Gymnastics club Sparta from Gieten may have to shut down most of the gym classes because no new trainer can be found. It is a problem that many other gym clubs also struggle with. Together with SportDrenthe, the associations are looking for a solution.
Creesje Hogenesch has been sporting at the gymnastics club in her native village since 1956. As a 9-year-old girl, she took her first steps on the gym floor. First in a room in the local cafe, later in the gymnasium. “That’s how it was at this time,” she says.
Now Hogenesch comes every Wednesday morning to the gymnastics class for the over-50s in sports hall De Wendeling. And she’s not alone. A group of twenty ladies work up a sweat there for an hour.
They move to music, do flexibility exercises on yoga mats and keep each other sharp by throwing bean bags back and forth. Hogenesch: “Just to keep moving and for contact with others. They say you can exercise at home, but you don’t. It’s much more fun in a group.”
But it is not certain whether Hogenesch’s gymnastics class can continue soon. Their trainer will soon retire and the board of the 115-year-old sports club cannot find a replacement. Another PE teacher is absent for longer due to illness, and so the lessons for young people are also at risk. The toddler gym hour has already been deleted.
“We are looking hard, but just can’t find a qualified replacement,” sighs Sparta treasurer Wilma Heesen. “It seems that many trainers have started doing other things during the corona time.” The over-50s can, as it now seems, exercise for another month, until their trainer’s retirement. From that moment on, Sparta only organizes a lesson in freerunning.
Sparta is by no means the only club with a trainer problem. According to SportDrenthe, there is a nationwide shortage of PE teachers and there are therefore many more gymnastics associations that cannot find people who still want or are able to give PE lessons.
According to association advisor Anne Prins, it already starts at the various sports courses. There, fewer and fewer students choose to specialize in gymnastics. Prins: “That is not only a problem that is currently playing, but there is an even bigger problem to come. It will lead to associations having to work together.”
According to SportDrenthe, a successful project is already underway in the municipality of Borger-Odoorn. Five associations have joined forces there and have jointly published a vacancy for 32 hours. The clubs have now hired gym trainers who teach at all associations. A nice solution, thinks Prins.
SportDrenthe is also trying to set up such a model in Aa and Hunze. Now gymnastics trainers cannot always earn a good living with the lessons, while they have to be flexible and mainly work in the evening. A full-time position as a gym teacher should make it more attractive to people
The first talks with the associations in Aa and Hunze and the municipality have now been completed. A second round of consultations will follow soon. Sparta is also joining in with good courage, in an attempt to find a trainer.
“I’ve never seen an association pull the plug,” says Prince militantly. “Let’s not say that Sparta will be the club where it cannot be solved.”
Meanwhile, Creesje Hogenesch can’t wait for a solution to be found. She cannot imagine that Sparta would have to stop. “I don’t really know what to say to that. It’s a bit shaky at the moment and I think that’s a shame. Movement is just very important.”