In Australia, John’s priorities are his 7-year-old daughter and supporting the sport community.
Since he started coming to Australia, he was also visiting Paralympic sport events as a spectator, like athletics, swimming and wheelchair tennis. Also new sports were visit to see what it is and what John Bestebroer could do for it and learn from it. Over the years he visit several times in Melbourne, Wheelchair Aussie Rules matches.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN TENNIS
Since moving to Australia, John Bestebroer has been active yearly at the Australian Open Tennis tournament in Melbourne. As a volunteer, John Bestebroer has been a Customer Experience Ambassador for three weeks since 2021. Helping and assisting visitors at the tennis park is the priority, but John also shares various experiences with the organisation where, according to him, improvements are needed, something the organisation always appreciates.
Volleyball
Directly after he received his Australian Visa and could stay longer in Australia with his family, he was searching for a volleyball club to start as a coach. He hadn't done that before because he couldn't commit to a team to be there for the entire season. From 2021 untill 2024 he was coaching different teams at different levels with Renegades Melbourne University Volleyball club. John was also training different teams (youth and adults) for the Club Western Region Volleyball in 2024.
In 2022 and 2023 he was the coach of the Victoria Youth state team, Boys under 16 years.
In 2022 he was the assistent coach of the Melbourne Vipers men's team in the Australian volleyball league.
Since two years he is coaching the Volleyball team 1 of St. Kevin's College in Melbourne.
Beach Paravolley
In 2021 he came in contact with one of the players of the Australian Beach Paravolley team and John Bestebroer understood that the attention and involvement for Beach paravolley were currently limited.
During a family weekend in Canberra in 2022 he visited the friday training of the Australian men's beach Paravolley team and saw that the players were not having a separate trainer. John offert to help on Saterday and Sunday ( after commitment from his wife and daughter).
In 2024 the Australian National Beach Paravolley team were participating in the first World Championship in China and were preparing in Melbourne. John Bestebroer was again supporting the team during training sessions before the team went off to China.
Sitting Volleyball
In 2021, John Bestebroer began introducing sitting volleyball to Volleyball Victoria. Several video calls were held with Volleyball Victoria, but also in the presence of Volleyball Australia and Paralympic Australia.
John Bestebroer has played an active role in the promotion and development of sitting volleyball in Australia in 2021. Through presentations and lobbying, John has helped to increase awareness and support for the sport, thereby increasing its presence and visibility within the Australian Paralympic and sporting community.
Since the awarding of the Games to Brisbane 2032, Volleyball Australia has started to position itself more as an organiser.
Dutch Community in Melbourne
Due to his Dutch background, John Bestebroer is also very active in the Dutch community in Melbourne. By organizing different events and his membership of the Dutch club in Carnegie, contacts are made among each other and the Dutch culture remains visible.
