For decades, Jacques Roza (86) from Den Bosch has been the silent power of tennis club De Schutskamp in Den Bosch. Since his retirement, and that has been for over twenty years, Jacques has maintained the ten tennis courts and the surrounding greenery of the club on the duck decoy. For that work he was rewarded on Friday with a royal award.
While, just like every Tuesday and Thursday, with his wheelbarrow, he still gets the tennis park for maintenance, he still can’t understand that he has received a ribbon for his volunteer work at the tennis club.
“I was completely overwhelmed. I knew there was a meeting because there were a few people, together with me, for fifty years. But when the deputy mayor and my children and grandchildren suddenly stood here, I was completely surprised,” says Jacques .
Sitting still is not for Jacques, so he started working at the tennis club after he stopped working. “When I started maintaining the tennis park just after my retirement, we first started to put plants, hoeing, raking and leaving browsing. I am proud that the jobs are maintained so well, because then they will last much longer” He says.
Long before he took the maintenance, he was already active as a tennis player at the club. Because of his busy job as a manager in a large company, he could not tennis often. Since he stopped working, it succeeds better and can be found at the club several days a week. Usually with its orange work gloves, but certainly also occasionally to hit a ball.
If it had been up to Jacques, the ribbon was just spelled on his training suit, but his wife insisted that he put on a pack for the fifty -year anniversary. “I had a jar of tennis in advance and my wife had taken my neat suit with me. But once I was wearing it, I still had nothing to notice,” he laughs.
Board member Hans Vogelaar had been working since June to arrange the ribbon and the ceremony for Jacques. “Every time I come here, I see Jacques taking care of the jobs. He does that with so much surrender, without having to ask him anything. People like Jacques are indispensable. We are very proud of him,” Hans tells.
In the meantime, Jacques walks to a corner of the tennis court and climbs on a small red tractor. Royal distinguishing or not, the work will continue as usual. “It is important to brush the jobs to remove the algae and the moss, which mainly pollute the jobs in this time,” explains Jacques.
It is one of the many chores that have to be done all year round to keep the tennis complex in top shape. “We also want to build padel courts at the club. If they are there at the end of the year, the windows of the jobs must also be kept clean,” Jacques adds.
With his 86 years, he has, thanks to all activities, still an excellent condition. He hopes to stay active at the club for a long time.
