Mens sana in corpore sano - Sport and leisure at work

In the spring of 1973, NATO opened the Staff Centre accommodating sporting and leisure facilities for NATO employees and families to enjoy during and after work as well as in the holidays.

The idea of a Staff Centre emerged due to the distant location of the HQs from any kind of sporting facilities, and thanks to a staff eager to become more active during the working hours. Since the move of the HQs from Paris to Brussels, the Ambassadors Lounge was used as a leisure hall, where staff would play card-games and ping-pong during the lunch-break, but no real sporting facilities existed.

With a very supportive Secretary General, Joseph Luns, this was immediately taken into consideration and soon the planning of the construction of a centre for the staff began.

On the opening day of the Staff Centre, all NATO staff, spouses and children were invited to admire and enjoy the new facilities. Among the planned activities for this day, was an air show with two Piper L-18C Super Cubs flown by the Belgian Air Force. The planes flew over NATOs ground under the admiration of the many spectators. These two planes are still active in Belgium today.

Since there was already a greatly used football pitch before the construction of the Staff Centre, a football game was arranged between two teams of NATO staff with wives and children as an audience. Have a look at this front-row spectator next to the goal, eager to cheer on dad’s team!

Along with the football game, some of NATOs equestrians had arranged for horses from the Belgian Military Barracks to be part of the opening day, and set up temporary military obstacles on the neighbouring ground (where KPMG is situated today) so NATO staff could race over them. On this picture you get a glimpse of the newly-built tennis “bubble” for the indoor courts in the background.

Meanwhile, inside the Staff Centre in the restaurant area, a fashion show took place along with a demonstration of the Judo club. This was followed by a fencing demonstration – taking place in the restaurant too!

Secretary General Luns was a big supporter of the Staff Centre, believing strongly that the community spirit it would foster would improve NATO as a whole. He took advantage of the new facilities, taking a hand in ping pong, tennis and even swimming.