Both are from Betondorp: Johan Cruyff and Erik Scherder, professor of neuropsychology. Cruyff invited Scherder to a Cruyff Foundation seminar in 2014 and the contact stayed after that. Erik Scherder has since become a proud ambassador of the Cruyff Foundation.
"Johan said: exercise is good for you - and brain science also shows that. The moment you exercise, you activate the brain networks that are important for good planning. Or to make up when you have a fight with your friends. In both young and old people, brain fitness improves when they exercise more. Cognitive functions improve and people generally function better."
So exercise makes you smarter, more focused and faster?
"Yes! That also applies to children with disabilities, who tend to be more inactive. But they in particular need to move, even if it is difficult. When I speak to children in wheelchairs, I sometimes ask: can you take those wheelchairs up mountains? Then they say: Yes. Then I say: And do you? No, they say. I then say: go do it! If you can't walk, go move in some other way. Because any kind of moving takes effort. In fact, when they move, it takes even more effort. That effort, that's the reward for your brain." "If I walk from A to B, it might take zero effort. But if someone with a disability walks from A to B, it takes more effort. And that's what it's all about, then you're exercising! Children with disabilities tend to move less. Because they have more barriers, including personal barriers."
The fitter, the better?
"Recent studies show a relationship between fitness and children's and adolescents' performance in math and language. And that has everything to do with flexibility in thinking, and seeing and understanding spatial relationships. What really appealed to me is that Johan in particular made a case for children with disabilities. Because they are often beside, they fall outside. Their idea is: but I can't move properly anyway. And that is precisely not what you should say, because then their development lags behind." "Look, the Cruyff Foundation is just one hundred percent right about that. The moment you start moving again, even with a disability, and think: I didn't know I could play soccer at all, for example. Or when you walk with crutches. But you can do it and you score. That of course gives a very different self-image. It gives you self-confidence. That you think: oh, then maybe I can make another step at school. Or when you're bigger later."