SA Sports Badge

The SA Sports Badge was a decoration of Nazi Germany that was issued between the years 1933 and 1945. It was a political version of the much more generic German Sports Badge which was also issued in great numbers by the Nazis.

The SA Sports Badge was issued in three grades (bronze, silver, and gold) as well as a special version known as the "SA Sports Badge for War Wounded". The wounded version was implemented in 1940 for those military veterans of the Wehrmacht who had been wounded in combat and could no longer perform the physical feats required for the normal SA Sports Badge. The wounded version of the badge was designed with different criteria and only those rated with a disability could qualify for the badge.

Although originally designed as a physical fitness badge for Nazi stormtroopers, the SA Sports Badge was issued across every German military and paramilitary organization. Indeed, the SS held the SA Sports Badge in high regard, and many of its senior members, Heinrich Himmler, Karl Wolff, and Arthur Nebe among them, qualified for the decoration. The badge was also commonly issued to the Wehrmacht and was one of the few political decorations that the armed forces allowed to freely be displayed on a military uniform (other such decorations included the Blood Order and the Golden Party Badge).

By 1943, a similar sports badge had been created for non-Germans attached to the Germanic-SS. Known as the Germanic Proficiency Runes, this award was issued in two grades (bronze and silver) with similar physical tests as those required for the SA Sports Badge.