“Everyone in the municipality of Vught should be able to play sports,” that is the vision of the municipality of Vught MOVE Vught. Managed by the municipality, MOVE Vught creates a sports and exercise environment in which every resident can participate. Curious how the PumpTrack got a place in the Municipality of Vught?
Jeroen Leenders is a neighborhood sports coach at Move Vught and organizes all kinds of sports and exercise activities in the municipality of Vught. In addition, he and his colleagues are responsible for creating an exercise-friendly municipality. Vught is a municipality that has many physical barriers; 2 railway lines and the N65 divide the municipality into sub-areas. This increases the barrier to going to another neighborhood to play and/or exercise there. Move Vught focuses on central play and exercise areas in the neighborhood where residents of all ages can go. Locations where a 2-year-old can go, but also where a 70-year-old can find his place. The PumpTrack located there was discussed at a meeting of Sport Service Noord Brabant (SSNB) in Roosendaal. Jeroen and his colleagues were so enthusiastic that they immediately went to take a look and during his holiday, Jeroen and his children went out to visit PumpTracks in the Netherlands.
Their own enthusiasm was strongly supplemented with a signature campaign for a cross track that 5 children from the municipality had sent to the alderman. A cross track is fun but wears out faster and is usually only accessible during training moments. 1 + 1 is 2 and that is where the goal arose to realize a public asphalt PumpTrack in the municipality. Asphalt proved to be too expensive for an initial design, so the choice was made for a gravel PumpTrack with grass concrete, which prevents erosion due to weather and use. The PumpTrack has been constructed in such a way that it can be asphalted in a second phase; the financing for this is almost complete.
The gravel PumpTrack is a great success! Move Vught believes the Gravel PumpTrack is an important asset. Looking at the scale of 10 of the Athletic Skills Model, moving on wheels is an enrichment, it is a different way of moving. The expansion with asphalt only offers more opportunities, for example for: stunt scooters, skateboarding, roller skating and inline skating. The fact that it was a success was evident from the first weeks, there was a veritable rush of children and their parents who wanted to try out the gravel PumpTrack; Waiting times at Efteling seemed to be nothing. And the track is still widely used. Vught has traditionally been a true BMX village with Bas de Bever (former mountain biker/BMXer and former national coach of the Dutch BMX team) who comes from here. For a long time there was no opportunity for BMXers to practice BMX in the municipality and people are happy that this is now possible. Initiatives have been started from several corners of the municipality (partly due to the physical barriers that make it difficult for children to go to the PumpTrack independently) for a second PumpTrack on the other side of the village. In addition, it would be nice if the existing PumpTrack would have a sports library where people can borrow equipment. And ideally the location will become a real Urban Area, such as Spoorpark Tilburg or Urban Sportpark Eindhoven. Further expanding the clinic offering, possibly paving the PumpTrack and creating an Urban Area, for example by constructing a skate park, would complete the impact and appeal. The idea of an Urban Area has been around for some time and the fact that it is happening in more and more places shows that there is a burning demand for it.
And Jeroen? It cannot be removed from the PumpTrack itselfr_enabled=”off”]
