Amazing sports culture of Netherlands; lessons for India and world | Exclusive interview

It is so simple to be happy, but so difficult to be simple!

What Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore said decades ago may hold particularly true for sports in the Netherlands, a European country with a population less than that of India’s metro cities, but with winners in almost every major global sporting event.

However, once you delve deep (eg, the focus on Paralympics), you will realise that there has been decades or centuries of a vibrant sports culture in the country and ever-important focus on sports to raise the bar in every other field. That’s what MDDTimes did and got in touch with the Sports Ministry of the Netherlands. Here are the excerpts from the exclusive email interview with Minister of Sports, Ms Conny Helder.

MDDTimes: The Netherlands has a very low population (just around 17 million) when compared with a country like India, but sports medals and sporting is very high, perhaps the highest in the world – population-wise. How did this happen? Natural sports lovers or government effort? 

Minister Helder: The basis for sports in the Netherlands is a unique sports infrastructure with many local sports associations and clubs where children can play sports from an early age. When children come into contact with various sports at a young age, there is a greater chance that they will still be active at a later age.

From this nationwide sports infrastructure, the talents emerge from the local to regional and ultimately national level. For many sports disciplines, there is an extensive and sport-specific training program that is appropriate for the age and development of the athlete.

In recent years, this training has increasingly been drawn up from a holistic perspective so that every individual can be given room to develop as optimally as possible, also outside the technical elite sport.

More than 9.4 million Dutch engage in sport every week – that’s more than 55% of the country’s total population or about one in every two! While one person may have a subscription at a gym or swimming pool, another would be a member of the hockey club and yet another using Runkeeper to train for a marathon.

The “focus” policy was introduced in 2013, arising from the needs of sports associations and the sports umbrella organization NOC*NSF. Ambition of the sports sector is to be one of the 10 best sports countries in the world. It was investigated in which sports the Netherlands has a good chance of winning global medals, including Olympics, Paralympics and international competitive sports. Unions had to develop sound investment plans and national training and elite sports programs in order to qualify for national funding. These plans are assessed by an independent expert team and reviewed annually.

The national government has mainly facilitated national elite sport financially. It was emphasized, however, that the elite-level sports landscape should not deteriorate too much (sufficient sports, sufficient space for sports to develop in order to structurally connect with the global top in the longer term, sufficient attention to the further development of Paralympic elite-level sport). The government budget for elite sport has doubled in recent years from 20 million per year to 40 million per year.

With the introduction of the “focus” policy, the education and elite sports programs, training facilities and the deployment of experts and specialist supervision have been centralized as much as possible. From the point of view of efficiency, but also to be able to share knowledge and skills from different sports.

The downside: too much focus on global medals alone:​​perhaps too little attention for the well-being and development of elite athletes and other achievements of elite athletes that can also be of value to society.

MDDTimes: How does the Netherlands compare with other European countries in sports?

Minister Helder: Every European country has its own sports model and the available budgets differ. But, in general, everyone agrees that the Netherlands has one of the most efficient elite sports systems (we get a lot back for every euro we put into it).

MDDTimes: What is the participation of people in sports? In terms of percentage – boys/men and girls/women.  

Minister Helder: In 2021, 56% of the Dutch population participated in sports; this percentage is the same for women and men, 65% of  the youth and 54% for adults. Be aware that there were lockdowns in 2021 because of Covid. This had an impact on the results.

In NL, there are 26,000 sports clubs and 6,000 businesses offering sports and exercise services. We have magnificent sports facilities and organise fantastic sporting events thanks to the involvement of hundreds of thousands of volunteers. Bringing sport close to people. Making it accessible. In all: The Dutch sports infrastructure and culture is unique in the world

National Sports Agreement, NL

MDDTimes: Does sports training start at school? At what age? Is it mandatory?

Minister Helder: In general, compulsory education, from age 5 to 16. From this year, primary schools must provide two hours of physical education (gymnastics) by law.

MDDTimes: Does government provide any incentives or scholarships to promote sports?

Minister Helder: Local authorities can provide financial support for participation, especially to poor children. The central government finances an allowance for the elite athletes (A-level, ie, top-8 ranking) and a part of a poverty scheme for athletes with a talent status.

MDDTimes: How is the coaching structure in the Netherlands (NL) – from school to the professional level?

Minister Helder: There is not yet an unambiguous structure ready in NL where every coach meets a certain quality level. This is mainly due to the history of sports in the Netherlands — many sports associations are run by volunteers.

However, the world of elite sports, which is becoming increasingly complex, is placing increasingly higher demand for trainer-coaches. To be able to speak of successful programs, high-quality trainer-coaches are necessary. That is why NOC*NSF has the ambition to provide talents and elite athletes with the best training programs and high-quality facilities, supported by the best trainer-coaches. The ambition is to train sufficiently skilled trainer-coaches with professional and/or career prospects within and outside the sports sector to a high standard from a national and professional training structure.

From 2021, major steps have been taken to enable better and more accessible training for Dutch elite coaches. As of 2022, a new level-5 degree program is likely to be started: the Associate Degree Sport Profile for Elite Sports and Talent Coach.

Sports federations, experts from TeamNL and performance managers are involved in the preparation to contribute ideas for the content of the training program and the division of roles and tasks of sports and education in the implementation of the training. This training is part of the ongoing learning line for trainer-coaches, from recreational to elite sport.

MDDTimes: How do you identify sports talent and how do you nurture them?

Minister Helder: As I said earlier, in response to your first question, this is not controlled by the central government. Talent recognition and development is that task of the sports associations.

MDDTimes: How is nutrition taken care of? 

Minister Helder: The national elite sports programs are organized as much as possible via the central elite sports infrastructure through the central elite sports centers, where elite athletes are also supervised in the field of nutrition, physiotherapy, mental guidance, lifestyle coaching, etc.

MDDTimes: Time for sports comes at the cost of studies and earning. How do the Dutch find time for sports and how do they make their earning if they choose sports as a career?

Minister Helder: The elite sports infrastructure invests in making a dual career for elite athletes as much as possible. This is in such a way that elite athletes can combine their elite sport with a study as much as possible, and are well prepared for other work after their elite sports career.

This starts at the secondary school, where athletes with a talent status can receive special guidance in combining school with sports, and, for example, receive an adapted school schedule tailored to their training sessions, internships and competitions. A number of colleges and universities also offer this guidance to elite athletes.

Senior athletes (A-level, top-8) may also qualify for a stipend — a monthly living allowance to enable them to focus on their elite sport full-time.

MDDTimes: The Netherlands is famous for football and hockey. What about other sports?

Minister Helder: The Netherlands participates (and is successful) in many sports, eg, handball, Formula-1 (Max Verstappen), swimming, boxing and athletics to name a few.

MDDTimes: Do sportsmen/women get sponsors early in life?

Minister Helder: The conclusion of large individual sports contracts is not common in most elite sports in the Netherlands, apart from football, cycling and, to a lesser extent, skating; and in some cases, a very talented elite athlete with a long reach/high market value. Most athletes cannot survive on their elite sport alone in the Netherlands, which is why the central government finances the stipend for them.

Only a few highly talented athletes (mostly football) get sponsors early in life.

Total expenditure on sports in the Netherlands in 2018 was 5,7 billion euros. 2,8 billion of this was spent by athletes themselves on sports activities, of which 1,8 billion on commercial sports providers and 1 billion on contributions, catering costs, and other costs at sports clubs.

The public sector spent 2,5 billion euros on sports in 2018, of which the local authorities accounted for the majority (2,2 billion), which was mainly spent on sports facilities and sports and recreation facilities in the open space. From 2008 onwards, expenditure on this has decreased by an average of 1% per year, while the use of public facilities for sports has increased.

MDDTimes: How is life after sports? Do you provide government jobs solely based on sports performances?

Minister Helder: No, this is the responsibility of the athletes, but they are supported by the federation and NOC*NSF (with funds from the government).

MDDTimes: What lessons could a country like India (has lots of raw talent) draw from the Netherlands, and how could India improve in sports, especially in the Olympics?

Minister Helder: Focus, increase the pleasure for sport, and give your talents the opportunity to develop at their own pace.

MDDTimes: Any other thing you may like to share.

Minister Helder: We’ve our National Sports Agreement, which is a global introduction of how sports policy is organized in NL. And there is Sportfolio, which represents some Dutch innovations in the field of sport.

MDDTimes: Many thanks to you Minister Helder, and to Spokesperson Mr Tom Elbersen for facilitating this interview.

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