{"id":83587,"date":"2018-02-08T14:19:28","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T13:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=83587"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:56","slug":"forgetting-their-problems-for-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/02\/08\/forgetting-their-problems-for-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Forgetting their problems for a day’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sun is shining brightly, the sky is blue and it\u2019s freezing in the stands at Sparta. But this doesn\u2019t spoil the enjoyment. Today is a celebration. To mark its centenary, student association SSR-R is treating a hundred boys and girls from Rotterdam to a day at the Sparta grounds. Kids from a less privileged background, who have never been to a football match or who just love Sparta. Or Feyenoord. Because that\u2019s an option too.<\/p>\n

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Sunday, 4 February. Sparta \u2013 Willem II, premier division. The kick-off is in just under an hour\u2019s time. The restaurant of \u2018Het Kasteel\u2019 is packed with boisterous children who have just finished a general quiz about Sparta. The winners will be able to play a football game in a special room. The rest will be heading outside into the freezing cold, along with a life-size mascot that loves a cuddle. The next highlight: launching the wish balloons.<\/p>\n

Not very well<\/h2>
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Gilberto.<\/span><\/p>

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In the middle of the group is Gilberto (15). His balloon wish? \u201cThat Sparta will win, of course.\u201d He\u2019s delighted that he could come today. \u201cMy father\u2019s not very well. He\u2019s getting a bit better, but it\u2019s still worrying. I never knew my mother. She died a few days after I was born. My father remarried, but sometimes I miss it, you know, a real mother. Whenever times are tough or if things aren\u2019t going well at school. But anyway, today\u2019s going to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laten lachen<\/h2>

Giving back to the city. That\u2019s the idea behind the fund set up by former SSR members. Wolter Brinks is one of them. Together with students Sanne Smidt and Daan Verpalen, he launched the Sparta project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously amazing for a student to be able to do something like this for this group of children,\u201d says Verpalen. \u201cIn Rotterdam-West, which is also where our association is based, there are lots of families who don\u2019t have things easy. There often isn\u2019t the money or time to go to a football match. I hope that today will take their minds off their problems for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Een lijst van afbeeldingen<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t
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