Less subsidy for exercise in small Haarlemmermeer villages: “We think this is very bad”

To encourage Haarlemmermeer residents to get active, Team Sportservice Haarlemmermeer now offers activities everywhere in the municipality. For example, this month the club called on Nederland in Beweging presenter Duco Bauwens to guide shoppers in the Vier Meren shopping center with the necessary stretching exercises.

Activities will continue to be organized for Hoofddorp residents in the future, but this is different for residents from many small centers. “The municipality has designated Haarlemmermeer West and South East as less priority,” says Ralph Uittenbogaard of Team Sportservice Haarlemmermeer.

The fact that the small centers in West and South East are given ‘less priority’ means that Team Sportservice will no longer organize activities there on its own initiative. “We are not leaving there completely, but we will not proactively do anything there,” says Ralph.

Residents and sports clubs from those centers can still ask Team Sports Service for help free of charge with a specific request. Schools must pay for the use of Team Sportservice themselves.

Children from small communities

Children from small towns will mainly be affected. Other Haarlemmermeer children can still take a sports lesson from Team Sportservice after school, but this ends for children from Cruquius and Lisserbroek, for example. “We think this is a loss because education is an important place to introduce children and young people to sports and exercise,” says Ralph.

Children from Haarlemmermeer-West and Zuidoost will also be less encouraged to get active during school hours. Team Sports Service previously set up the exercise corner in classrooms for toddlers to play games there. She also worked with the schools to look at the best layout for a schoolyard to get children moving.

There is amazement in the small centers. “It shouldn’t matter whether you come from Hoofddorp or Lisserbroek,” responds Mark Scholte from Lisserbroek, who is a father himself. “Every child should have access to sports.”

There is also dissatisfaction at sports clubs. “That makes no sense at all,” responds Truus Keijzer of SCW football club in Rijsenhout. “When it comes to villages, nothing is possible. But in Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep everything continues to run as usual: that is typical of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. We also need support.”

Team Sportservice is active at associations with club management coaches who provide guidance to local associations and send newsletters with activities. “They helped on all fronts,” she says. “If they only help reactively, it will be very different. We think this is very bad.”

Team Sportservice is also very popular in Vijfhuizen. Team Sportservice recently started a campaign together with the local sports club to recruit volunteers. “That feels very nice for a club where you have to work quite hard to keep enough members and volunteers,” says Brenda van Poecke of DSOV Vijfhuizen.

“If the pot is empty, I understand that you have to cut back,” she says. “I don’t understand why it isn’t distributed evenly.”

Health

The municipality has chosen to give priority to Hoofddorp and Nieuw-Vennep, for example, because the residents of those centers are on average slightly less healthy than the villagers. “Poorer and less educated families often live there, who exercise less and are less concerned with their health,” says the municipality. “They often don’t have money to pay for sports.”

In the smaller centers there are slightly fewer problems in this area, although the municipality calls these differences ‘small’. “Of course we would like to offer the same amount everywhere,” says the municipality. “But resources are limited and we have looked at how we can best use the resources.”