FC Groningen organised ‘Meer & Beter Bewegen’ Symposium in the Euroborg

FC Groningen organised ‘Meer & Beter Bewegen’ Symposium in the Euroborg

FC Groningen in de Maatschappij (FC Groningen in the society) Foundation held the first ‘Meer & Beter Bewegen’ Symposium last week – Wednesday 1 November – at Euroborg. Almost 250 guests had pre-registered for the symposium where various sub-sessions were offered in addition to several interesting speakers. During the ‘Meer & Beter Bewegen’ Symposium, FC Groningen Foundation in Society presented the ‘Exercise Agenda FC Groningen in Society’.

The day full of interesting talks, meetings and workshops started with a kick-off by chairman of the day Hans Slender together with chairman of the board of FC Groningen in de Maatschappij Foundation Max van den Berg and ambassador of the foundation Arjen Robben. Both Van den Berg and Robben stressed the importance of starting young with sufficient exercise.

The opening was followed by a panel discussion in which former top athlete Daniëlle Bekkering, current director at HANNN (Healthy Ageing Network Northern Netherlands), Bernard Wientjes member of the Dutch Sports Council (NLsportraad), Johan Annema (programme manager beweegalliantie) and Simon Cageling (manager social programmes FC Groningen) participated. An open discussion on how to tackle exercise poverty in the Netherlands. Important conclusion drawn was the absolute added value of the advent of a possible sports law. Sport should be given a higher priority on the political agenda.

The symposium attendees had the option of standing, or listening to the individuals on stage while seated. After 45 minutes, it was time for everyone to stretch their legs and get moving. Sub-sessions were organised at various places in the stadium.

The inspiring ‘Meer & Beter Bewegen’ Symposium was jointly concluded with a lecture by Remo Mombarg, Lecturer of Movement Education and Youth Sport Hanze University of Applied Sciences on ‘5 more years.’ After the closing address and a beautiful poem by poet Merijn Binnekamp on the importance of exercise, the conversation in the hall continued for a long time by those present during the networking moment. Besides a hardcopy of the ‘Beweegagenda FC Groningen in de Maatschappij’, all attendees were given a Word Groter Bal to hand out.

FC Groningen in de Maatschappij Foundation thanks all attendees for coming and hopes that the ‘Meer & Beter Bewegen’ Symposium contributes to the conversation and subsequent actions to jointly tackle the growing problem of exercise poverty in the north of the Netherlands.

You can download the ‘Beweegagenda FC Groningen in de Maatschappij‘! (Only available in Dutch)