The past few months have been packed with events, especially November, which was brimming with sporting activities, including both an NSWK and an NSZK. On Saturday, November 16, everyone was reliving their childhood at the NSWK pre-party in Nijmegen. The next day, it was time to get serious because water polo matches were on the agenda. Across the two playing fields, both beginners and advanced players could enjoy tossing the ball around. The beginners’ pool was ultimately won by Het Zinkstuk, and the advanced pool by Pila Ictus. Congratulations on your victories! On behalf of Stichting NSZ, we’d like to thank Hydrofiel for the organization. After the matches, a proposal to introduce a season winner for NSWKs, similar to the NSZK, was discussed during the Poloco meeting. A more concrete plan based on these discussions will be presented at the second boards day.
On November 30, the second NSZK of the season took place. This time, all associations traveled to the far north. Fortunately, the distance wasn’t a major obstacle for most, as an astonishing 466 swimmers were ready to dive off the starting blocks. The round win went to De Golfbreker. Beyond this team achievement, there were plenty of individual performances worth highlighting. For example, the following NSZK short-course records were broken:
- Women’s 50m Backstroke – 0:29.25 Arianne Kooijinga (De Golfbreker)
- Women’s 50m Freestyle – 0:25.36 Femke Spiering (SPONS)
- Women’s 4x50m Medley – 1:57.54 Shelby Kasse, Kim Oudendijk, Femke Spiering, Alinda Dingshoff (SPONS)
- Mixed 4x40m Butterfly – 1:45.83 Peter Higgins, Femke Spiering, Caillin McMurray, Niek Heethaar (SPONS)
After the competition in Heerenveen, the majority of the participants headed to Groningen to end the day with a bang at the afterparty themed “Northern Lights.” Many thanks to De Golfbreker for organizing this event!
On the administrative front, progress has also been made. First, new convenants have been drafted and sent to the associations. Additionally, we attended a General Assembly of Stichting Studenten Sport Nederland to gain insights into the current issues in the world of student sports. Furthermore, the 30th anniversary of Stichting NSZ is fast approaching—a special milestone as it marks our sixth lustrum. We certainly don’t want to let this pass unnoticed, so a lustrum committee has been formed, consisting of the following members: Noa van den Berg, Elise Bons, Quint Swagten, Janneke Zweers, Daniel Rykov, Ariana Mihaita, and Niels Kragt. These wonderful individuals are already hard at work organizing fun activities. More information will follow soon, but I can already hint that you should keep the weekend of the canceled Batavierenrace open in your calendar. Lastly, all the information on the website has been fully updated. If you find anything incorrect, please let us know so we can make the necessary adjustments.
Of course, fun is never absent within Stichting NSZ. We’ve gotten to know the boards better and witnessed a few of them go to their limits at the many constitution drinks we’ve attended recently. It’s been a socially packed time, and here’s the full list of boards we’ve congratulated: Ragnar, Het Zinkstuk, Avalon, Nayade, De Golfbreker, Piranha, and Aquamania. To end 2024 on a high note, we ourselves went on a board outing to Zwolle to visit the Christmas market and the Glazenhuis.
We hope everyone had wonderful holidays and wish you all the best for 2025!