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Hit & Health receives 150th Quality Mark: 'Martial arts is for everyone'
Since Friday, the shield of the Keurmerk Vechtsportautoriteit (Martial Arts Authority Quality Mark) has also been on display next to the door of The Hague gym Hit & Health. Owner Sven ten Bruggen Cate proudly accepted the recognition as the 150th gym owner.
Martial arts in the Netherlands once started out with mainly big, strong men in sweaty upstairs rooms. At Hit & Health you can see how the sport has developed. In the afternoon you hear the cheerful chatter of primary school children, in the evening the panting of ambitious competitive fighters on their way to the top. Young, old, male, female, heavy, slim and every possible cultural background come through the door.
Hit & Health offers kickboxing and MMA, among other things, and was keen to obtain the Quality Mark of the Vechtsportautoriteit. The municipality of The Hague, in cooperation with the NIVM, offered a programme in which a process supervisor assisted with the application.
Because Hit & Health is the 150th gym to have demonstrated that it is worthy of the Quality Mark, a delegation from the VA, the municipality of The Hague and the NIVM visited the gym to mark the occasion.
VA board member Marcel Scholtes presented the accompanying items to owner Sven ten Bruggen Cate. "Gyms like Hit & Health show how far we have come together as a sport," Scholtes said. "Martial arts is for everyone."
Ten Bruggen Cate was visibly proud of the recognition: "With the Quality Mark we show that our gym has its affairs properly in order. It is also important for our competitive fighters that they can continue to take part in competitions in the future."
From September 2022, the Quality Mark will be mandatory for gyms that wish to take part in kickboxing, Thai boxing and mixed martial arts competitions in the Netherlands.
Photo: In the front row Julian Huijsse (VA Office), Miriam Bovendeerd (VA Committee member), Marcel Scholtes (VA Board), Sven ten Bruggen Cate (owner of Hit & Health), Pjotr Behrtel (municipality of The Hague) and Tjalling van der Zee (NIVM).