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Groningen | January 24, 2022

Ellin Pelgrim: 'Going to a club regularly makes your world bigger!'

As a community service officer for Veendam Beweegt, Ellin Pelgrim and her team are responsible for sports promotion and club support in the municipality of Veendam. Serving as an intermediary for the Youth Fund for Sports & Culture, ensuring all children can participate, is a clear part of this for Ellin and her colleagues. 

Common task

Years ago, Ellin saw the Youth Fund for Sports & Culture and immediately felt she should become an intermediary. This presented a valuable opportunity for her to get even more children involved, and she immediately took action. Together with her colleagues Sven Oost and Kevin de Haan, they act as intermediaries for the Youth Fund for Sports & Culture on behalf of Veendam Beweegt. Because Ellin's work is more policy-oriented, while her colleagues are primarily active in the field, promoting sports and supporting clubs, together they cover the entire spectrum of schools and sports clubs. "We see it as a shared responsibility for our team, strengthening each other and expanding our reach. Together, the three of us see and hear more," Ellin explains enthusiastically.

Maintaining active contact is our strength

Sports participation is incredibly important to us. Everyone should be able to participate, even if they lack the financial means at home. They truly consider this a responsibility for Veendam Beweegt. By positioning themselves more clearly as an intermediary, increasing their visibility, and promoting them through word-of-mouth, the number of residents contacting them has grown enormously. They also maintain good contact with the welfare organization. "I think our strength is also that we reach out to people. Many parents, for example, those who speak another language, appreciate meeting in person. What also works well is actively maintaining contact: Is everything clear? Is participation going well? Can we help with anything else? Is a repeat application necessary? Parents are, of course, responsible for their own actions, but we've found that this works well in this environment."

Sports and culture

"Not everyone likes sports. That's why we're in frequent contact with the municipal cultural coach. For example, together with the cultural coach, who also acts as an intermediary, we recently created sports and cultural bags for the children at the Food Bank. Naturally, they included a flyer for the Youth Fund. A positive way to directly inform around 60 families about the possibilities," she continues. As a child, Ellin participated in gymnastics and music. She personally experienced that the more skilled you are at movement, the more you enjoy it. Something she truly sees in her work. Ultimately, sports is her greatest passion, and she took up volleyball. While coaching, she discovered that belonging, building self-confidence, and regularly joining a club expands your world. Sports and culture offer that!

Increasing your own visibility

We frequently visit schools for activities and ensure that flyers for the Youth Fund are available. We recently launched a survey among students at schools to get a better understanding of how many children are already participating in sports, why they are or aren't, and what their preferences are. We also have a Youth Fund banner that we use at our own activities, making it even clearer that you can contact us with questions or to submit an application. Furthermore, as a sports team, we're exploring the idea of starting a sports consultation hour. Besides informing residents about the programs and sports options, providing them with information about the Youth Fund would be a perfect fit.

It is arranged this way

After speaking with parents, submitting an application is easy. As sports coaches, we have good contacts with the sports clubs. Advising on potentially suitable sports activities or supporting them with, for example, figuring out membership fees is easily done. We can then log into the Youth Fund's online application system from anywhere, after which entering the application and processing it is quick and easy. Everything is arranged within two weeks. It's very motivating to receive positive responses. Families are often very grateful, and it gives us a great sense of satisfaction. We actually consider it part of our job. Our role is to promote sports, which logically includes being an intermediary for the Youth Fund. We want all children to be able to participate. As athletes, we are naturally 'performance-oriented,' so as a team, we are committed to reaching even more children this year and getting them involved.

Are you a community service officer, sports coach, or cultural coach? Become an intermediary! Read all about it on our information page for neighborhood sports coaches >>>

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