Joost Kok must make Olympos future-proof

It is not surprising that Kok applied to be Olympos' Director: the 43-year-old father of two describes himself as a "real sports fanatic". As a student, he played football, tennis, squash and basketball. He became passionate about endurance sports after signing up for an Ironman (an extreme form of triathlon). "I had never swum 3.8 kilometres, cycled 180 kilometres or run a marathon before, but I thought: 'This is awesome!'" he recollects. He remains a very sporty person. "I skate a lot in the winter, and I run and cycle in the summer."

In addition, he has always been involved with both students and sports in his career. After studying Law in Rotterdam, he worked for the Human Resources department of a Law firm, where he often recruited talented students. "I really liked this target group: their young minds, new ideas and good energy." In his last position before becoming Olympos' director, Kok managed Lifeguard, a company focused on business vitality. "We advised organisations on how to create a healthy working environment for employees, by paying attention to sleep, exercise and nutrition."

Conveying the significance of places like Olympos to politicians is crucial

Kok was unable to settle into his new job quietly. In the summer of 2025, shortly after the announcement that Kok would take over the reins from Cees Verhoef, an uproar over government funding for student sports happened. The Minister of Education at the time, Eppo Bruins, said that universities and universities of applied sciences would no longer be allowed to use government funds to invest in sports facilities, as these were not part of their statutory remit.

Student sports centres were said to offer unfair competition to commercial gyms because they are partly subsidised by higher education institutions. The government has decided to tolerate the current funding structure for now, following pressure from various interest groups. It remains to be seen whether the new Minister of Education, Rianne Letschert, will maintain it. 

According to Kok, conveying the importance of places like Olympos is crucial, a task that student sports associations should also take upon themselves. "You can develop yourself while serving on a board or committee, where you also make friends for life, often without realising it."

Attracting staff from USP companies to Olympos during off-peak hours

Even though funds from educational institutions are secure for now, Olympos will no longer receive any funds from them. "Utrecht University and Utrecht University of Applied Sciences are also reducing their budgets," he says. In addition, Olympos will probably have to pay more rent to the university, as UU owns the building and the sports fields. "This will significantly increase costs and create a gap in our budget."

Kok is therefore considering several ways to balance the budget. One idea is to make an Olympos subscription more expensive for athletes. "We have never raised the price very much these past few years, even though our costs have risen. If we don't rectify that, we won't have a sports centre in five years." Kok is investigating the possibility of differentiating rates and introducing other subscription types.

Another idea is to make better use of off-peak hours, between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. "Employees often have more time to exercise during the day. If companies encouraged employees to exercise during off-peak hours, that would be a win-win situation: their staff would be healthier, and activities would be spread at Olympos better," he says. He is therefore interested in collaborating with the companies that have offices at Utrecht Science Park.

He also hopes that the arrival of four or five padel courts on the site of tennis courts 8 and 9 will attract more employees to Olympos. They are making this investment because they realised it was unfeasible to install artificial turf on a rugby field within the budget they had. "Padel is not only popular among students, but also among working people. Working people pay a higher rate than students to play sports with us. That mix helps to keep Olympos affordable for students," Kok explains.

He is also focusing on sponsorships and organising more joint events with the companies at Utrecht Science Park. On 27 February, the sports centre will host the (Olym)Plus Ultra Social Climb, a stair-climbing event in collaboration with the new Plus Ultra building, which is located next to the rugby field. Anyone working at USP can participate. Afterwards, student sports boards, Olympos employees and companies with offices at USP will get together for drinks in the Sports Café.

Another idea Olympos is exploring is providing after-school care. "It would be really cool if we could have twenty to fifty children playing sports here every school day. That would give us something to do during off-peak hours and ensure that a young audience learns about Olympos and different sports modalities."

"We have to bear the pain together and take a critical look at how we allocate the fields and halls."

But Kok's challenges don't stop there. He must also deal with the issue of Olympos' building. On paper, Olympos is supposed to get a new building in 2028, but those plans have been put on the back burner due to budget cuts and all the uncertainty surrounding how student sports will be financed. “The building belongs to Utrecht University, and nothing will change until 2035. It will be maintained, though,” says Kok.

Kok acknowledges that this is a bitter pill to swallow for the sports clubs that were hoping for expansion. Some clubs struggle with long waiting lists and have to relocate. He expects Olympos to become even busier because the High Five student complex will be inaugurated this year, which will mean more students living at USP. “We have to bear the pain together and take a critical look at how we allocate the available fields and halls,” he says.

Kok has been talking to student housing provider SSH about High Five. He thinks it would be nice to build a bouldering wall against one of the facades. “After all, sports don't always have to take place at Olympos.” Why not make sports come to students instead? “They could practice sports in between lectures.”

Kok's vision extends beyond the sports centre: “I hope we can convey to students that it is important for them to keep exercising, even when they start working later on.”

The director regularly puts his words into action. He has set himself the goal of trying out all 70 sports offered by the student sports centre. He has already checked Hyrox, dry tooling, and pickleball off his list, but there are still plenty of other sports left. He doesn't know which one will be next. “I would like to take a group class, something that is totally outside my comfort zone." Who knows, Kok might soon be sweating alongside you at a powerpump or bootycore class.