Swiss Review 4/2021

Swiss Review / August 2021 / No.4 11 female footballers are better coached and paid. Whatever happens, I would like a career in sport. I enjoy being physically active. That includes being on the slopes in winter and at the outdoor swimming pool in summer. I also regularly spend time with chil- dren as a Guides leader. I enjoy that. I am actively engaged in trying to make politicians take climate protec- tionmore seriously. I have already taken part in bike demonstrations as well as the Fridays For Future strikes. Sixteen-year-olds are capable of forming their own opinions. They are at a good age to determine what they want. I think it would be a good idea to lower the voting age to 16. I have been consuming a lot more media content to keep track during the pandemic. We also cover political issues at school. However, we need to be encouraged to think even more critically. It is important to question what the media say. INTERVIEW BY EVEL INE RUTZ I couldn’t make up my mind whether to become a joiner or a multi-skilled mechanic, so I decided to do a boatbuilding appren- ticeship instead. Boatbuilding com- bines skills from both these pro­ fessions. I had never steered a boat before my apprenticeship, but I needed to pass a sailing course to complete it. I bought a boat last sum- mer and promptly did the test. I like the feeling of freedom that you get on Lake Thun. One day, I would like to sail around the world. I am attracted by the idea of getting to places that only a small number of people will ever see. In the long term, I would like to work as a boatbuilder during winter and as a sailing in- structor during summer. It would be great if I could pass on my know­ ledge to others. I am very happy with life. I have no urge to change anything. Politics is not really my thing, and being too young to vote at the moment is fine by me. It is more important to me that my teammates hear my voice on the handball court. They have to, because I am captain of our team. The coach and I decide together what moves to practise during training. And I always have first pick when it comes to shirt numbers. The number-eight jersey is of no particular significance to me, but I like wearing it nonethe- less. INTERVIEW BY FLAVIA VON GUNTEN Kimmo Steiner Born in 2004, living in Thun, and currently doing a boatbuilding apprenticeship in Spiez. Kimmo meets his friends at weekends to play basketball or eat out. Yves Heim Born in 2004 and living in Zurich, where she is a pupil at the Liceo Artistico – a Swiss-Italian upper secondary school devoted to the arts. Yves plays football in the junior section of FC Zurich Ladies. She is also in the Girl Guides. Football is my main love. I have been playing for seven years, and I joined FC Zurich Ladies three years ago. I am nowmoving up from the under-17s to the under-19s. We train four times a week and play matches at the weekend. We often play our away matches in other cities, sometimes against French- or Italian­ speaking teams. The level of football is high – our coach demands a lot, so I really have to give my all. That suits me fine, because that is how to improve. I am currently a defender and feel very comfortable playing at the back. We have a good team spirit. I also hang out with a few teammates in my free time. Naturally, there is competition for places in the team. You sometimes have to be selfish to play well. On the other hand, it’s a team game. You can only win to- gether. I get annoyed when things don’t go our way. After a defeat, I pre- fer to go straight home and lie down. We hardly have any contact with the boys in FC Zurich’s junior sec- tion. Their under-17s consists of three groups. The boys are under greater pressure to perform, and competition for places is fiercer. They have greater opportunity, be- cause their budget is bigger than ours. For example, they have more training camps than we do. I think it would be great if they gave girls and boys the same level of coaching and funding. For me, football is more than a hobby. I am thinking of going abroad one day – maybe to the USA, where