St. Maarten Sports Federation to host workshop on supporting sport talent and the environment shaping young athletes

GREAT BAY--The St. Maarten Sports Federation will host a public workshop titled “Supporting Sport Talent: How the environment shapes young athletes” on Friday, January 23, 2026, featuring Maaike Heerschop of the Mulier Institute. The session runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Foresee Foundation office, A.T. Illidge Road 60, Unit 1.1.

The workshop will explore how the environments around young athletes shape development, performance, and long-term participation in sport. This workshop explores how nutrition, sleep, daily movement, school balance, and overall environment play a vital role in healthy and sustainable athlete development, beyond training alone.

Heerschop is trained as a health scientist and movement scientist, and works at the Mulier Institute as a junior researcher in elite sports and health. After completing a bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences, she pursued a master’s degree in Human Movement Sciences to deepen her scientific focus on sport. Her academic work has included research on exercise interventions for patients receiving chemotherapy, as well as research into behavior and communication among players in professional football.

Heerschop’s work is grounded in the belief that sport and movement play a key role in building healthier communities. She is also active in sport herself and has long experience guiding others, having worked for many years as a hockey coach and trainer.

The featured institution, the Mulier Institute, is a scientific research agency that focuses on sport and exercise. With its research and expertise, the institute contributes to well-founded policy aimed at promoting sport, sport participation, and strengthening the sports sector. The institute is named after Pim Mulier (1865–1954), a pioneer of organized sport in the Netherlands.

The Mulier Institute has also researched the lifestyle behaviors of children aged 4 to 12 on St. Maarten, in support of school-based health programs aimed at preventing overweight and obesity. Sixteen primary schools were included in the study. Using a questionnaire distributed to parents, with a 47% response rate and 1,873 responses, the research examined sleep, nutrition, oral hygiene, exercise, screen time, and school health.

Registration is available via the QR code on the event flyer. The workshop is presented in collaboration with partners including Foresee (4C) Foundation, EGO, Mulier Institute, and NPower.

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