Naar Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur Venlo pagina

Venlo | 10 May 2023

Venlo.fit: ‘Gezonde leefstijl is kwestie van lange adem’

Venlo aims to be the healthiest and most active municipality in the Netherlands. Venlo.fit, the municipality's Sports Development team, is working hard to achieve this ambitious goal. To become the healthiest and most active municipality, everyone must be able to participate, including children from low-income families. Marc Denessen is JOGG director and project leader at Venlo.fit and works closely with the Youth Fund in Venlo.

Within Venlo.fit, JOGG is working to create a healthy living environment for children and young people. Marc Denessen is specifically focused on 'Keigezond', a program to prevent obesity in children and young people. "Helping children eat better, exercise more, and sleep better," says Marc Denessen. "Many aspects play a role in helping children grow up healthy. We primarily work preventatively. We do this by connecting all the networks children interact with: home, school, sports clubs, dance schools."

Candy tomato

The ambition is there, but the reality is sometimes challenging. Marc: “Obesity is becoming increasingly common in children, especially in families with limited resources. Parents are focused on survival and primarily focus on the short term. They don't have the energy to delve into a healthier lifestyle. Often, parents haven't set a good example themselves. This is how an unhealthy lifestyle becomes inherited. To break this vicious cycle, you also need schools. If they don't give cherry tomatoes at home, the child will say, 'I don't like them.' But if there's a nutrition project at school and the child tries a cherry tomato a few times, they'll start to like it. They'll tell their parents about it, and there's a chance that this vicious cycle will be broken. We can relieve schools to a certain extent and facilitate projects on healthy lifestyles, but ultimately, they have to do it themselves.”

Healthy Primary School of the Future

Venlo.fit collaborates with the Youth Fund in Venlo. "We're not seeing more children leaving sports or cultural clubs," says Marc. "But we are seeing more families applying for funding from the Youth Fund. We know the intermediaries at schools, so we're aware of the number of applications. The lines of communication with the Youth Fund are short. When we initiate a project, the Youth Fund almost always gets involved."

In Venlo, we're trying to make a difference. We're one of the first municipalities to commit to the "Healthy Primary School of the Future," where children eat a healthy lunch together during school hours; this lunch is free. And during school hours, children get an extra hour each day to move, for example, through sports or dancing. We do this specifically at schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, but what we're now seeing is that schools in more affluent neighborhoods also want to get involved. Research shows that thanks to this project, children perform better, become fitter, and lose weight.

So, it's very beneficial when children eat healthily and exercise more. At school, children are introduced to sports or street dance, for example, and if there's no money for a club at home, they can be referred to an intermediary who can help them apply to the Youth Fund.

>> Go to the Venlo.fit website