Telecom & ICT services provider KPN and multiple Olympic speed skating champion Sven Kramer have teamed up to develop a hyper-modern version of the traditional chair used by so many Dutch children in the past when first learning to skate. The innovative white high-tech skating chair with green handles was developed specifically as a learning tool on the ice and is being officially launched today. A study carried out under almost 1000 parents with kids between the ages of 4 and 12 made it clear that such a tool was really needed. In fact, one out of every three children in this age group does not know how to skate.

The newly developed smart chair has numerous sensors that serve to detect whether the person learning to skate is properly balanced, and the specially designed chair feet ensure that he or she cannot end up with their skates trapped behind the chair. Via the built-in loudspeaker, Dutch speed skating champion Sven Kramer gives technical tips that help make the first foray onto the ice easier and more fun.

The best skatersBR> 'By encouraging kids to get out and start skating, we are making it more likely that a successor to Sven Kramer will be discovered in the Netherlands', explains Mark Versteegen, director of sponsoring for KPN. 'The Dutch are the best speed skaters in the world, and we hope that will remain so for a long time to come. As the main sponsor of the KNSB (Royal Dutch Skating Federation), we also aim to encourage the little ones to get out and learn to skate.'

Sven Kramer: 'Due to the mild winters, fewer kids are learning to skate outdoors on a frozen canal behind a kitchen chair. This innovative smart chair now makes it easier and more fun for these kids to get outside and learn to skate. I'm happy to play a part in encouraging more young children to learn how to skate, and hopefully this new smart chair will help the champion of the future in taking his or her first steps on the ice.'

Skating nationBR> The Netherlands has always been a nation of skaters. Everybody does it, and each winter we're always hoping and waiting for the canals and lakes to freeze over. Most of us first started skating behind a kitchen chair, taking some bumps and bruises, on a nearby frozen canal or the local ice rink. It was part of growing up as a kid in the Netherlands. The main reason why KPN decided to sponsor the development of this new high-tech skating chair was to encourage Dutch kids, from the earliest possible age, to go out and learn to skate.

The study commissioned by KPN concluded that more than 80% of parents can skate and that 81% of them learned it on outdoor ice. But only 69% of their kids between 4 and 12 years old know how to skate, and only 40% of these kids learned how to skate on outdoor ice. The simple kitchen chair was used by almost half of the parents as well as the children as a support when learning how to skate. Ice-skating rinks are also quite popular with the kids, with 40% of them having skated on artificial ice in the last six months.

KPN has been a major sponsor of skating in the Netherlands for eight years now, and it intends to continue doing so after the coming Olympics. By sponsoring the Olympic Games in PyeongChang,BR> KPN is also catering to the needs of hundreds of thousands of skating enthusiasts in the Netherlands. Roughly 800,000 skaters make use of temporary ice rinks each year, including about 150,000 schoolchildren. This, of course, is very much in line with the ambition of KPN and the KNSB skating federation to ensure that all kids have skated at least once before entering secondary school.

About KPNBR> KPN is the leading provider of telecom and ICT services in the Netherlands, offering consumers fixed as well as mobile telephone services, Internet, and TV. For commercial clients, KPN also supplies fully managed telecom and ICT solutions. Via iBasis, KPN manages a highly efficient and IP-based infrastructure with which it offers wholesale network services to other operators all over the world.

Koninklijke KPN NV published this content on 18 January 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 18 January 2018 09:24:09 UTC.

Original documenthttps://overons.kpn/en/news/2018/high-tech-skating-chair-gets-dutch-kids-out-onto-the-ice

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