Meet… Hassan Ziani

The Vechtsportautoriteit (Dutch Combat Sports Authority) consists of a board, a supervisory board and an office. They are supplied with expertise by a large number of advisers who sit on five committees. But who are the people on those committees?

Each of the VA committees focuses on a theme:

– Events and galas
– Medical and health
– Quality and licences
– Technical matters
– Communication

In this series we introduce a number of members, to give a better picture of the people who are substantively involved in the VA.

The committee member we present this time is Hassan Ziani.

“In December 2020 I spoke with Julian Huijsse of the VA office. I am an inspector for special legislation (Inspecteur Bijzondere Wetten) with the municipality of Utrecht, and sports clubs fall specifically within my remit. We talked about the Keurmerk Vechtsportautoriteit (the VA quality mark) and the guidance document for combat sports events. I also told him about my kickboxing background. From 1986 up to and including 2000 I fought A-class bouts, including for the PKA, ISKA, MTBN/MON and NKBB/NOVER. In addition, I give colleagues resilience training and training in the regulations on the assessment of use of force (Regeling Toetsing Geweldsbeheersing). I have also been giving kickboxing training to young people as a volunteer for Stichting Jou for more than three years. And I recently became an assistant trainer at The Colosseum Gym. So combat sports are more than a hobby to me, they have made me the person I am today.”

“During the conversation Julian asked whether I might be interested in contributing to a VA committee. He thought that with my experience as an athlete and my work for the municipality I could add something. I did not hesitate for a moment. It felt like an honour to talk with other passionate and knowledgeable people about our sports. About the quality and social value of combat sports events, for example. Since the beginning of this year I have been a member of the Events and Galas committee.”

“We want to safeguard the quality of combat sports events in the Netherlands. An important element in that is that you can no longer organise events without a covenant with the VA. That does not only keep undesirable individuals out of the sport. It also gives municipalities the confidence to say ‘yes’ when someone with a promoter licence and a sound event plan wants to organise events. In the end, clear requirements actually give combat sports more room.”

Also in this series:

Meet… Fabrice Deters
Meet… Richard van Asdonck
Meet… Raimond Honig
Meet… Soeresh Bhatoe
Meet… Samart Prins
Meet… Marjan de Roos
Meet… Hanieh van Vilsteren Kamran
Meet… Stefan Berkenpas