Student Sports

Student engagement in sports goes right back to the days of the [Roman Catholic Business School], when activities were provided by the St Olof student association, with athletics, football, fencing, water polo and boxing being on offer, followed, in 1937, by indoor training for sports such as hockey, tennis and equestrian sport. After World War II, when students had ceased to join St Olof as a matter of course, an umbrella student sports council was founded, by the name of Pendragon. Pendragon ‒ an association before it became a foundation ‒ represented all of its affiliated student sports associations in dealings with the Sports Center, which was established in 1962. In 2013, the name Pendragon was changed into the Federation of Student Sports Tilburg, or FOSST for short.

Tasks and services

It is the task of the Sports Center to manage the sports location with all that this entails, and it is the task of FOSST to support students in the carefree pursuit of their sporting activities. In 2017, twenty-two student sports associations were affiliated to FOSST, often bearing archetypal names such as Spartacus, Tarantula, Parcival, Camelot, Lancelot, Avalon and Merlin. FOSST not only represents them at the Sports Center but also offers services such as project funding, PR advice and management support. Besides, it looks after the interests of individual users of the Sports Center. As a federation, FOSST also participates in the local Tilburg Sports Council and the national Dutch Student Sports foundation. Taking a management position or playing an organizational role in a sports association or in FOSST gives students valuable experience that looks good on their resumes in later life.