Top gymnasts have to leave Den Bosch, ‘bolt from the blue’

NOC*NSF will subsequently stop the top sports and training program for gymnasts in the Maaspoort in Den Bosch. The gymnasts, including the teenage talents, have to go to another location. Rotterdam, Hoofddorp or Heerenveen are mentioned.

“It was just thrown at us and we just have to see what we do with it,” says Olympic gymnast Jermain Grünberg (24). “They have come up with a lot of problems, but few solutions.”

Tilburger Grünberg has been training in the Maaspoort from an early age and considers the hall as a second home. “But in six months I would no longer be able to continue here. That would be very annoying. Our lives will change,” he told the local broadcaster DTV News.

Sports association NOC*NSF says it has chosen to relocate the top sports and training program because of “the performance of the Den Bosch location in recent years in terms of sports”. There are also still financial obligations at other locations in the Netherlands that the sports association could not simply avoid.

Remco Boer, director of the KNGU gymnastics association, says that the association was only informed at a late stage of the decision to leave Den Bosch. “Geographically speaking, it seems an illogical choice,” he says Omroep Brabant.

The reaction of the father of 12-year-old Stijn van Gaalen is less diplomatic. He points out that his son, a teenage talent, travels back and forth from South Limburg almost every day.

The boy goes to a secondary school in Rosmalen, near Den Bosch, so that he can train in the Maaspoort after school. “It really is a decision that fell upon us like a bolt from the blue,” says Stijn’s father.

The mother of 11-year-old Hylke de Rouw is also angry. Hylke is still in primary school, but now trains three times a week with the talents in Den Bosch, in the hope of being admitted to the official talent program next year. His mother: “The distances to the other locations are unfeasible, especially in combination with school and 20 to 24 hours of training per week.”

The municipality of Den Bosch says it is “unpleasantly surprised” by NOC*NSF’s decision. “It also differs from the messages we had received until then about the future of the top sports program. The gymnastics association had previously indicated that they wanted to keep it in Den Bosch. They even wanted to expand it,” says councilor Marianne van der Sloot (CDA). ). But NOC*NSF does not go along with the KNGU’s wish.

There is still a glimmer of hope for young gymnasts like Stijn and Hylke. The KNGU wants to try to maintain talent development in the region. “The support from NOC*NSF has largely disappeared, but together with the clubs we want to look for possibilities for a follow-up,” said KNGU director Boer.

NOC*NSF emphasizes that there will be a phase-out arrangement for the top athletes in the program, so that they can, for example, finish the school year or be relocated.