`The project starts in week 5,' declares Sanne Schoon, coordinator of the staff exercise project in the sports center. She is very enthusiastic about the continuation of the project and considers it `a definitive added value for the university.' `Last year, about six hundred employees participated. I think for 2005 a good target will be to get a thousand employees moving.' She is optimistic about that target. `How much easier can we make it? Free exercise during work hours. Who doesn't want that? Everyone knows a half-hour of exercise twice a day is very good for you.' The project will be evaluated to determine whether it has a positive influence on staff absences due to illness.
The sports center will close for three months in mid-May for the planned renovation. `During that period, indoor sports cannot be played, but if the weather is good, employees can go outside. Everything should resume after summer break,' Schoon explains.
The sports available in 2005 are: badminton, moving to music, fitness training, tennis, table tennis, indoor volleyball and indoor soccer. Almost all sports will be offered daily over the lunch break; fitness training is also possible from 4:30-5:30 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Taiji Tao and Qigong courses will be offered once a week on Thursday. A course on preventing back, neck and shoulder problems will be given every Wednesday afternoon.
For more information or to sign up, see www.utwente.nl/gezondensterk/ or www.utwente.nl/sportcentrum/.
Trans. Jeroen Latour
