{"id":3431,"date":"2016-06-03T08:46:26","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T07:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=54193"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:12","slug":"de-voorzitter-esther-vermaat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2016\/06\/03\/de-voorzitter-esther-vermaat\/","title":{"rendered":"The president: Esther Vermaat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Esther Vermaat<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAysha Gasanova<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

In the regular feature The President EM<\/em> interviews the leader of different student organizations. In this edition of this feature we\u2019ve spoken with Esther Vermaat from Antibarbari.<\/p>\n\t

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Name: Esther Vermaat<\/strong>
\nAge: 24<\/strong>
\nStudy: recently stopped studying a\u00a0<\/strong>pre-master in Sociology<\/strong>
\nPresident of: Rotterdam Student Football\u00a0Club Antibarbari<\/a>. This year, the club is celebrating\u00a0its 25th anniversary. It has more than\u00a0500 members (also international students)\u00a0divided over 16 men\u2019s teams and 6 women\u2019s\u00a0teams.<\/strong>
\nPresident since: August 2015 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0 \u00a0 Motto:\u00a0\u2018Upfront with a\u00a0heart of gold\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

How did you become president?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI was already\u00a0a member of an Antibarbari sub-committee,\u00a0whose president was dismissed at one point. I\u00a0was then pushed forward to take on the role.\u00a0The board thought that I had done such a good\u00a0job that they asked me to be president of Antibarbari.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you think twice before accepting the position?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cJust for a moment because I was supposed\u00a0to start a transition year, which is quite\u00a0tough. I tried to combine the two, but that\u00a0proved too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

And?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I quit the study, despite the fact that\u00a0I really liked it. You have to make a choice. I already\u00a0have an MBO and HBO diploma. Certificates\u00a0are nice, but I only really started to learn\u00a0a lot from doing board work. In the end, it\u2019s all\u00a0about what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

No regrets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot for a second.\u201d<\/p>\n

And your parents were also on board with your decision?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I\u2019ve come a long way and\u00a0I\u2019ve already completed a few things. They already\u00a0knew that it might not work out this year.\u00a0I talked to my dad about it. I wanted to quit my\u00a0studies because I wasn\u2019t happy, and he was\u00a0just proud that I dared to make that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

So being the president of Antibarbari takes up a lot of time?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSomething like 35 hours per\u00a0week. In any case, I am always at the club on\u00a0Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. The board\u00a0meets once a week and I have a lot of external\u00a0appointments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you also play football yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201dYes, in the\u00a0ladies\u2019 5th team. This is my fourth season at\u00a0Antibarbari.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you know what you were letting yourself in for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all! And, fortunately, there is\u00a0a long training period and we have a system\u00a0whereby you can seek advice from former\u00a0board members. I use that a lot. You can\u2019t\u00a0come up with everything from scratch yourself,\u00a0and we\u2019ve only been working together as\u00a0a board for just one year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u201cI\u2019m very direct; I like to get to the point and don\u2019t beat around the bush.\u201d\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

What kind of president are you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very direct;\u00a0I like to get to the point and don\u2019t beat\u00a0around the bush. It took a while for some of\u00a0the other board members to get used to that.\u00a0For me, it\u2019s all about communication; right\u00a0from the start, I planned in sessions in which\u00a0the members could give each other points for
\nimprovement. They also have the possibility to\u00a0give each other compliments. These sessions\u00a0help to prevent irritations and create a positive
\nvibe. In any case, they have really helped\u00a0me to develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did the others appreciate those communication sessions?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHaha, not straight away they\u00a0didn\u2019t, but after a few sessions they started to\u00a0like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After just a year of being president, are there still things you can improve on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, as\u00a0president you\u2019re constantly pushing people to\u00a0make sure things get done. Sometimes I forget\u00a0to push myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re the third female in a row to be president of Antibarbari. Is that a coincidence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201dFor one reason or another, for some jobs it\u2019s\u00a0easier to find women to take on the role than\u00a0men. I have no idea why that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you want to do after this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThanks\u00a0to this year of being president, I want to go in\u00a0a totally different direction. I would really like\u00a0to work in consultancy or something to do with\u00a0HR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more about other presidents<\/h2>