Korfball club HHV from Hollandscheveld celebrated its 65th anniversary exuberantly last weekend. As a gift, the club opened several new changing rooms and there is more to come.
The old building was 20 years old and needed to be replaced, and the club has grown considerably since then. The new facility consists of five changing rooms, two changing rooms for referees and a disabled toilet.
“We are very happy with the new changing rooms, but it took us a very long time to get this done,” says Arno Hoogeveen. He is the chairman of the working group responsible for the new changing rooms. “Temporary changing rooms were installed here in 2005, the intention was for three years. Now 20 years later we finally have new ones.”
The expansion is significant and is due to the increased interest in korfball in the region. “When we came here 25 years ago we had 125 members and that number has now doubled.”
And there is more in store. “The lobby has been going on for a long time to build a sports hall on the complex. The current sports hall in Hollandscheveld, at another location in the village, is not suitable for several reasons. That is why we keep switching to other sports halls,” says Hoogeveen.
“The idea has also already been adopted to build the new sports hall here with a canteen that is open all year round for the entire village. The changing rooms have also been built in such a way that the new hall can be placed next to it.”
The new changing rooms couldn’t have been opened on a better day than last Saturday. Besides the fact that HHV was founded 65 years ago, the derby against Thrianta from Hoogeveen was also on the program.
“We are in the competition with many local teams, but the fact that we played against Thrianta on Saturday was great. HHV won 26-24, extra reason for a party,” says Hoogeveen, laughing.
While there is plenty of korfball in Elim and Hoogeveen, this is not the case in North Drenthe. Small korfball clubs in particular have difficulty staying afloat there. Arno Hoogeveen is familiar with the problem.
“They are having a hard time in that region and that is mainly because there is not a lot of youth growth. But here things are going very well.”
The secret behind the success is easy to explain, according to Hoogeveen. “Korfball is a mixed sport and there was a bit of a ‘softie’ character to it. Nowadays you see in society that there is much more equality. If there is one sport where everyone plays at an equal level, then that is korfball.”
The fact that it is a mixed sport is also noticeable off the field. “It’s always a lot of fun here and the atmosphere is much more relaxed than in other sports. Afterwards we take mixed showers,” says Hoogeveen. “With hot and cold water,” he concludes wittily.
