In week 47, the John Blankenstein Foundation was once again active in the north of the country. Below is a report on the workshops at Alfa College in Assen and Alfa College in Groningen.

Workshops Monday in Assen

Four first-year groups from the Sports and Exercise programme at Alfa College in Assen participated in workshops organised by the John Blankenstein Foundation on Monday, 16 November. In rounds of 1 hour and 15 minutes, the students were guided by workshop leaders Floor Popken and Casper Boom. For many students, it was their first encounter with the theme of diversity and acceptance in sport.

The atmosphere during the workshops was pleasant and the students showed a lot of interest. Because it was the first time for many of them to talk openly about this topic, some students found it difficult to discuss. Nevertheless, Floor and Casper look back with great satisfaction, because the students listened attentively and were definitely given food for thought.
Of course, the workshop ended with a quiz, and Alfa Collega now also has 4
students who are in possession of a beautiful captain's armband in the colours of the rainbow.

Workshops later in the week in Groningen

For first-year students of the sports and exercise programme, various workshops were scheduled for the second week of November as part of the citizenship course. On behalf of the John Blankenstein Foundation, Paul Martin Raspe and Jan-Willem Bouw were invited to conduct six workshops. As with the workshops held in October at Alfa College, there was once again plenty of interaction with the students.

These workshops once again demonstrated that no two workshops are the same when it comes to diversity and inclusivity in sport. Each group had a completely different dynamic and atmosphere. In one class, we ran out of time to talk about diversity and the acceptance of LGBTI people in sport, while in another group we achieved our goal well within the allotted time. In addition, the teacher of one class told us afterwards that our workshop was the first to get the class to listen. Students who had difficulty talking about the subject literally said: ‘I find it really hard to talk about it, but it does make me think, man.’ I think we achieved our goal during these workshops!