This weekend was one big party for all the involved people of Le Champion. The organisation celebrated their 50th anniversary. It was a mixture of getting back good memories and creating new ones.

I want to congratulate Le Champion with this special milestone and I wish the organisation many good years to come!

The theme of this years Disneyland Paris Run was MARVEL.

The distances are getting shorter for me, but the fun still continues. Due to an injury, I am able to run only 5K during the Disneyland Paris Run. The advantage of this distance is that the participants are the only ones in the park. Beside that, the run is in the evening. So there is a special atmosphere in the park with all the special light effects, music and a couple of thousands runners.

It was MARVELous!

Today it is official! During the general meeting, the members unanimously agreed to the proposed candidates. I am one of them and I am proud to be part of this new board. It will be a challenging period, beceause one of the goals is to realize a future proof sports event organisation.

In this board my mean focus is on Volunteers (of course!), Marketing & Communication and Events. I am looking forward to work together with a great group of professionals and volunteers!

As mentioned before (see Latest news > 30th May 2018), I am one of the cofounders of CEF-V (cooperative women’s indoor football). To celebrate the start of the cooperative and in order to realize free publicity, the cooperative singed in to a major event in the Netherlands, Pride Amsterdam.

With a special designed boat, we sail through the famous canals of Amsterdam with loads of spectators who are singing and dancing all day. This years theme: heroes!

What an event,

what a sphere,

what a day!

A video impression; just to afterglow of a perfect day!

Today is a very special day. It is the day that 2 friends and I are signing the Memorandum of Association of the coopartive women’s indoor football (in Dutch: CEF-V = Coöperatie Eredivisie Futsal – Vrouwen).

Beside Cofounder, I also fulfill the position of Board Member and Chairman a.i.

The cooperation has the following goals:

• By combining resources of all associations in a cooperative, we want to increase strength and decisiveness;
• Further professionalisation of the women’s indoor football;
• More publicity for women’s football in general and women’s indoor football in particular.

The largest football sport event in the Netherlands is going to start this month. From July 16 till August 6, 16 countries take part in WEURO 2017 – European Championship for women.

I am one of the 1.500 volunteers. My job will be in the Utrecht Stadion, called ‘De Galgenwaard’ and I am part of the team ‘Volunteers Managament’. If you want to know more about my adventures and experiences, please read my weblog on this website (it is in Dutch)!

For the first time the yearly national championship Cruyff Courts 6×6 is organised in Enschede. I am very lucky that friends of my live nearby, so I can spend the night before with them. Thanks Inge and René!

The location for the final is excellent: in the hart of the centre, surrounded with terraces and the ‘Volunteers Home’ is situated in a church. How cool is that?!

Beside the tournament (11 boys and 11 girls teams), there are a lot of side events around the church. The organisation this year is a (perfect!) combination of the Cruyff Foundation and the local organisation Sportaal.

Today I have the important job to guide the mascotte Cruyffie. Although the weather is not only sunshine (rain…) all the participants had a great day. The girls team from Alkmaar and the boys team from Beverwijk won the finals: congratulations!

It is a very special day today. It would have been the 70th birthday of Johan Cruijff, the first (official!) 14k Run is organized and the Amsterdam Arena has a new name, the Johan Cruyff Arena.

To start with the 14k Run. Yes, you are right! Last year there was already a 14k Run. A volunteer organized it and almost 100 runners took part of this run. And it was very succesful! This year, also due to the 70th birthday of Johan Cruijff, the Johan Cruyff Foundation, Ajax Foundation and event organizer Le Champion worked together in organizing the first official 14k Run. I was / am involved in all three parties and that is why it is logical that I am directly involved in this event. During the day I was 1 of the 300 volunteers and I was present at the start of the first ‘official’ 14k Run and  ‘responsible’ for the VIP area.

During the start the news was known that the current stadium ‘Amsterdam Arena’ (where football club Ajax is playing his matches) is now called ‘The Johan Cruyff Arena’. What an honour and so well deserved. Proud!

During my studies at the Johan Cruyff Institute in Amsterdam (module ‘Sport & Facility / Event Management in 2013-2014 and the Master International Sports Management in 2014-2015) I was one of the studious students. Today I am at the other side of the classroom, in front! I am one of the 2 professors today. How special is that!

The first professor is Rien van Haperen, director of the European Championships Atletics in Amsterdam. He is telling the students about this event, the organization, what happend behind the scenes and the results / legacy. Very interesting story!

And then it is my turn. My lecture is about Volunteer Management (not a surprise, is it?! 😉 ) I am telling the pro-active students about facts & figures, trends, media attention, the needs and desires of a volunteer, my personal experiences and some appealing sport events related to volunteers. Of course this lecture is not only about telling. I also challenge the students to think about ‘volunteers’ via assignments, with some surprising comments. This is why I like it to be a professor!

I really hope that the students liked my / our lectures. And I must say that I really loved it! Hopefully ‘Volunteer Management’ is now an integral part of this module. And I am more than willing to teach the new group of students again!

This and next week, the first volunteer meetings for the European Championship Ladies football are organized. Today the meeting is in the stadium ‘De Galgenwaard’ in Utrecht, ons of the cities where ths events takes place. Great ambiance, a lot of information and the most important part, get to know the fellow volunteers.

Looking forward to being part of this event in July and August!