For Herbert Cool’s third birthday his father gave him his first pair of cross country skis. By the age of seven he had already won his first Dutch Cross Country Skiing and Roller Skiing titles. Herbert is now in his twenties and his sport career is characterized by many successes and challenges. A few years ago he moved to Germany in order to train in the very best surroundings. His dream and ultimate goal is to be the first Dutch biathlete to compete at the Winter Olympic Games; Next stop is Sochi 2014!

Herbert balanced his sport career with the International Master of Sport Management (MISM). Although aware of the fact that it is important to focus on sport goals he wanted to study for personal development: "When you are seriously involved in sports it means that you are forced to sacrifice your social life. In my opinion this is not how it should be. After my sports career I would like to give back to society what my sport has given to me. What's more, it is important to me to achieve something meaningful in public life in the future. But I needed the right instruments to accomplish this, like an education and knowledge.”

"I told the staff at the Johan Cruyff Institute about my 'mission impossible' to find proper education for me as an athlete. But they understood and offered me incredible flexibility! They understand that - at many occasions - you can't attend class because of training schedules. They take your busy sport life for granted, see constant travel as a challenge, and are continuously looking for solutions. That was all very new to me."

Danny Nelissen, production manager at Eurosport TV and graduate of the Master, organized a scholarship for Herbert: "I had to apply, Eurosport approved my request, and was able to follow this Master Program. I find it absolutely fantastic that Eurosport understoodd how important this is. I am very grateful that Eurosport offered me this opportunity."

Herbert feels totally at ease with Johan Cruyff’s vision. "Johan believes that sport organizations should be managed by people with a professional sport background. During the Master you learn what it takes to have a leading position in this sector."

A solution that was often used by Herbert was Skype. When he was abroad he followed evening classes from his hotel room with the help of a laptop (see photo): "This way it was easy to be actively involved and be part of the group. I completed the group assignments alone, but I could present my findings to my fellow students, just like the other students did."

"The teachers truly made a difference! Even when I was on Skype, they were actively involving me in group dynamics. PowerPoint slides were forwarded to me in advance. This enabled me to be well prepared for every class. And if I ended up somewhere in Siberia where there was no internet connection, we had a 'Plan B': Classes were recorded and uploaded online, so I could study at a later moment.”

So there were no problems for biathlete Herbert Cool. Although ... There was an occasion where he would have preferred to be in the Netherlands: "It was a pity that I did not have the chance to meet with and introduce myself to Johan Cruyff himself during the study trip in Barcelona. I couldn’t be there because I needed to train again, of course… But hopefully I will get another chance to do so...”