{"id":85671,"date":"2018-04-03T15:03:03","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T13:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=85671"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:58","slug":"wat-mij-betreft-nemen-we-het-hele-hattagebouw-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2018\/04\/03\/wat-mij-betreft-nemen-we-het-hele-hattagebouw-over\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018As far as I\u2019m concerned, we\u2019ll take over the entire Hatta Building\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fysiotherapie Woudestein\u2019s Dimitri Motz is celebrating an anniversary. The first of April marked the twentieth anniversary of his starting work at the campus. Last year things really began to happen for him: his turnover doubled. \u201cI should have come up with this idea ages ago. I really feel like an idiot now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dimitri Motz working with a client in his practice.<\/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\tJoshua Kruter<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

For many years, Motz\u2019s physiotherapy practice was located at the side of Erasmus Sport, but last year it moved to Erasmus Plaza, to the row of shops including the In de Smitse pub, the Erasmus Sustainability Hub and \u2013 temporarily \u2013 Hairdesign by Lydia, on the ground floor of the Hatta Building. Partly due to the new and larger practice, business began to boom. Motz now has two spacious and light treatment rooms at his disposal, as well as his own small gym full of equipment clients can use for rehabilitation exercises.<\/p>\n

There have been a few growing pains, though, because officially, the Hatta Building has still not been cleared for use. \u201cThe intercom and the coffeemaker don\u2019t work yet, and the awning has just been installed but is not yet fully operational either. And I\u2019ve been messing with the climate control system for a year now.\u201d Yellow post-its have been stuck to ceiling fans. \u201cI use them to check whether there is actually any ventilation in here. I got an external agency to perform [air quality] measurements a while ago, and carbon dioxide levels are way too high in here.\u201d Even so, Motz feels the new practice constitutes \u2018at least 100 percent progress\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Kevin van Ravenzwaaij<\/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\tJoshua Kruter<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

'Not enterprising enough'<\/h2>\n\t
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\n\t\t\u2018Dimitri is all about hard work, about the manual labour aspect\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

However, the main reason for all the business rolling in is not the new practice, but rather Dimitri\u2019s new colleague, Kevin van Ravenzwaaij, who embarked on his first real job as a physiotherapist in September. \u201cSince then our turnover has doubled,\u201d says Motz, sounding like a proud father, while Kevin sits on the massage table. In many respects, the two men are polar opposites. Motz, who is in his late forties and has grey hair, sparkling eyes and a great deal of self-deprecating humour, describes himself as a \u2018grey and cynical old man\u2019 who is \u2018not enterprising enough\u2019. Kevin, 28, is tall and blonde and radiates enthusiasm. \u201cDimitri is all about hard work, about the manual labour aspect,\u201d says Kevin. \u201cHe is a real entrepreneur,\u201d Motz says in response. \u201cWe complement each other very nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKevin now works here forty hours a week, while I\u2019m only here for twenty hours a week. The light is always on, and the phone is being answered. If your response time is good and people are happy, business will pick up quickly. He also visits the clubs training at Erasmus Sport to promote our practice: Antibarbari, the indoor football team, the rugby team, the badminton players. Turns out some of them didn\u2019t even know we existed!\u201d<\/p>\n

Gone completely bonkers<\/h2>

When Motz started working as a physiotherapist in 1998, he was as old as his younger colleague Kevin is now. He took over the position from a female friend of his. His first treatment room was in Erasmus Sport\u2019s corridor. It now houses a showcase containing squash rackets. \u201cAt the time I provided two to four treatments per week. I was there, but I mainly spent my time waiting for the phone to ring. The rest of the time I just sat there chatting to people. I had a lot of difficulty finding enough clients, but that was partly due to my personality. I\u2019m just not enterprising enough. If Kevin had been around at the time, things would have been different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Motz does really enjoy running a physiotherapy practice on a campus full of students. \u201cYeah, it\u2019s fabulous. It\u2019s such a young and dynamic environment. It\u2019s very different from being in a residential neighbourhood. Back in the day my position was kind of unique: very few physiotherapists worked at universities. I\u2019ve had some great experiences here, particularly with Erasmus Sport\u2019s staff. For instance, during Christmas dinners we would cook mussels and dance on the tables. This no longer happens; those days are over. Those people have all left, or gone completely bonkers, or passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n

'Let\u2019s keep De Smitse, though'<\/h2>\n\t
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\n\t\t\u2018The sky is the limit. As far as I\u2019m concerned, we\u2019ll take over the entire Hatta Building. Except for De Smitse. Let\u2019s keep that.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Doubled turnover, more staff. Shouldn\u2019t Motz have expanded the practice before? \u201cYeah, I really feel like an idiot now. Knowing that we doubled the turnover I had in my best year, it\u2019s obvious that the business was there. It was there twenty years ago as well. Only I wasn\u2019t the right person to get it, even though I believed for a very long time that I had to do it all myself, that I couldn\u2019t hire anyone else.\u201d Motz expects the practice to be further expanded down the line. Maybe it will start using more classrooms at the Hatta Building. \u201cThe sky is the limit. As far as I\u2019m concerned, we\u2019ll take over the entire Hatta Building,\u201d he says ambitiously. Then he smiles. \u201cExcept for De Smitse. Let\u2019s keep that. It will be our company cafeteria.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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