ADO Den Haag

ADO Den Haag

ADO Den Haag 

ADO Den Haag is a popular football club located in Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands with a history dating back more than 117 years. The club is inextricably linked to the city of The Hague and the Haaglanden region. ADO Den Haag is a club for everyone and has been carrying out a multitude of social activities for many years. In doing so, ADO Den Haag shows that it is the beating heart of the region. In order to safeguard these activities, a separate foundation was set up in 2011: ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij.

ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij supports civil society organisations in achieving their goals in the field of health promotion, social inclusion, education, and personal development among the inhabitants of the Haaglanden region.  The Foundation ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij (ADO The Hague in Society) wants to contribute towards improving the physical activity levels of the beneficiaries, bringing people closer together and thereby including everyone, as well as helping the local population with their personal development.

To make this mission a success, the projects are delivered by the foundation using the branding, the role models, and facilities of ADO Den Haag. For example, the foundation is able to use the club’s stadium (Bingoal Stadium) and youth academy pitches for events, activities, and training sessions.

ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij have a wide variety of programmes that are delivered on a structural or incidental basis. Some activities occur weekly and others take place approximately once a month. Other activities take place on a one-off basis or once a year.

Ultimately, ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij wants all inhabitants of the Haaglanden region to be able to pursue a healthy lifestyle, to be included in daily society, and to be able to partake in activities to improve their well-being. To summarise, the foundation strives to provide the right environment for every beneficiary to develop themselves as persons on an individual level. The pillars of health, social inclusion, and personal development form the basis of all the programmes that are delivered by the foundation. An example of these initiatives can be found below, grouped by pillar:

Health

ADO-fit/Kicksfit ADO Den Haag – The ADO-fit program targets fans aged 25 years and over, who would like to actively improve their health condition. ADO-fit is a 12-week programme that focuses on improving this target group’s lifestyle, physical activity levels, and general mental wellbeing. The foundation also runs a health project for working professionals of various companies and/or organisations called ADO-Vitaal. This initiative uses various workplace specific examples to get people out of their office chairs during work hours, while providing physical activity sessions at the end of one workday per week.

Kicksfit ADO Den Haag is a follow-up programme for ADO-Fit that allows people that enjoyed the ADO-Fit programme to move into a structural programme. Kicksfit ADO Den Haag is a combination of the KNVB’s Kicksfit Concept and ADO Den Haag’s Footcamp programme. The participants are able to take part in continuous physical activity sessions throughout the season that focus on combining muscle strengthening exercises with football based sessions.

ADO Den Haag OldStars – This programme was created in 2013 to make those who are 60 years and over aware of a more active lifestyle by implementing the walking football concept. The foundation identified that the social contact between the participants was also very important, and thus a significant emphasis was placed on this aspect of the activity. This has provided all the beneficiaries of the ADO Den Haag OldStars with the opportunity to make new friends. The training sessions for this programme occur on a weekly throughout the whole season.

Social inclusion

ADO-Herinneringen – This initiative is based on the Football Memories programme that originated from Scotland, United Kingdom. Monthly sessions are organised for elderly people to reminisce about the ‘good old days’ of their favourite football club, ADO Den Haag, over a cup of coffee. The main target group is elderly people with dementia, but this is not a prerequisite for participation. To trigger the memories of the participants, the club provides old newspaper articles, pictures, video images, and various other memorabilia from years gone by.

De Held/The Hero – De Held/The Hero was conceived in 1996 and has been going strong ever since. The aim of the programme is to tackle bullying, racism, and discrimination by raising awareness about these issues with primary school children. The concept entails that the children can become heroes if they help push back against bullying, racism, and discrimination. The main target group is pupils aged 11-12 and these beneficiaries take part in a 5-week programme consisting of 4 lessons and 1 final event. De Held used to be a single lesson about the various topics, but since 2022 the foundation has decided to cover every topic in more detail. During the final event, the participants receive a certificate, signed by two ADO Den Haag players, for their engagement with the programme and take part in a special workshop organised by the Anne Frank Foundation. The newly crowned ‘heroes’ also get the opportunity to have their picture taken with various ADO players and the club mascot ‘Storky’. As a final send-off, the beneficiaries get to attend one of ADO Den Haag’s home games during the season.

G-Storks (football programme for disabled youngsters) – The G-Storks are ADO Den Haag’s very own disability team that allows youngsters aged 12 to 18 years to experience what it means to play for ADO Den Haag. The players are carefully selected through a thorough scouting process by employees of ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij and receive an official letter confirming their selection by post. The foundation organises a wide variety of activities for the G-football, such as monthly trainings and personal development activities, workshops, and matchdays against disability teams from other Dutch clubs in the Bijzondere Eredivisie League. When the G-Storks need to travel to another city for these league matches, they travel with the luxurious players’ bus of ADO Den Haag.

Recovery Workshop ADO Den Haag with partners – In recent months, steps were taken to strengthen the partnership between Parnassia and ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij by launching a new social project in collaboration with clinic Mistral. Mistral is focused on young people aged 12 to 23 who have problems with the use of drugs, alcohol, gaming and/or gambling and its consequences. ADO Den Haag player, Sacha Komljenovic, and ADO Den Haag’s physiotherapist, Edwin Coret, were also on hand to share their own experiences with recovery with the youngsters.

Personal development

Playing for Success – Playing for Success is a 12-week educational programme which came into existence to help improve the self-confidence of children by way of various sessions that take place in the ADO Den Haag press room. The target group of this programme is children aged 11-12 years and every year 9 individual groups take part in these sessions.

VO Voetbal League – The VO Voetbal League is a football competition for high schools that takes place in the sport complex of Zuiderpark. Almost every Friday from November till April there are matches between participating schools in three different leagues. One for girls, one for boys between 12 and 14 years old and one for boys between 14 and 16 years old. The participants of the various teams also take part in workshops that try to discuss socio-cultural themes that are appropriate for the target group.

Leven als een ADO-Prof! – Many people have always wondered what it is like to be a professional football player and through ADO Den Haag in de Maatschappij’s ‘Leven als een ADO-Prof!’ programme, many children (aged 10-14 years old) in the Haaglanden region get to experience this first hand. This initiative is delivered over a 12-week period and includes workshops about setting goals, social media, eating healthily and the importance of physical activity, respect, and various other topics. Furthermore, all the beneficiaries get the chance to sign their contracts in the ADO Den Haag stadium, take part in real life fitness tests, and play a lot of football of course.

Sustainability

#ADOGreen – #ADOGreen is an initiative launched by ADO Den Haag to promote sustainability and social responsibility. The launch event gathered club partners, local and regional stakeholders, and government officials to highlight the club’s commitment to a more sustainable and socially responsible future. The initiative involves a rebranding from ADO Den Haag in the Community to #ADOGreen, emphasizing the club’s dedication to environmental and health initiatives. The launch event featured discussions, presentations from partners, and an official kickoff by notable figures. ADO Den Haag aims to lead the way in sustainability and make a positive impact on the Haaglanden region with #ADOGreen.