By Serge Spoelstra, student International Master of Sport Management 2009/2010

For the International Master of Sport Management 09/10 group, the beginning of the new decade started in a pretty good manner: the annual study trip to Barcelona. For most of the students, getting to Barcelona was quite a challenge since severe snow storm congested most of Holland, well the road to Schiphol Airport anyway.

When the group was complete Thursday at noon, Program Coordinator Jack gave the troops a small briefing about the program of the day. We started with a very interesting site visit of CAR, the Centre Alt Rendiment Sant Cugat. We were given a presentation by Jorge, the General Manager, who was assisted by one of the athletes. The CAR can best be described as a Catalan version of Papendal, only privately owned. After the presentation we were given a tour through the venues in the best Dutch weather possible: a downpoor. Thanks for making us feel at home.

After the visit of the CAR, it was time to travel to Johan Cruyff Institute HQ, where we were welcomed by a light lunch and the ever inspiring Mr. Beane. After lunch, we were introduced to Mr. David Hildago, who talked with us about Grand Valira, a ski resort in Andorra. Very interesting, a very good example of experience marketing.

Friday we were in Johan Cruyff Institute HQ, where we were given a brilliant presentation by Mr. Valenti Giro, who was member of a Catalan Expedition who climbed the K2 and sadly lost one of their team members in descent. A very inspiring presentation about commitment, focus, leadership en trust. After lunch, the floor was Mr. Wim de Wit’s. He combined a group assignment with a video of FC Barcelona.

Saturday started at the Palau Saint Jordi, the indoor sporting arena and multi-purpose facility. We were give a presentation about the use of the facilities, and after that we were given a tour through the Olympic Stadium, the pool, Palau Saint Jordi and the Olympic Museum. All great to see! We were given the afternoon off, and gathered in the hotel lobby at 7.30 to take the metro to enjoy the basketball game between Juventut Badalona and Sevilla.. What a fantastic atmosphere and a fantastic game featuring Dutchmen Henk Norel. Juventut supporters must have been wondering where all those crazy Dutch people came from.

Sunday Morning was Wim de Wit time. After a small presentation Wim led us all outside for a group dynamic exercise: running around whilst throwing balls at each other . Whether it was a lack of sleep or something else, but this exercise proved to be quite difficult for us. Having fled inside, we were given exercises about trust. These exercises were about throwing and catching classmates and preventing them from falling. A bit scary in the beginning, but it turned out to be great fun!

And so ended the MISM trip to Barcelona. It was great fun, we had some good and valuable sessions at the Institute and other venues. On behalf of the MISM group I would like to thank everybody who was involved in organizing this fantastic trip.