The German handball national team at Ost colliery !

On June 27th in  2008 the German handball national team visited Ost colliery, a coal mine of the RAG Deutsche Steinkohle - the German hard coal mining company - in the city of Hamm in Germany. The team with the trainer Heiner Brand made an underground tour to the Sonnenschein (translation: "sunshine") seam, about 1200 metres under the city of Hamm (Germany), more exactly the team visited the longwall mining area 108 in the Sonnenschein seam. After the underground tour the members of the German handball national team were deeply impressed by the high technology and by what the miners do every day. Peter Schrimpf, a member of the RAG Deutsche Steinkohle's board of management, Juergen Schwarze, the manager of Ost colliery, Walter Karl, the colliery's manager for the personnel, and some miners went underground with the team members.

At the end of the underground tour the miners presented a large panel on which they wrote down their best wishes for the German handball national team during the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.

This time my special thanks for the photos from underground and from the surface go to Ost colliery of the RAG Deutsche Steinkohle.

Please click on the photos' small versions in order to enlarge them and to get the corresponding background information. ATTENTION: The pictures' explanations can now be found UNDER the large versions.

Ost colliery's manager welcomes Heiner Brand.

Heiner Brand and Peter Schrimpf.

In the mining area of the Sonnen-schein seam.