André Kamperveen

Club career

MVV

Kamperveen joined the military club MVV during his service, competing in the Hoofdklasse, the top flight of football in Suriname. He was a crowd favorite, scoring many goals and helping MVV to win a national championship in 1948.

Paysandu SC

In 1950, he joined Paysandu Sport Club from Belém, Brazil where he signed on a 1-year contract. He became the first professional football player from Suriname, joining a club that was used to winning, this proved to be a big change for Kamperveen, where he learned Brazilian Portuguese in order to communicate with his teammates. In December 1952 a Caribbean All-Stars team came to Suriname to play exhibition matches at the Cultuurtuinlaan. Kamperveen was called up to play for the Caribbean All-Star team together with Michel Kruin and Humphrey Mijnals from Suriname. He scored two goals in the opening match for the Caribbean All-Stars against the Suriname national team in a 2–2 draw. Two more matches were played against the national team, which ended in a draw and a loss for the All-Stars, while two additional matches played were lost to S.V. Robinhood and S.V. Voorwaarts. It is worth mentioning that Kamperveen had already played for the Suriname national team prior to being called up for the Caribbean regional team.

HFC Haarlem

In 1954, Kamperveen relocated to the Netherlands to study at the CIOS in Overveen. Aside from football he took classes in boxing, judo, jiu-jitsu and…

Kamperveen played many sports apart from football. Basketball was one of his favorites, having joined the basketball team of the Surinamese military after enlisting. Basketball had arrived in Suriname in 1941 when the U.S. military arrived on November 24th. Games were organized between teams of the battalions of both militaries and local community teams. The local basketball teams 'Surinam' and 'Chung Fa Foei Kon', a Chinese basketball club from Suriname and one of the strongest in the sports national history, were among the first teams to register in the country. Kamperveen played point guard for the basketball team of the Nationaal Leger. The Surinamese Basketball Association was founded in 1947 with Kamperveen competing in the first official season. Kamperveen also played for the Suriname national basketball team at the same time that he was playing for the national football team. 29 November 1957 was the first time the national basketball team played inside an arena. The game was between the national teams of Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Kamperveen officiated the game which ended in an 81–78 loss to Trinidad and Tobago for Suriname.

Kamperveen became the first black belt in the history of judo in Suriname. While studying in the Netherlands at CIOS, Kamperveen took up judo graduating to 2nd dan in 1957. On 3 May 1957 Kamperveen opened the first dojo in Paramaribo, known as Kodokan on the Mgr. Wulfingstraat. Named after the original Kodokan in Tokyo, Japan, the Kodokan dojo is of great importance to the development of the practice in Suriname, organizing the first tournaments, it is the dojo where judoka Eddy Murray was given his first belts. Murray would go on to play a much bigger role in the Sport. In 1964, Kamperveen made an attempt at founding the first national judo/jiu-jitsu association in Suriname. Although the attempt failed it did serve to further promote judo in the outlying districts of Suriname. That year he graduated judoka in Nieuw Nickerie during half time of a football match as manager of S.V. Transvaal. In 1968, he founded the Surinamese Judo Association, becoming the first chairman of the organization.

Known as "Suriname's Man of the People", Kamperveen or 'Ampie' as he was more commonly called was born 27 September 1924 in Paramaribo, Surinam. Having pursued athletics, basketball, boxing and judo, football was his first love and the sport he was best at. He started playing as an 11-year-old on the Dr. Sophie Redmond Straat and signs of potential were noticeable at an early age. In 1942 he was called up for military service at the age of 18.