FIVE YEARS OF AMSTERDAM COLLABORATION ON HEALTH AND SAFETY IN SPORTS
In 2015, at a desk with a cup of vending machine coffee in hand, we laid the seeds for Amsterdam Collaboration on Health and Safety in Sports (ACHSS). Our application to become one of the eleven global IOC Research Centers for prevention of injury and protection of athlete health was granted, and in 2016 we officially launched. Now, five years later, we look back and look forward, together with the other eight members of our core team. What has the collaboration brought us, where is the strength, where do we look back with pride and forward with ambition?
Evert Verhagen
Professor of Epidemiology of Sport, Exercise and Health
Chair ACHSS
Strength of the collaboration
Each IOC centre has its expertise. We wondered at the beginning where we fit in because we did everything. It took a while before we realized that that is precisely where our strength lies. We are generalists, and from that generalist perspective, we work very pragmatically and make a difference for the individual athlete. By bringing together our groups, Public and Occupational Health at VUmc and Orthopedics at AMC, we span the entire prevention and treatment continuum. There is no other place in the world where this happens in this way.
Proud
We look back with pride on many joint and individual achievements. Too many to mention here. We are also proud of the people in our core team, each of whom has achieved a great deal and is our standard-bearer. The cooperation enables us to make a stand internationally and apply our combined expertise to benefit the safety of sports people. Furthermore, we like to invest in young talent. If in five years, we look back on several great careers that have developed thanks to the support from our centre partly, we will open a bottle of champagne.
Gino Kerkhoffs
Professor of Orthopedics, especially Sports Traumatology
Chair ACHSS
Ambition for the future
Over the past five years, we have built up an extensive network at home and abroad and laid solid foundations. We are now entering a phase in which we can give something back to society. The enthusiasm for sport and exercise has taken off in recent years, not least because of the corona pandemic. It is widely known that physical inactivity harms the body and the mind and leads to high social costs. What we do not realize enough is that irresponsible exercise also has high social costs. Good and responsible exercise is something that we as a group want to put on the map even better in the next five years. Not only in the sports world but also beyond.
"The great strength of ACHSS is in the cooperation. By pooling knowledge and experience, we arrive at better studies, therapies and guidance for athletes."
"Often, you see science being done for the sake of science. At ACHSS, that is not the case. Science is used to help the athlete perform better, and publishing about it is a nice by-product. This mindset has not penetrated everywhere yet, but in Amsterdam, we all have it, and that is unique."
"Our team is characterized by good cooperation. We have known each other for about twenty years. Everyone has flown out at some point, looked around elsewhere and come back with more knowledge. Our egos don't get in the way of sharing that knowledge."
"Our single most important strength is that we are experts in our respective fields and in unison improve care, research and education around elite sports, prevention and injuries. We do this with heart and respect for each other."
"Our strength lies in the connection. We are a group of people from various bodies who put aside the interests of themselves and their organizations to reach a higher goal."
"I see it as our ambition to continue to develop leading knowledge together and to apply it in practice. Because ultimately we do it for the athletes."
"I am very proud that sports cardiology has become part of this collaboration and that I get to sit at the table with all these people who are the best in their field. Everything we offer, from injury treatment and prevention to sports event counselling and imaging, is one of the most complete palettes imaginable."
"Before this collaboration came about, we were each working on our own. Now one plus one has become three or even four. Our strength lies in this synergy and in the fact that we are complementary to each other."
