After School Activities

Eindhoven is a virtual hotbed of afterschool activities.  As in the states, when public schools don’t offer as much enrichment during school hours, the afterschool opportunities flourish, and here is it no different. We’ve categorized afterschool activities into:

Music
Performing Arts
Scouting
Sports, Sports and More Sports

Music

Music classes are offered both individually and through music schools in miscellaneous towns around Eindhoven.  You can probably identify teachers in the vicinity of your neighborhood by checking with your Gemeente (local city government), where they are likely to register.  In some cities that do not support a music school, you will get a reimbursement from the Gemeente for a portion of your private lesson with a music teacher.

Some recommended music teachers are:

Piano Lessons
Mrs. Mirjam Rodrigues de Miranda
Lisjsterlaan 8,
5613 AE Eindhoven
040 2464744

Suzuki Piano Lessons
Mrs. Mies Ter Horst
Mosbeek 28
Veldhoven
040-2539241

Guitar Lessons
Marian Peters
Heikanstraat 11
Waalre
221-6664

Muziek School, AMV ( Algemene Muzikale  Vorming )
Bossebaan 60,
5503 KC Veldhoven.
040 - 2533522

Performing Arts

Children’s theater is offered through the Centrum voor Kunst in Eindhoven (CKE) in the city center and through affiliations of your local Gemeente.  We found CKE to be large, impersonal and unfriendly to foreigners.

A recommended children’s theater is:

Theatergroep Kinderspel
Waalre

Scouting

Scouting may be a wonderful way for your children to socialize with other children from your neighborhood.  The one problem with the activity is that it tends to conflict with the intense year-round sports calendar… even Dutch adults will point out that a child will have a hard time being in both on Saturdays.  However, if you have young, enthusiastic kids, who are too young to participate in the tournament side of sports, you maybe able to do both until your child is old enough to pick what he prefers.  Our 6 year old loved cub scouts, also known as welpen.  He was, however, already bilingual when he joined, but the troop leaders are late teeners with an enthusiasm for kids.  Near as we could tell, they ran around for two hours, played games and occasionally did crafts.  You can identify your nearest scout troop by inquiring at your local Gemeente.

Girls seemed to start scouting at a slightly older age.

Sports, Sports and More Sports

The Dutch will admit that they are a sports crazy country.  Not only do they have their favorite, national team, but they have their favorite local “clubs” as well.  Most sports are organized around the concept of belonging to a “club,” with the possible exception of early swimming lessons.

Swimming, near as we can tell, is a racket in the Netherlands.  Your child is required by some age to have completed his A, B, and C diploma, though by 9 years old, the swimming pools don’t seem to ask to see the proof.  The requirements for these seem to be primarily the ability to swim above and below the water wearing clothing.  However, foreigners have observed that the Dutch also have a strong belief that before a certain age, things just can’t or shouldn’t be done, so they’ll also hold back children that are moving ahead to quickly. If your slightly older children wish to join a swim team or water polo team, various swim clubs have them. 

Recommended for beginning swimming lessons:

Sportschool Essink
040-2115639
Eindhoven

International parents have also liked the swimming lessons at Motel Eindhoven on the Aalsterweg.

Recommended for water polo:

Swimmingpool Ekkerman, Njord Zwemvereniging
040 2012932, after 18.00
Behind City Centre in Veldhoven

Field Hockey, someone once told us is to American soccer as Dutch futbol is to Little League.  We wasted a whole year, desperately hoping we could find or start a girls’ soccer team, when all along, we should have put the kids into hockey.  You need to sign up for this sport in the spring to June timeframe.  You may still be able to get a child into the sport in September, but the clubs tend to fill up and then there’s no hope until the following year.  A child joins a team, and typically they keep that team together for years, which is why coaches will become discouraged if the team doesn’t play well.  Nevertheless, the coaches are enthusiastic and are welcoming of foreign kids.  Kids 6-7 play for an hour on Saturdays.  As they get older, there are increasing practices during the week, with games on Saturday, mostly within an hour’s driving distance.  Team members can carpool with other team members to games.  The sport runs September to May, with a break from mid-December to the end of February.

Recommended for field hockey:

Oranje/Zwart
Off Genneperweg, next to the golf course

EMHC
Off Genneperweg, next to Oranje/Zwart

Football/soccer is a club sport in the Netherlands and every community/area has their own team(s).  You don't have to go to the one in your area.  Some have waiting lists.  Teams can be coed, but soccer in the Netherlands is just not a girls’ sport, so there are far fewer girls playing it.  At each age, there are different levels of skills and children play on teams of children with similar skills.  At younger ages, practice is once a week increasing to twice per week around 9 years of age. Games are on Saturdays. The season begins in August and runs until May with a winter stop in December and January.

Recommended club for kids’ soccer:

UNA
Veldhoven Zeelst Sportpark UNA
040-2530740

“Pick up” soccer for kids:

Rood Wit Veldhoven Soccer Club
Sportpark de Korze, in Veldhoven
Wednesday afternoons

Horseback riding is a little iffy  in the Netherlands, if you are coming from the states, because liability laws here are so much more relaxed than in the states.  The term for a stable is “manege,” so you may be able to find one near you by looking in the phonebook.  However, we have heard rave reviews about Mrs. Seaby’s private lessons in Nuenen:

Kit Seaby
040-242-2831

Ice hockey is also a club sport in the Netherlands.  The club rents time on the ice from a facility; in Eindhoven, this facility is the Ijsbaan located not far from the RIS on Geneeperweg.  If you like skating, you can go to a number of skating schools so that the trainers can see you on the ice because they won't allow you to play on the team without skating proficiency.  Once you reach proficiency, and you wish to join the team, you pay a fee to the club. Proper ice hockey equipment is required but can be rented from the IjsBrekers.  This team sport requires a lot of travel as all competing teams are in other cities. Teams are composed of both boys and girls.  Depending on the age group, coaches can be gruff.  The coach that works with the youngest kids is great.

Only ice hockey club:

Ijsbrekers
040-2540387

Martial arts in Eindhoven is organized by club as well.  Some clubs offer activities at multiple centers.  Some clubs require that the child be a certain age or have been in the art for a period of time before a belt is awarded.  Fees tend to be comparably low to other countries where martial arts is organized “for profit.”

Recommended martial arts clubs:

Jeugdjudo
Sportschool Essink
Eindhoven    

Taekwon-Do Center Dommelen
St. Martinuus Basisschool , Dommelen

Other sports:

Baseball for ages 9 and over
DVS Honkbal
Hoeveland sportshall in Waalre
040-221-6270
Wednesday evenings

Tennis lessons
Total Fit
T’ Hazzo, Waalre
040-222-3500
Afternoons depend on age groups