NVB chair Kwint: ‘Our ambitions require a strong organisation’

At the end of 2023, the founding of the Nederlandse Vechtsportbond (NVB, the Dutch martial arts federation) was announced with a great deal of optimism. Since then, work on building the organisation has been going on behind the scenes.

Formalities
Chair Peter Kwint and his fellow board members are building the new federation from the ground up. ‘So in the first few weeks you are busy with registration at the Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel), arranging notarial deeds, opening a bank account, signing a new covenant with the Vechtsportautoriteit (the Dutch martial arts authority), NOC*NSF has all sorts of membership requirements, you need an office director, you have to arrange a website and email… All things that have to be done, but that do get in the way somewhat when you want to get down to concrete work for the sport and there are all these enthusiastic people queuing up with good ideas. But now that most of the formal hurdles have been cleared, we can get on with the substance.’

Rion Rijker
The new board consists of six volunteers, but with the appointment of an office director the NVB gains more capacity to act. ‘Up to now we have leaned somewhat on support from the VA, but of course we want our own professional staff as soon as possible. Following an open application procedure, we have found a highly suitable director for our organisation: Rion Rijker. He has a background as an IT lawyer and business experience in setting up and carrying out complex strategic implementation projects in the fields of IT law, privacy and information security, which he combines with an active martial arts background. As a kickboxer he has fought bouts up to A class level and he has known the martial arts culture for more than two decades. He has also practised pencak silat at a high level and practises Japanese jiu-jitsu. Martial arts have meant a great deal to him in his life and he was keen to give something back to the sport, and now he saw his chance. It is up to him to expand the office together with us and, with his future colleagues, to translate all the federation’s ideas into practice.’

Competition licence
The federation will be taking over not only a number of tasks from the Vechtsportautoriteit, but part of its infrastructure as well. The VA intends to concentrate on its supervisory tasks alone, with all sport-related matters eventually moving to the NVB. ‘The VA number will be converted into an NVB competition licence, and the Fightpassport will also come under our management. We want to develop that further too, for example by linking rankings to it. That will give it even greater value for both competitive fighters and promoters. In time it will also form the basis of our membership records. And we want to have all gyms join as soon as possible and give them a strong voice. They are the heart of martial arts. Together with the promoters, because events are the shop windows of the sport. And another group we want to serve is recreational participants. We want to be of value to them as well. It is up to us to prove that recreational participants will also benefit from becoming members of the NVB.’

Priorities
So the NVB wants to serve a lot of people, and as a result the wish list is long. ‘Every official who supervises bouts must have received proper training, so that all refereeing and judging is at the desired level. We want to develop the commercial opportunities for the sport better by actively bringing athletes and sponsors together. Promoting the sport among new target groups, for instance by seeking a link with physical education. Arranging support for talented athletes, making sure everyone is properly insured, agreeing uniform rules, representing the interests of gyms towards government… Our ambitions require a strong organisation, so we have to build that up. That will take some time yet.’

At the top of the list of priorities at the moment is the launch of the NVB website, so that everyone can be communicated with directly. ‘We want to make clear what we are working on, but also to gather what matters to athletes, trainers, promoters and everyone else involved. We do that by visiting as many gyms and events as possible, but we want the door to be open to all those hundreds of thousands of people who are involved in our sport in one way or another. We will be making ourselves heard again soon.’

Besides Kwint, the board of the Nederlandse Vechtsportbond consists of Giliam Boogerd, Alex Prascevic, Sem Schilt, Hagen Biermann and Ischa van Emmerik.

Photo Ben Pontier