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Sport as a second language: why Nieuwkomers Beweegt is no side project

Our second programme gets newcomers exercising together with a regular buddy. Research on sport, well-being and integration shows why that works — and where the pitfalls are.

September 2026 · 6 min read

Sport and well-being

Eime and colleagues summarised thirty studies on sport participation among children and adolescents in a systematic review [1]. Team sport is associated with more self-confidence, better social skills and fewer depressive symptoms. Strikingly, the social side — doing something together, belonging somewhere — seems to matter more than the sport or the fitness itself. The authors therefore argue for club sport over individual exercise where well-being is concerned.

Movement against stress

For people with a trauma background there is more. Stress settles in the body: poor sleep, tension, rumination. Exercise is one of the few things that acts on that without words, and it is accessible to everyone regardless of language level. That is how Nieuwkomers Beweegt came about: an hour of sport asks for no Dutch, but yields an hour of conversation — and a reason to come back next week.

Bonding and bridging

Spaaij studied Somali Australians in a football club and makes an important distinction [2]. Sport produces 'bonding' social capital — strong ties within one's own group — but not automatically 'bridging' capital towards wider society. A team made up only of newcomers remains an island. The bridge appears only when groups are deliberately mixed and there are people who actively make the connection: a coach, a buddy, someone who takes you along to the clubhouse afterwards.

What a good programme does

Nathan and colleagues evaluated Football United, a football programme in Sydney for young people from many backgrounds, including many young newcomers [3]. Participants mainly named friendships outside their own group, more trust in others and a greater sense of belonging as outcomes. The programme worked because it deliberately brought young people from different backgrounds together and took time for it — one season was already enough to make a measurable difference in participants' social networks.

The pitfalls

The same research names what goes wrong: loose groups without fixed membership, sport without conversation afterwards, and programmes that are only 'for newcomers' and so accidentally build a separate world [2][3]. Practical barriers count too: travel costs, sports clothes, a time that clashes with work or prayer. Whoever does not remove those barriers ends up with only the people who would have managed anyway.

What we take from this

That is why we work with a regular buddy instead of a loose group: the bridge is the core, not the ball. We mix deliberately — newcomers and Enschede residents who have lived here longer. We link the programme to the study day, so it is the same faces in a different setting: practising Dutch without it feeling like a lesson. And we arrange the practical side in advance, from sports clothes to timing, so taking part does not depend on your wallet.

References

  1. [1]Eime, R. M., Young, J. A., Harvey, J. T., Charity, M. J. & Payne, W. R. (2013). A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 10, 98. doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-98
  2. [2]Spaaij, R. (2012). Beyond the playing field: experiences of sport, social capital, and integration among Somalis in Australia. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 35(9), 1519–1538. doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.592205
  3. [3]Nathan, S., Kemp, L., Bunde-Birouste, A., MacKenzie, J., Evers, C. & Shwe, T. A. (2013). "We wouldn't of made friends if we didn't come to Football United": the impacts of a football program on young people's peer, prosocial and cross-cultural relationships. BMC Public Health, 13, 399. doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-399

These articles are editorial summaries of published research, written by the foundation. Talent East Academy is not a care provider and gives no medical or psychological advice. If you are worried about a young person, contact a GP or the school.