24-12-25: News from the Editorial Committee for everyone.
Joep enjoys being a member of OSM Badminton. Of all the members, he is the one who has been a member for the longest time: more than 48 years!
New to Maarssenbroek, my wife and I, Joep Simons, looked for an opportunity to exercise in 1977, with the additional aim of making friends in this new environment. OSM Badminton turned out to be an ideal club for this: the majority of the members were also unfamiliar with Maarssenbroek and the surrounding area and making contacts was therefore very easy.
We started in Bloemstede and from 1979 in the Bisonhal, the predecessor of the MFA Safari. There were two evenings for seniors: Thursday evening for recreational players and Friday evening for competition players. There was no shortage of members in the early years, the club grew quickly and the extra capacity of the Bisonhal was very welcome. Despite this extra capacity, the waiting time between games sometimes amounted to 40 minutes, even though games could be played until midnight. Despite sometimes having to wait a long time, they were enjoyable evenings with plenty of time to get to know new people and otherwise there was always the bar upstairs in Adri Huussen’s Bisonhal with very flexible closing times.
In those early years I was active as chairman of the Recreational Committee. Together with Anke Swiers, among others, we also organized activities outside badminton, such as a pleasant and well-attended bowling evening in Bisonspoor. From the Recreational Committee I was able to promote the VJC, the competition for non-competition players that was organized outside the Association. From 1979 or 1980, OSM always participated in this with many teams. There were regular consultations with the clubs participating in the VJC and when it turned out that the organizer wanted to stop, I tipped Adriaan Beljaars that this was something for him. Fortunately, he went into it with full energy.
Through contacts with other teams, I heard that several clubs were struggling to manage the crowds on the evenings. When changing you could be squashed at the hanging board. A good tip was not to change all lanes at the same time. We have introduced this at OSM and it still works satisfactorily.
The club championships were the annual highlight for me. These were then played on four evenings and a final weekend with the finals and the party evening. Together with Cor Hartman (early 80s) and later with Henk Braxhoofden (mid 90s), several club championships were won. In the mix there was great opposition from the duo Hans Eijkelkamp & Ineke Spall, but they still managed to successfully reach the finish line with various partners (including Louise de Roover, Marianne Boogmans, José Eijkelkamp and later also with Ineke Spall and Ria Galesloot). I am proud of my victory in the singles final against Adriaan Beljaars, although I must admit that he usually came out on top.
I can mention more names of partners with whom I have played successfully. But for those who are interested in this, or want to check their own achievements again, I refer to the website, where many results can be easily found.
At the moment I play on Monday evenings. Here they play in varying formations and there is plenty of opportunity to get to know new people.
As treasurer and as a playing member, I hope to complete my 50 years at OSM Badminton!
Joep Simons
