According to development manager Hans Slender of Sport Drenthe, the figures say a lot, but not everything. “Things are simply not going well enough throughout the Netherlands. Half of the Dutch do not participate in sports and exercise too little,” he explains.
According to Slender, the National Sports Week provides more attention to the range of sports available in the area. “People are once again made aware that there is a lot to do. There are different activities and there is always something that suits you.”
The Drenthe host municipalities hope that more residents will exercise through the organization of the sports week. Both sports councilors think that municipalities have a role in encouraging people to take up sports.
“There is a lot of sports in our municipality, but there is also a group of approximately 35 percent of the residents who want to exercise, but do not,” says sports councilor Ankie van Tongeren of the municipality of Borger-Odoorn.
The municipalities hope to help more people get active, among other things by improving the sports offering and making sports more accessible.
“In itself it is of course a choice of people themselves, but sometimes you have to give people a push over the threshold,” says sports councilor Nynke Houwing of Aa en Hunze. “Then they suddenly notice how nice and cozy it is and that you feel fitter in your body”