ONLY FRIENDS – SPORTS CLUB FOR CHILDREN, YOUNGSTERS AND ELDERLY PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

© Only Friends

Only Friends is a unique sports club with its own sports center, called Friendship Sports Centre, in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Children, youngsters and elderly people with special needs can enjoy sports on a daily basis. At regular sports clubs, this opportunity is mostly not provided. It is not only about physical aspects of sports, it also presents the possibility to make new friends, to leave social isolation behind and to belong to a community. Thanks to 200 volunteers, 50 trainees, sponsors and ambassadors, the members of Only Friends can enjoy 25 different types of sport. Only Friends has been copied with branches in 5 other regions in the Netherlands. Founder Dennis Gebbink has recently been decorated by King Willem Alexander as Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau for all his efforts and contributions to society.