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Sovicos is a volleyball club in The Hague/Wateringen and has now reached the beautiful age of 70 years. Sovicos was created by a merger of the SVC in The Hague and Oikos/S from Wateringen. In 2002 DOS also joined Sovicos.
Most of you think it’s important to be a member of a volleyball club, not in the least due to the simple fact that volleyball clubs allow you to play this beautiful sport. Joining a club that organizes activities that color your social life as well (albeit sometimes a little bit too much) is not bad either! But no one really cares about the club stories of the past. Nevertheless, here is a very brief attempt at a sketch of the past.
In the roaring fifties, many volleyball clubs were founded in the Netherlands, either as an independent unit or as a part of a gymnastics club. The latter was the case with SVC, founded on June 1st 1950. SVC was however also related to the church. Having spiritual advisors as a General Board position was no strange phenomenon. For approximately 20 years, SVC played in an emergency church that was converted into a sports hall. Volleyball was played in dark halls with low ceilings, often without the presence of the slightest jet of water for some washing up after a game. It was usually also very difficult to get any well-deserved post-exercise golden juices flowing. Bring your own booze, that was usually the motto. This was the way things went, and still the way things were when Saturnus was founded in Wateringen in 1968.
The first big breakthrough came with the opening of the very first sports hall in The Hague: the one we still play in at the Steenwijklaan. Even Europa Cup matches were played there, back when The Hague was a big name in the field of volleyball.
Both clubs frantically searched for their own home front. SVC found that in the form of the Berekuil, while Saturnus could go to the Eendenburcht. From then on, the club started using a different name: Oikos/Saturnus.
There were many similarities between the two clubs. Lots of parties, playing on the weekends, helping out to collect extra money, and so on. And through these similarities, a very good mutual bond was formed, although we have it on good terms that that bond already existed and inspired the merger.
Nevertheless, both clubs also had the urge to perform on the courts. For various reasons, contacts were made in the early 1990s for the possible merger of the clubs. Creating better frameworks, better connections within the volleyball field, and developing a larger volleyball area in the region were the most important starting points. Ultimately, these contacts led to a merger and since 1993 we are known under the name Sovicos. DOS then joined the nicest volleyball club in The Hague in 2002.
Our home games are played on Friday nights at the sports hall HKV/Ons Eibernest at the Steenwijklaan, where we also train on Wednesdays. On Monday nights we train at the Sportcampus Zuiderpark, where we also use the indoor beach volleyball facilities on Tuesday nights. We manage our own bar at the Steenwijklaan, which is great for quickly getting to know the other members outside your own team.
If you would like more information about playing volleyball at Sovicos, you can fill out this form or send an email to informatie@sovicos.nl.