Who will find the magazine interesting?

Everyone who is committed to more sport and physical activity. The organisers want policymakers and professionals who work with children and young people in childcare or at school, with older people in the neighbourhood or at sports clubs, to be aware of the relevant knowledge. This will enable them to put it into practice more effectively and help everyone, young and old, to participate in more varied sports and physical activity with enjoyment!

Contents

The digital magazine contains the following articles:

  • Opening: Learned young, practised for life: more varied physical activity
  • ParkinsonNet and the importance of physical activity for Parkinson’s disease; an interview with Bas Bloem
  • More physical activity capital for today’s older people!
  • Motor skills in old age: dos and don’ts during activities!
  • An active school day: How do you do that as a school? Examples from the Netherlands and abroad.
  • How do you get and keep children with motor skill difficulties physically active (at school)?
  • Starting physical activity at a young age: how do you approach it?
  • How do we connect with young people’s world of experience?
  • Knowledge Café Sport & Physical Activity Live!
  • Column by Thijs Zonneveld
  • The results of the Week of Motor Skills: 11 golden tips.

11 golden tips

During the Week of Motor Skills, all speakers and participating professionals were asked not to keep their good ideas to themselves, but instead to actively share them.

Valuable tips emerged from every session; we selected eleven of them. These are tips that are valuable to politicians and professionals. They were presented during the closing Knowledge Café to the Sports Directorate at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Here they are:

Tip 1. From the opening of the Week of Motor Skills.

Carl Verheijen, chair of the national physical activity alliance: Integrated cooperation between the parties involved is important. From associations and foundations to municipalities. Coordinate well and work together with a clear focus. Seek connections and avoid silo behaviour.

Tip 2. From the opening of the Week of Motor Skills.

Bas Bloem, Parkinson’s expert: Consider what you are good at and stick to that. Rely on someone else’s expertise when working together. You can then tackle joint obstacles at different levels.

Tip 3. From the session More physical activity capital for today’s older people!

Willie van Druten, an active senior: Involve the target group in shaping your activities. Talk with your participants, rather than about them.

Tip 4. From the session Motor skills in old age: dos and don’ts during activities!

Exercise therapist Joël Kruisselbrink: Never forget the power of play, because everyone enjoys it.

Tip 5. From the session An active school day: How do you do that as a school? Examples from the Netherlands and abroad.

Schoolteacher from the chat: Start small. Look at where you can already make the school day more active. Ensure that pupils sit less and move more and in more varied ways.

Tip 6. From the session An active school day: How do you do that as a school? Examples from the Netherlands and abroad.

Dave van Kann, lecturer: Ensure smart integration among all the parties involved, from school boards to community sports coaches. First, pause and think about how and what you want to achieve. That should be your starting point, and you should proceed from there. This way, you help one another and find one another more effectively.

Tip 7. From the session An active school day: How do you do that as a school? Examples from the Netherlands and abroad.

Professional from the chat: Make sure to involve out-of-school care in the dynamic school day as well. We all see the same children, and there are so many opportunities to work together.

Tip 8. From the session How do you get and keep children with motor skill difficulties physically active at school?

Mother of a child with motor skill difficulties: As a parent, you have a duty of care, but at a sports club you may let go of it. Learn to let go.

Tip 9. From the session How do you get and keep children with motor skill difficulties physically active at school?

Itinerant support worker: Normalise it; adapt school activities so that you do not have to make an exception, so that a child with motor skill difficulties does not feel like the exception either.

Tip 10. From the session Starting physical activity at a young age: how do you approach it?

Zeina Bassa, consultant at VeiligheidNL: Stop saying ‘be careful’; as a professional or parent, do not warn young children too quickly. Give young children the opportunity to experience falling and getting back up—that is part of raising and growing up. Ensure the right balance.

Tip 11. From the session How do we connect with young people’s world of experience?

Houda Loukili, former kickboxing champion who works with young people: Young people certainly want to participate in sport and physical activity. Involve them at an early stage and give them responsibility. Look at the individual and what he or she wants and can do, and align with those ambitions rather than your own. Then you will really get them moving.

Read the digital magazine here.