Arnhem Sports & Outdoors

Outside of town, on the road to Utrecht, The Netherlands have created an enormous sportsterrain with reat facilitiets for almost all sports. Here the NOC (Dutch Olympic Comity) and NSF (Dutch Sports Federation) find their headquarters and testcentre. Almost all sorts are represented in facilities in or just outside the parc.

Equipment: Explanation map:
1. main entrance
2. headquarters NOC/NSF
3 congress/eventshall (reception)
4. sportshotel, sporthall 1+2
5. fitness/powersportcentre/boxingring and swimmingpool (incl. instructionpool)
6. tennis, sqaush (= racquetball)
7. sportsfields (football, hockey, baseball etc.)
8. athletics-course
9. 18 holes golfcourse
10. sports-test-station NOC/NSF
Throughout the parc there is a runninglane with excersises ("trimbaan"). For cycling the parc is surrounded with a 25 km course. Horseriding is done on special areas around the parc and in the surrounding forest..

Sportscentre the "Grote Koppel" used to be just a swimmingpool, but grew out to be the centre of sports in the South-part of Arnhem. The swimmingpool now-a-days is - besides an instruction- and competionpool, a subtropical swimmingparadise. Artificial waves, waterslide and yacuzi's. Weekly we go swimming here with Ilja and he loves it.

Furthermore the "Grote Koppel" offers squashlanes (racquetball) and ski-machines (big and wide flat escalators that simulate the snow in differnt speeds). Nearby the fitnesscentre is combined with the fencing-centre and climbing-hall.

The football-stadion from Vitesse Arnhem was the first in it's kind. The fact that the roof could be opened and closed is - of course - not that special, but that the playingfields (grass) can be slided outside the stadion ... that is a technological highlight never seen before. The huge concrete box, in which the grassfield is naturaly growing, roles slowly over greased wheels in and out the stadion. This way, use for pop- and rockconcerts, as well as any exhibition, does not damage the field in such way the playing of football becomes a true hell. If present in Arnhem and intrested in sports, maybe you atend a game of Vitesse Arnhem. or attend a tour through the stadion for visitors (only limited available).

In the Netherlands football is the most popular sport and the club of Arnehm is Vitesse. They play at the Dutch first division and the local stadium is the Gelredome just at the outskirts of the city.