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Limburg | June 25, 2024

Jack Opgenoord: Een persoonlijke terugblik op 20 jaar Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur Limburg

Jack Opgenoord is one of the founders of the Jeugdsportfonds Limburg (the predecessor of the current Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur Limburg). He will be passing the baton at the end of this year. "The Jeugdfonds' 20th anniversary is a good time to do so. Our current coordinator, Kim Wijnants, will be taking over a large portion of my responsibilities as manager, along with the board. The organization is rock solid, and I can say goodbye with peace of mind and satisfaction to a professional organization with many volunteers that will be able to reach even more children in Limburg in the future. I would like to thank everyone for their trust and support over the past years." He looks back – for the last time – on 20 years of the Limburg Youth Fund for Sports & Culture.

What motivated you to contribute to the establishment of the Limburg Youth Sports Fund?

Sport has given me so much personally. I've worked in sports my whole life: as a sports physiotherapist at Swift women's handball and at Fortuna Sittard, as a sports physiotherapy instructor at Papendal, and as director of Fortuna Sittard and Huis voor de Sport. Besides that, sports are fun to watch, but even more so, fantastic to participate in yourself. Sports connect and teach you values and principles through play. By playing together, you discover new networks and meet new friends. I want every child to have that. Lack of money should never be an obstacle to leaving a child on the sidelines, figuratively speaking. Every child in Limburg should be able to PARTICIPATE in sports and culture. That is and was my motivation to establish the 'Limburg Youth Sports Fund' 20 years ago, together with Joep Verbugt (former chairman of the Youth Care Bureau), Huub Stevens (former football coach), and Frans Groutars (former notary).

What are the most important developments in 20 years of the Limburg Youth Sports & Culture Fund?

The so-called national Klijnsma funds from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in 2017 ensured that municipalities received structural funding for, among other things, the Youth Fund for Sports and Culture. The merger of the Limburg Youth Fund for Sports and Culture and the Limburg Youth Fund for Culture in 2023, forming the Limburg Youth Fund for Sports and Culture, was an important step in joining forces and working more cost-efficiently.

Looking back on 'your' 20 years, what are you personally most proud of?

In 2006, then-Provincial Executive Member Odile Wolfs provided an annual subsidy as co-financing to encourage municipalities to become partners with the Limburg Youth Sports Fund. In addition, supermarket chain Jan Linders donated €85,000 to the fund upon the opening of their former Warehouse. This laid the foundation for the current Youth Sports & Culture Fund.

I'm also incredibly proud of the support over the past few years from all the board members, volunteers, intermediaries, all our ambassadors – Bert van Marwijk, Sjeng Schalken, Emma Kok, Luuk Hoiting, and Nils Röseler – the business community, and other donors. Over the past 20 years, the Limburg Youth Fund has been able to support over 66,000 children. That's now approximately 6,800 children annually. It shouldn't be possible in a wealthy country like the Netherlands, but I'm glad we can contribute. We're not solving poverty, but we can help children PARTICIPATE.

What do you think is needed to reach all children in the future and enable them to participate?

More than 20,000 children in Limburg live in under-resourced families. Of these, only 7,000 to 9,000 children are reached. Only through intensive collaboration with other child welfare partners, such as the Leergeld, Youth Education Fund, National Child Aid Fund, and Jarige Job foundations, can we reach even more children. As the Youth Fund for Sport & Culture, we will primarily focus on education. We will capitalize on the development of School en Omgeving with the extended school day. At school, all children can experience sports and culture. We need to build a network here, together with school coordinators and bridge officers, to guide children to otherwise organized (or unorganized) sports and cultural providers and activities. Only by working together and monitoring developments can we take a step in the right direction, allowing all children to experience the joy of sports and culture or earn a swimming diploma.