By Eva Versteeg
The 27th of August 2015 was a happy day for the entire UCR community. With a spectacular ceremony the Sports Center Nassaulaan was opened as the new sports complex for RASA. The gym hall, which was doomed for destruction, was rescued by UCR at the last minute. Now, the UCR community has its own space for different kinds of sports and SportsCo can adhere to its own schedule. Outside of that, the Sports Center has a daily board that not only consists of UCR students and staff, but of local residents as well. Although the rain was mercilessly falling from the sky on Thursday, the new Sports Center proved to be a safe haven for the Class of 2018, as well as for UCR faculty and staff. Among the attendants of the opening ceremony were Mayor Bergmann, Vice-Mayor Saskia Szarafinski and Alderman Chris Dekker.
The ceremony was short but diverse. The first speaker Jorrit Snijder, UCR’s Managing Director, started his speech by saying “I feel tremendous forces in this room”, which the new students immediately rewarded with loud cheers. Only to be followed by Snijder’s dry comment “was what Winston Churchill said when he visited Minerva in Leiden” and a fit of laughter spreading across the hall. He continued to describe the opening of the Sport Center as a joint effort of UCR and the local community.
Next speaker, Sander Schenk, completely agreed with this description. As a UCR student, Sportsco’s former chair and member of the Sport Center Nassaulaan daily board, he had many positive things to say about the cooperation between UCR students and Middelburg’s local community. He explicitly thanked external parties for contributing to the Sport Center and expressed his “high hopes” for the future.
Consequently two representatives of local sports foundation Zeeland Sport and Leisure (ZSL) encouraged UCR’s Class of 2018 to get sporty and let them know that the province of Zeeland provides practical and financial opportunities for those that show potential, using heartwarming clichés (“Follow your heart, follow your dream and take every opportunity you are offered”).
Mayor Harald Bergmann represented Middelburg’s municipality and discussed the sports complex’ history since it was abandoned when the city’s new sports complex De Sprong came into use. He emphasized that UCR’s involvement was what saved the sport center of destruction.
Then, Jorrit Snijder announced that it was “time for something completely different”. His words rang true, because immediately the lights were switched off and a bombastic film score boomed out of the speakers. The back doors opened and there the godparents appeared, with in their middle current SportsCo chair Matthijs Roobeek in an ancient Greek chariot. In his hand he held an Olympic torch and while he was cycled to the stage, godparents escorted him in slow-motion. The Class of 2018 proved to everyone present that they already truly engaged in the RASA spirit, as eardrums shattered one by one, caused by their incredibly loud cheers.
Mayor Bergmann took over the torch and lit the “Olympic fire”, Jorrit Snijder spoke the magical words: “I now declare the UCR sports complex to be opened!” UCR’s newest students celebrated the grand opening by putting the center to immediate use. Sportsco organized a sports day as part of IntRoweek and the students continued to conquer medals for their family.
Website: http://sportcenternassaulaan.nl/
Address: Nassaulaan 10, 4332 XK Middelburg
Eva Versteeg, Class of 2017 is a Religion, Philosophy and Anthropology major from Nijkerkerveen, the Netherlands.
