Winning And Losing Together
Chris Snepvangers, Netherlands
We have teamed up with the adidas Breaking Barriers Project to share the inspiring stories of 14 Champions across Europe as they advocate for women and girls in sport within their local communities. The second instalment of this series showcases eight Champions from Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK who are advocating for the next generation of women in sport. Chris Snepvangers is an adidas Breaking Barriers Champion and a community sports coach for Johan Cruyff Foundation in Breda, Netherlands.
Want to join us in breaking barriers for women and girls in Europe? Join the adidas Breaking Barriers Academy.
My name is Chris Snepvangers. I live in Breda in the south of the Netherlands. I am a community sports coach for the SSNB (Sportservice Noord-Brabant) in Etten-Leur, Rucphen, and Zundert. My goal is to get everybody in the municipality playing sports. I have worked as a community sports coach since October 2021, and I have been involved with the adidas Breaking Barriers Project since the beginning of 2023.
When I was younger, I always enjoyed playing sports. When I finished high school, I knew I wanted to pursue an education in sports, so I studied Sportkunde (Sports Science). After I finished Sportkunde, I wanted to earn a Master’s degree. I took a gap year and applied for the community sports coach job with SSNB, where I am still currently working.
What has your sports journey been like up until now?
From a young age, I wanted to play team sports. I first took swimming lessons and got my Swim-ABC and Rescue swimming certificates. In our small village, we had a football club and a hockey club, named M.H.C.O. (Mixed Hockey Club Oudenbosch). I liked both sports very much. At the football club, there was no girl's team yet, so I played field hockey.
I played for various field hockey clubs throughout my journey and progressively worked my way up to the first team at H.C.E.L. (Hockey Club Etten-Leur). I went through ups and downs with the club as I scored goals but then also got less playing time when another coach took over. I ultimately ended up on the second team, where I played with my friends, and we got promoted to the highest league for second teams.
Now I play sports for fun. If we lose, it is okay. For me now, sports is more about the fun and the friendships than the performance.
Why did you start working in your community? Why are you motivated to do the work that you do? Why do you think your work with girls is important?
A few years ago, I became serious about coaching field hockey. I had an internship at HC s’-Hertogenbosch in Den Bosch, Noord-Brabant. This is one of the biggest field hockey clubs in the Netherlands. I did my research about how we can get more kids in the community involved in sports using urban hockey. My research showed that many children want to try other sports than the ones they are currently doing. But with barriers like thinking they are not good enough, accessibility, money, time, etc, they are not able to try something new.
By helping them build on their intrinsic motivation, creating more publicity for activities that they can participate in, and offering multiple sports within organised activities, you can get more children involved with sports. During my internship, I trained four teams. The following year, I started coaching at my own club.
I enjoy encouraging people to play sports. I am motivated by the gratitude that the people express when you help them. My work with girls is so important because together, we can make a difference. We want girls and boys to get the same opportunities in sports but also in work. If everybody keeps trying really hard and keeps fighting for our rights, then hopefully, someday, things will change. If we stop, then we know for sure that nothing is going to happen.
What did you try to capture with your photos? Was there a deeper meaning to the photos?
I tried to capture a glimpse of my sports life. These images show that I get to do what I love most every day. I have the opportunity to make other people realise playing sports is fun and builds social connections.
I took photos of my adidas Breaking Barriers Project event in Etten-Leur where we tried four different sports. The girls participated in football, self-defence, softball, and rugby. At the end of the project, we went to the Champions League Final in Eindhoven. The girls still talk about it!
I have also taken some photos of the sports sessions that I run every week for the elderly in my municipality to help them socialise and connect with one another. The sessions always have old-time music in the background, and the lessons focus on socialisation. The elderly who come to my lessons feel really connected to each other.
I photographed Festival 23 in Australia during the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Festival 23 was an eight-day youth festival that focussed on football for good. This was one of the best opportunities in my life. I got to meet 70 other young leaders from more than 40 countries all over the world. I experienced other cultures and realised that we in the Netherlands have it pretty good. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to have met so many wonderful people and to share our stories. I never felt so encouraged to do what I was doing.
Can you tell us more about the programmes you run for the elderly in your community?
I run three weekly activities with the elderly for people aged 60 to 80. On Thursday mornings, I have a walking group of 8 people. We start our walk at the border of the village and often walk in the woods.
On Thursday mornings, I also have a chair gym group of up to 18 people. We do exercises sitting on the chair and standing next to the chair. I always play some music from the '60s. Every week I bring different equipment to do the activities with, for example, weights or small balls.
On Friday mornings, I have a gym group. Every lesson is different, and I try to introduce them to new activities. We have played walking football, walking hockey, dodgeball, concentration games, and fitness circuits. They love to play badminton. In this class, I also play music from the '60s, and after class, we drink coffee!
During these activities, I hear what is happening in the communities, and I have a bond with all the participants. The main goal of these activities is to provide social interactions. It is nice that they play sports and move, but that is not the main goal. Every group is free to join and they do not need to join every week. This is to keep the barriers low.
Why is sport important for your community? What role does sport play in your community and your culture or society?
Sports are important to my community because everybody can get involved. Through sports, we enhance our social connection with each other as we win together and also lose together. We can learn from our mistakes, making us better people.
The most important thing is to keep playing sports. When girls go to high school and university, they tend to stop playing sports because they do not find it fun anymore. We need to be there for them and help them along the way so that they continue to play and connect with each other.
What are the opportunities for women and girls to play sports in your community and in the Netherlands?
The sports opportunities in Etten-Leur are mostly equal for all genders. The barriers women and girls face are more personal barriers, mainly a lack of self-confidence and believing they are not good enough to try, rather than barriers in sports facilities. To remove the personal barriers, we need to connect with each individual and talk about how we can help to overcome those barriers. Sometimes, we do not have the qualifications to remove those barriers, so we need to make sure we have the right resources ready, such as a psychologist.
What impact has the adidas Breaking Barriers Project had on your journey as a leader and change-maker in women’s sport? What are your ambitions for the future?
Participating in the adidas Breaking Barriers Project has truly been one of the best experiences of my life. I had the opportunity to meet so many different people and learn how they make a change in their communities.
One of the best things I learned is to just show up for the girls. If you are there and can make a change for just one girl, then that is amazing. She will tell other girls, and you can help them too.
My ambition for the future is to keep driving change. I will always want to work in sports because that is what I love to do.
What do you think the future looks like for sport in your community and the Netherlands? What do you want to change? How would you improve gender equality?
Boys and girls in community sports have it pretty good in the Netherlands. There are a lot of opportunities for everybody, and sometimes we just need somebody who encourages us to take them. That is why we, as community sports coaches, need to show up for the kids. We are also working hard for boys and girls to have the same opportunities at the professional level, but we are not there yet.
