusive, high-quality commentary at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games.

U-Media: An educational project for student-reporters

U-Media is an Erasmus+ educational project for student reporters, photographers, and commentators, which is funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ Programme. The project attracts motivated students who are passionate about sports journalism, offering them access to a wealth of learning materials and expert lectures to support their preparation for practical assignments. The project consists of four major parts (U-Media Ambassadors, U-Media Expert Lectures, U-Media Student Newshub, U-Media Learning Hub, enthusiatically supported by a team of consortium partners (University of Porto (Portugal), as well Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart (Germany), University of Tübingen (Germany), and the AWO Südwest gGmbH (T_OHR) (Germany). The project website with open-access learning materials will be released in the upcoming weeks.