Jims Gym and the Power of Community

As long as Jim can think, training has been big part of what has shaped him as a person. When Jim was little, he started doing track and field and began to excel at it. Eventually after being a decathlete, he found his passion for throwing. He tells me that strength and explosive power coupled with the efficient technique is the thing about throwing he is most fascinated with. “It’s not about the act of overpowering someone, it’s about the sheer life force you feel by overpowering your current point of reference by growing into a stronger one”, he explains. Strength is a transformative tool for Jim, and transformation is really what the story of Jim’s Gym is about. 

Jim lives at Startblok initiative, an increasingly popular housing model that is working in collaboration with partners such as the Gemeente Amsterdam and VluchtelingenWerk Nederland: The housing projects are made up out of half Dutch residents under the age of 28 and half refugee status renters. In this way, the project attempts to kill two birds with one stone: on the one hand, refugees have a chance to integrate with the Dutch culture, benefit from the social structure and learn the language. Meanwhile, Dutch youth have access to cheaper accommodation, which they are in dire need of during the current housing crisis. Whilst this initiative is one to promote and has plenty of potential for the future, it comes with problems that no one living in these houses is really equipped to handle. The renters who had to flee from their respective countries have to deal with a lot of trauma that is for the most part, unimaginable for us, and have a lot on their plate. Some of them will inevitably go through periods in their life that are marked by adversity and mental health issues. Some of the Dutch students feel left alone with this huge responsibility, and do not feel that they are equipped for nor have access to resources that could help with the issues they are faced with at home. 

Jim, inspired by his ‘anything is possible as long as you do it’ mentality wanted to do something meaningful for the immediate community he lives in. After a while he noticed that the common rooms in the project, were either standing empty, or were filled with garbage. Jim’s Gym started with a simple act: putting a few gym machines in one designated part of the common room. A simple act quickly transformed into a little micro universe. People who were struggling before, were now training with Jim. Sometimes, you could have good conversations and share food after a workout. And sometimes you just train with each other. No matter how small the activity itself, Jim’s Gym quickly became a meeting spot for neighbors, to spend time together and to create a sense of a shared everyday life, turning into a real community project, with a focus on personal development. In attempts varying in intensity, all of this is done, whilst they would improve their general health. 
“That’s the thing with sports”, Jim notes. “It can completely change your mindset and point of reference. When you push your body to limits and create new ones, you start to see that over time, this is also possible with mental struggles you might have, and you will possibly get very motivated and strong.” 

In Jim’s and the gym user’s perspective, they use a space, which they pay rent for, a legitimate use. They made use of their private space for something that has not only the potential to really work out in the resident’s benefit, but to become a concept that can be used in other extraordinary living spaces. But as per usual, Jim’s Gym is dealing with the potential threat of being removed soon for the usual reasons, such as noise, even though the gym isn’t used during resting hours. It seems like this is the endless story of how things go in Amsterdam nowadays: a meaningless and unused space is discovered and made use of; in turn results in a feeling of community and then gets shut down under the guise of order. But what is the use of order when we notice that we have less and less space to take care of our community? Who decides how space is used, what counts as the public and private sphere?

It’s important to Jim that the reader gets a sense of all the positivity this story has created, not the fact that his gym is facing the threat of eviction

In the true style of a motivational coach, it’s important to Jim that the reader gets a sense of all the positivity this story has created, not the fact that his gym is facing the threat of eviction. The gym users are feeling more hopeful since AT5 did a story on the gym. One of Jim’s mottos in life is: “Before you try to solve the big societal issues, look around. How is your neighborhood doing? Always start with your immediate surroundings and observe how it goes from there”. And indeed, a simple change has completely transformed Jim and his neighbors experience. A gym machine in a common room can turn into weekly workout, and in turn into a community, and one day maybe a proper communal neighborhood gym, that is accessible to people from all backgrounds. 
Jim is convinced. It’s the little everyday ideas that end up really making a difference. He hopes that all of his efforts won’t go to waste and in a few months the gym is just a room again, that maybe someone else will end up being inspired by this story, do something nice in their neighborhood, and bring people together, that would usually not have met.