4,000children play sport with us every week
6countries
3steps, from the school day to a real club
100%of your gift goes straight to the projects
Figures from our 2025 impact report, across Argentina, Indonesia, Curaçao, Costa Rica and soon Nepal
What we do
In the neighbourhoods where we work, children often go to school for half a day. The other half they spend on the street, unsupervised. We give them somewhere to be, every week, with someone who shows up.
For some of them it stays a game. Others go on to a club, a team and a competition. Both are fine by us. Today more than 4,000 children train with us every week in Argentina, Indonesia, Curaçao, Costa Rica and Ghana, and since 2026 in Nepal as well.
DonateWhere the money goes
Nobody at the foundation draws a salary. Apart from what the bank charges us, your whole gift lands in a project.
We also tell you where it landed. Every year we publish an impact report with the numbers per country, what worked, what did not, and what we want to do next year. No glossy claims, just what we counted.
Your donation helps us improve the quality of our programmes, reach more communities and keep them running for the long term. Every contribution, big or small, helps us move forward.
How we work
From the first game at school to a place at a club. This is the programme our interns and volunteers work in, the same three stages in every country.
1Schools programme5 to 16 yearsSport during school hours, on site, often together with the teacher and our own fixed team. Pre-primary, primary and secondary.
2Community projects6 to 16 yearsOn weekdays after school anyone can simply join in, free and without signing up. On local fields, courts and in the neighbourhood, and this is where children start to choose a sport of their own.
3Clubs and pathways8 years and upWhoever wants more moves on to a club. Where there is none, we start one ourselves, so children can play matches for free.
About us
Ruben started The Power of Sports more than ten years ago with one idea: sport is the easiest way to reach a child that nobody else reaches. What began as a single project abroad now runs in five countries.
Roel, Dion and Wessel joined after seeing it work for themselves, first as volunteers and later while helping set up new projects. Nobody here is paid by the foundation. We all do this next to our own work, which is exactly why your whole gift can go to the projects.
Since 2023 the same programme has run under its own name in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom as well.
Wessel Koopmans
Chair
Dion Dieleman
Secretary and treasurer
Ruben Baarda
Founder – Member
Roel van der Cruijsen
Member
Where we work
Many children here are in school for only half a day. The rest of the day they are on the street, unsupervised. We run sport at four schools in La Matanza and Barracas, and started a club so there is somewhere to go when the lesson ends. 500 of them keep coming back, and three more schools have said yes for next year.
IndonesiaDaya Krida900 a week
Our partner schools often have no PE teacher at all, so we wrote a PE curriculum with them that meets the government requirements, and we keep a daily journal of every session. We also launched Daya Krida FC, where children play real matches without paying a fee.
NepalKhelkhud Ko UrjaNew in 2026
Our newest location, in Pokhara. We are training local coaches first, so the programme keeps running when we are not there.
CuraçaoE Poder di Deporte1,000 a week
Alongside schools and clubs we run weekly sessions at an addiction clinic, a juvenile detention centre and a youth care home. A new intern house doubled how many people we can send, and a local coordinator now runs the daily programme. The clinic goes to four days a week next year.
Costa RicaEl Poder del Deporte1,400 a week
Around Esparza we work in schools and started our own football club. We also cleared a piece of wasteland, removed the rubbish, cut the grass and put in bins, and turned it into a place where children can play safely. Our largest programme.
Get in touch with us
Want to know more? Ask a question or make a no-obligation appointment with one of our charity members
Transparency
Do not take our word for it
We publish what we count and what we spend. Everything below is the full document, straight from the foundation.
Annual report 2025The year in figures: income, spending and what it paid for.Open the PDFPolicy planWhat we set out to do, how we choose projects and how the money is governed. In English, with the Dutch original alongside.Read the policy planImpact report 2025How many children we reached per country, what worked, what did not, and our goals for 2026.Open the PDF
Stichting The Power of Sports is a registered ANBI in the Netherlands, RSIN 853166754. Gifts are tax deductible.
