Scheersbergfest

Over 100 Years of History

1921 — the Scheersbergfest was born as the Schleswig youth sports movement was reorganizing in the early Weimar Republic. It has taken place annually on the Scheersberg ever since, one of Schleswig-Holstein's highest elevations (just under 70 m) near Steinbergkirche in the Schleswig-Flensburg district, not far from the Danish border. Over the decades, the festival has become an institution — generations of athletes from Angeln and the Schleswig marshland region have gained their first competition experience here.

Disciplines and Participants

Around 20 clubs send their youth teams — most from the Schleswig-Flensburg district, some from northern Lower Saxony, Denmark, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The disciplines include Völkerball (the largest tournament of this sport in all of Northern Germany), football, handball, triathlon, relay race, and tug-of-war. The competitions are ambitious in terms of skill level, but consistently fair and friendly in spirit.

Camping in 67 Tents

Accommodation is in 67 large tents on the slope of the Scheersberg. Each club tent is its own world — young people from the same hometown spend the three festival days together, with breakfast in the tent, training sessions in the morning, competition slots during the day, and parties in the evening. The concept has hardly changed in decades — and that's precisely its charm.

Not Just Sports — Disco, Camp Wedding, Shows

In addition to the sports program, the Scheersbergfest offers a packed supporting program: a disco on Saturday evening, the legendary "Lagerhochzeit" (a humorous wedding scene with two clubs as "bridal couples"), show acts by the clubs themselves, and the crowning of the king on the final Sunday. It's what the organizers call a "combination of sporting ambition and summer festival atmosphere" — and that's precisely what shapes the atmosphere.

Organizers

The festival is jointly organized by three bodies: the Sportjugend Schleswig-Flensburg (Schleswig-Flensburg Youth Sports Association), the Kreissportverband Schleswig-Flensburg (Schleswig-Flensburg District Sports Association), and the Internationale Bildungsstätte Jugendhof Scheersberg (International Education Center Youth Hostel Scheersberg). The latter is an educational institution with a Danish-German profile that engages in youth work on the mountain year-round — the Scheersbergfest is its most important annual event.