At the 19th of February the first OSF meeting in 2018 took place. Among those present were representatives of governments, (sport)companies including Yalp, Sport Knowhow XL, RVO and Women’s Soccer. They listened to various presentations with one main subject, the Winter Olympics.
First of all, Anouk Bommer, from House of Sports, provided the introduction. They are the co-initiator of ‘De Coolste Baan van Nederland’ (‘The Coolest Rink in the Netherlands) and for example the ‘Holland Heineken House’ at the Olympics. She told about the process to organize and build ‘De Coolste Baan van Nederland’. This course in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam is the initiative of Rintje Ritsma (Olympic athlete) and House of Sports, because they had the dream to combine the atmosphere of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam with a ISU WC Allround. This dream will be fulfilled from 9 to 11 March, which is very special because it will take place in an open air stadium and because it was exactly 125 years ago that the first World Cup took place, which also took place in Amsterdam. In total, ‘De Coolste Baan van Nederland’ expects about 75,000 visitors.
Then Rick Sleegers (OSF) took the floor. He gave an update about the upcoming activities and events of OSF, like the launch of the new websites and social media. In addition, he also spoke about the trade mission to China which will be organized in April. During this trade mission a visit to Soccerex will take place, the most important fair about football. More information about the mission can be found here.
Subsequently, Roelant Groen, of Ice-World, talked about Ice-World and the installation of ‘De Coolste Baan van Nederland’. Ice-World is an organization that creates a winter experience, because ice has several beautiful features that are extremely useful in marketing terms. For example, it is a huge crowd puller, there is a lot of money to be made and it is very nice for everyone, young and old. Ice-World creates this winter experience everywhere, even in the heat, for example at Bondi Beach in Australia or Zócalo Square in Mexico. This makes them the market leader with approximately 600 projects per year. Ice-World offers three different experiences, namely: recreation (for example an ice rink in a mall), fun park (larger than recreation, for example with an ice slide) and sports (for example a large 400m course like in Amsterdam).
Finally, Nico Delleman of Delta Sport Innovation (and board member OSF) took the floor. He talked about the different types of innovation in sports and which innovations are now used at the Olympic Games. In addition, he also gave a sneakpeak into the future about innovations that are ready for the Olympic Winter Games in Tokyo in 2020.
The day ended with a drink in the middle of the impressive ice rink in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. All in all, this resulted in a successful OSF meeting.
