Surfing is one of Grischa Prömel’s real passions. The TSG midfielder has been on the board for years and has built up a relationship with Ben Neumann through surfing. The TSG Hoffenheim player and the bronze medal winner at the Para-Surf-World Championship both love surfing. Prömel also sponsored Neumann last year, putting up the money so that the blind surfer and his team could represent Germany in the Para-Surf-World Championship in the US state of California. Now they have finally met in person for the first time at the new O2 SURFTOWN MUC near Munich – and immediately jumped into the waves together.
Even before the opening in August, the Bundesliga star and the blind surfer were given the great honour of testing the newly built SURFTOWN. “It was a great experience to finally meet Grischa in person. He is really sympathetic and surfing together was great fun,” said Neumann.
The contact between Prömel and Neumann came about purely by chance last year. The midfielder happened upon a fundraising appeal on social media from Neumann, who has just graduated high school. Ben was trying to raise money for himself and the entire German para-surf team to finance their long trip to California to participate in the World Championship. Neumann, who lost his sight as a child, has taken the world of para-surfing by storm thanks to his extraordinary talent and remarkable success. “When I heard about Ben’s story, I knew I wanted to help him make his dream come true,” said Prömel, adding: “I really can’t believe it. Surfing is not an easy sport, especially with such an immense limitation. That’s why I’m all the more impressed by what Ben is doing here.”
The waves generated in the pool can simulate a wide variety of surfing conditions. The official opening in Munich will take place on 10 and 11 August.