Rotterdam in development

80 R O T T E R D A M I N O N T W I K K E L I N G | 2 0 1 8 he foundation’s most important project is the S.V. GIO sport and learning club. A real club, with Giovanni himself as head coach and Marieke as educational adviser. At S.V. GIO, children aged 10-12 with barriers to learning follow a programme of education and sport to work on their self-confidence and their future. The club uses sport to focus on reading comprehension, spelling and numeracy as well as confidence and parental involvement. The goal is to give these children a good start in their secondary education and to show them that they can decide the course of their own lives. Each child is the captain of their own ship. All children deserve the chance to become the best version of themselves. Sometimes, in football, opportunities must first be created. S.V. GIO does not create opportunities itself, but the club teaches children how to create their own opportunities in the future. In the Rotterdam neighbourhoods where the Giovanni van Bronckhorst Foundation is active, a quarter of pupils leave primary school with low literacy. With the S.V. GIO project, the foundation is on a mission to use sport to make the difference for these children. S.V. GIO is not just a project; it is the most fun sports club in the Netherlands! A place where children feel at home, where they are part of something and where they learn to have confidence and to be the captain of their own ship. They do this through a combination of education, sport, coaching and the involvement of their parents. An important part of the programme is the VCM Boks (boxing) method, developed by Mano Radema and Paul van Zwam, which is used to improve the mental development of professional sportsmen and -women, especially in football and for boards and directors in the business world. Boxing gives you an insight into how you react to situations. Can you keep your cool when things get stressful? Do you maintain perspective? The Giovanni van Bronckhorst Foundation wants to help as many children as possible, and THE GIOVANNI VAN BRONCKHORST FOUNDATION WAS SET UP BY GIOVANNI AND MARIEKE VAN BRONCKHORST TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO SOCIETY.