Part 2; In conversation with Conny Wenting: CEO of the Invictus Games, The Hague 2020

We spoke to Conny Wenting, CEO of the Invictus Games The Hague 2020 as a follow up to the article 'Let the games begin! Invictus Games 2020'. We wanted to learn more about what it took to host the Invictus Games in The Hague.

What's the story behind the scenes of organising a global sporting event in the Netherlands? And where does Conny's drive to work for sports as an enabler for positive change, rehabilitation, and healing come from?

In our two part series, we're taking a deep dive in to the Invictus Games 2022 in The Hague. Let's change the game together!

Even with all these factors working together to make this happen, did you experience any bottlenecks or bumps in the road? What were the challenges? 

Of course, there will always be challenges we had to overcome. We had a lot to pay attention to when planning. For the athletes, this event is just a part of their rehabilitation process, which starts before and continues after the event. We have to consult with their medical professionals before placing them in an environment or situation that might trigger PTSD for example. Walking into a full stadium with lights and sounds isn’t always the easiest thing for competitors. We therefore only knew late in the process how many competitors and friends and family were expected very close to the date of the event. We had to be ready to adapt and change things as we went along. 

Our competitors are differently abled and so accessibility of facilities is of paramount importance. Generally, for events like the Paralympics they leverage Olympic villages in places where these facilities exist. We had to use local hotels as we didn’t have this, which presented us with the problem of finding enough wheelchair accessible rooms. We have about 5000 hotel rooms in The Hague but the number of wheelchair accessible rooms is very limited (around 40). It’s a global challenge we need to address. 

However, the hotels that worked with us were really accommodating and committed to making the necessary changes. We worked along with them to modify facilities and make them more accessible. We added grips to walls where needed and suitable bathroom apparatus. We had to take out doors or even provide smaller wheelchairs at times. In some cases, we had to use wheelchair accessible rooms as shared shower rooms. We hardly take the time to realise these challenges if we aren't affected by such things personally. But it's important we do. This is a conversation that has larger implications and I hope that we begin to do more about it on a global scale to make the lives of differently abled people easier. 

In terms of the venue for the games, we also faced challenges in providing enough elevators and working with a space that doubles as a sports venue and also schools. Since sustainability was non-negotiable, we worked with partners to install plug sockets that rely on green energy. We had no single-use plastic cups and circular water and waste management. One of our biggest challenges was actually securing enough portable toilets that were set up with accessibility in mind. We had to bring in toilets from outside the Netherlands to meet the demand of having enough of them on site. Luckily, we had dedicated and skilled Dutch partners to solve these challenges with us. From branding to security to logistics to water to sound and lights, there was really a partner to be found for all of it. 

Moving away from the logistics and back to the community: What’s the legacy these games leave behind? 

It’s crucial that we create spaces for military service persons to have conversations in a non-combat or non-training setting. Often you hear from people in the armed services that they feel most understood by others who have also served. It’s not just the athletes but everyone involved that benefits from this.

Bringing those people together in an event like this allows a non-formal interaction that sparks conversations and friendships that last a lifetime. It allows families to connect and share experiences and information that helps them aid their loved one in the rehabilitation process. As I mentioned earlier, the Invictus Games are just part of the rehabilitation process. It's like a large gathering that brings people together and reminds everyone to keep working on it. 

And on a practical level, it was important to the Invictus foundation that we set up a blueprint for the future. To ensure the continuation of these games, what we could contribute to was an understanding of how it can be run in a smaller country: In a cost-effective way, relying on collaboration. We built things like broadcaster manuals for how it will be televised. And through creative partnerships we built an accreditation and registration tool that will be used in subsequent additions of the games and handed over the IP rights for this so it can always be used.

As for facilities, the changes we made to improve accessibility at Zuiderpark will stay. And beyond that, we worked with the Cruyff Foundation to bring sports facilities to neighbourhoods in The Hague where residents will have a place to play sports and form communities around it. 

Last but certainly not least, can you also talk to us about the ‘Yellow Bench’? And leave us with some food for thought? 

If we don’t host these games again, we need to think about what we leave behind. Therefore, I started The Yellow Bench movement. The Yellow Bench stems from this idea of thinking beyond the opening and closing ceremonies. I believe it was really important to have an empty seat at every venue including the opening and closing ceremony of course. This signifies the people who were not able to be there. The ones who are not with us and lived to serve society. 

The idea was an empty chair, which became a yellow chair, and the yellow chair became the yellow bench. Our hope is that this becomes a global symbol for bringing people together to talk about vulnerabilities. It's crucial that this is a catalyst for community building. That it stays long after the games have come to a close. We could also expand this to other service professions beyond the armed forces. The fire brigade and the police department could also be great places to expand the reach of the yellow bench. 

Imagine a world where there’s a yellow bench in every neighbourhood. And people come there to have conversations about important topics such as mental health and rehabilitation. That’s our vision with this. And I know we can make it happen with enough support from people who are as committed as we are. 

In entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, if you have anyone that's brave enough to step up and try, you can do it. We should value the entrepreneurial minds we have in the Netherlands. They are the thought-leaders we need to solve global challenges together. 

As you say, let’s change the game together! Right?