It was in 1982 that Jaap de Haan became a board member of the Coevorder football club Raptim. Exactly forty years later – his eldest son André is 41 – the 70-year-old Coevordenaar says goodbye to the board. He has been chairman of the Sunday club since 2013.
Raptim’s honorary membership and a high award from the federation were awarded to him on Friday evening in the Pikolan club canteen. Marc Ekkelenkamp is the new chairman. De Haan was also president of the originally Catholic club in 1992. “At the time, I temporarily replaced Henk van der Heide,” says the seventy-year-old. De Haan is a former physical education teacher and originally comes from the Frisian town of Tijnje. At the local football club he played football in the third division in a gray past. “Because of my work, we moved to Coevorden, where Germanicus became the club where I first played football.”
Raptim’s fellow townsman played in the premier class at that time. After three seasons at De Pampert, De Haan made the switch to third division Raptim in the late 1970s, where he played in the first division for many years and then in lower teams. “In the early eighties I was a player and coach of the first for almost a full season.” Nowadays, De Haan plays walking football with peers on Wednesday evenings. ,,Why did I join as a board member so quickly? I have a warm heart for sports. I liked facilitating football for members of the association. I like to see that people can be sporty.”
The outgoing chairman has held many positions within Raptim. For example, he trained youth teams for years, was part of the technical staff, was committed to girls’ and women’s football and many years ago spent a lot of time in the former indoor football branch of Raptim. De Haan is in possession of diploma coach 1, got the opportunity to work as a youth trainer at FC Emmen and later at the seniors of the nearby HHC Hardenberg. But he didn’t start there. This was due to a lack of time because of his family, a busy job and the love for Raptim. “I’ve never regretted my choices. I was and am at peace with it, because you can’t do everything.”
Lots of regional derbies
According to De Haan, Raptim is in good shape. “We also lost members during the corona years, but we are now fluctuating around 700 again. All in all, the association has grown. We see a bright future for the future.” Raptim has played in the second division more than once in the past; today the first plays in the Sunday third division with many regional derbies. De Haan: ,,Of course we have the ambition to play higher than the third division, but playing football structurally in the second division is not yet possible. We certainly want to perform, but it is also fun for us.”
Raptim celebrated its 90th anniversary earlier this year; according to the Coevor clubman ‘a great happening’. “We are also counting on celebrating our centenary.” Retired De Haan will remain active in the Raptim maintenance team. ,,Furthermore, something will probably come to me within the association, but arranging the weekly affairs is now a thing of the past. There was a time when we as a board met monthly, but today we are on about 24 hours a day. I think a board position is busier these days than before. Marc has a very challenging job as chairman, but I think it helps that Raptim is in his genes.”