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Investing in sport and exercise creates an energetic, inclusive and healthy Netherlands
Sport and exercise deserve a more prominent place in political parties' election manifestos. After all, sport and exercise are crucial for an energetic, inclusive and healthy Netherlands.
Sport and exercise deserve a more prominent place in the election manifestos of political parties. After all, sport and exercise are crucial for an energetic, inclusive and healthy Netherlands. To reinforce this idea, this afternoon in The Hague, 24 organisations (including the John Blankenstein Foundation) from the fields of sport, healthcare and welfare signed two manifestos underlining the importance of sport and exercise for society.
These are the manifestos on ‘vitality and healthy lifestyle’ and ‘inclusion and participation’, which have been signed by NOC*NSF and numerous alliance partners from the sports, healthcare and welfare sectors. “We want to emphasise that investing in sports and exercise brings significant benefits to society,” said Anneke van Zanen-Nieberg, chair of NOC*NSF.
“Sport and exercise have a positive impact on the quality of life of the Dutch population,” says Van Zanen-Nieberg. “In addition, this results in significant savings in social costs, both in the short and long term. It makes our society fitter and more productive. And sport's contribution to society could be even greater if it were given more financial opportunities and if investments were made in the health and welfare sectors to establish links with sport and exercise.”
Sport has great preventive power, but this could be utilised even more effectively. The more people who are able to participate in sport and exercise, the healthier society becomes and the more costs are ultimately saved. It is therefore important to invest in inclusion, vitality and a healthy lifestyle.
Contributing to national welfare is not the only priority in the manifestos. Building social capital for vulnerable groups is at least as important. A social safety net and a place at the heart of society. That is the outcome that is more difficult to translate into money: a society in which everyone can participate and no one is left out. As in society, inclusion does not happen automatically in sport. It also requires strong cooperation between the various departments.
Van Zanen: “With these manifestos, we want to appeal to the political parties. They are currently busy drawing up their programmes for the March 2021 general election. Together with our alliance partners, we are asking them to focus on sport and exercise. Harnessing the power of sport and exercise is essential to creating an energetic and healthy Netherlands. Through strong national and local cooperation, sport and exercise can be made accessible to everyone and ultimately become the norm, even for people with health disadvantages. With the power of sport and exercise, we can help the Netherlands move forward. We all firmly believe in this.”
