Wim Koelman is sporting at the SSC for 50 years now

Sportscardholder for 50 years!

May 18, 2022

This year the SSC already exists for 55 years. Few members will have experienced this entire period, yet Wim Koelman comes very close. He has been a sportscardholder at the SSC for 50 years now.

Soon he will turn 72 years old, but he still likes to play sports, to stay fit. Together with his wife José, he can be found at the SSC no less than three times a week. "It feels like home here."

It started with an open training session at tennis. "I had been playing tennis for some time, and when I walked into the SSC one day, there was a spot left in the hall and I was allowed to join the training right away." After that he came to the SSC daily to play tennis. Due to a hand injury, he was no longer able to play tennis and switched to student soccer club Pusphaira.

"In the beginning, Pusphaira was a bit disorganized. I wanted to bring more structure to it and ended up on the board. As a result, I became more involved with the soccer club but also with the sports center." 

During Wim's time playing soccer, an international soccer tournament was organized by the board of Pusphaira in which 15 foreign clubs eventually participated. This tournament later evolved into the Professor van Lint tournament.  "In the time I studied there was much less study pressure and everything was possible. I was 20 years old at the time. A beer only cost 50 cents back then. People liked to get together to play soccer and afterwards there was always a party. But no matter how things went on the field, the opponents could never win the 'third half' from students." All in all, his soccer playing time was the most defining for Wim. "We went all over Europe and through that you also got to know a lot of new people. If I hadn't joined the soccer club and not had such a good time there, I might have dropped out of the SSC earlier." After 20 years of playing soccer, it was enough. At 40 years old, Wim stopped at Pusphaira, where he is still an honorary member.

Team picture Pusphaira 1965

In his student days at TU/e, which was then still called THE, he also met his wife José. They met regularly on campus and after meeting up a few times the two had found each other. "In those days the THE was largely a men's club, so there were a lot of admirers. When José smiled at me, I did feel very special." Because José worked at TU/e, they were able to continue to play sports together at the SSC. While Wim regularly went swimming with his cousin, José liked to join the group lessons. She enjoyed this so much that she subsequently became a group exercise instructor herself at the SSC. Amongst other things, she taught Aqua HIIT.
 
Swimming, fitness, diving and skating on the ice rink, Wim does the most diverse things at the SSC. "You can do anything you like here and just go ahead and do what you want." Still, golf wins as Wim's favorite sport; he can really let his hair down in that. These days he likes to train on the SSC Driving Range. "But no old man golf, haha. I still want to be able to hit a far ball." That's why he works out in the fitness or jumps into the pool every now and then to stay fit. "I just love sports, that's really the essence. I've been lucky that I never really got injured and also consider myself very lucky with all the great memories I have about the SSC. It just keeps feeling like home, even though you're among students."

Going somewhere else is therefore certainly not an option for Wim. "As long as I can, I will continue to play sports here. The atmosphere here makes you feel young and people don't look at you as if you do not belong. I'm sure they won't be surprised when I come to renew my sports card next year!"