Half of the 18,500 sports clubs in Flanders are looking for additional trainers. The Flemish Sports Federation reported this today. However, eight in ten clubs do not find these extra coaches difficult or not at all difficult. “Give the organized sports sector a workable statute to make it easier to remunerate coaches. With more trainers we can shorten waiting lists at clubs and get more people involved in sports and exercise,” says Pieter Hoof, general director of the Flemish Sports Federation.
Flanders currently has around 73,000 trainers. That number increases every year, but fails to keep up with the increasing demand. One in two clubs is looking for additional trainers. In eight out of ten sports clubs, this search is also particularly difficult. According to the Flemish Sports Federation, this is partly explained by the complicated statute for compensation. Due to the shortage of trainers, there is a membership freeze at a third of all sports clubs.
The Flemish sports clubs also have to look for new trainers every year, as around forty percent quit every year. Sixty percent of them indicate that they quit due to lack of time or changed priorities, a quarter because being a trainer involves too many other tasks and a fifth because the compensation is too low.
Customized statute
That is why the sports sector is pushing for a tailor-made statute. An association work statute was launched in 2018, but it was quickly discarded due to errors in the regulations. Since January 1, 2022, association work has been possible under Article 17, but that statute is hardly used.
“In other words, there is a clear need for a different and simpler status for our trainers,” Hoof concludes. To this end, the Flemish Sports Federation is also looking at the status of flexi-jobs, which has been extended to the sports sector, but where sports clubs and federations are also left out.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss anything from the stars.