Panache Tournament
The weekend of the 29th of February a large group of USSR players traveled all the way to the other technical university of the country to play the Panache tournament. This tournament is spread out over two days and people from the whole country travel to Eindhoven to participate. In this story you will read how the players of USSR experienced the tournament and if they were able to take one of the prizes.
Day one:
The first day begun very early as the first matches were scheduled to start at 9 o’clock in Eindhoven. Therefore some players took the train as early as 6:40, but even though it was early, the mood was good and the spirits were high. When passing Rotterdam Centraal and Annabel one of the theme songs for the weekend was already determined. On Saturday a lot of matches were played in three different halls leading to a lot of searching where the court you were supposed to play in actually was. Being with such a big group of USSR members was really nice as there was always someone behind the court to support you. The opponents came from a lot of different places in the country and six universities were represented, TU Twente (DIOK), Utrecht University (Helios), Radboud University (Stuban), Tilburg University (Sauron) and of course TU Eindhoven (Panache).
“Being with such a big group of USSR members was really nice as there was always someone behind the court to support you. “
After the matches of the Saturday were played it was time to shower, install our sleeping places and go to the organized dinner at Demos. However, before leaving the first emergency had to be solved, being the after shower gel-less hair. Walking towards the city center to get dinner some people drank some ‘fanta’ which they could enjoy again later in the evening. The dinner was a nice place to talk with friends from the past and people from different associations. The food consisted of some (partially uncooked) pasta and stokbrood, which was okay.
Dinner was followed by the traditional party in the basement of Demos so it was time to let the beer and Apfelkorn flow, also in the faces of some people. The party was a lot of fun, but in the end, everyone was able to find the way back to the sports hall, some with a little help from the others. After being held away from sleeping by Yorrick, some people playing badminton in the dark or tackling practice, everyone got to his bed to fall asleep, except Kevin, who didn’t have a bed and spent his night in the changing rooms on the floor.
“Everyone got to his bed to fall asleep, except for Kevin, who didn’t have a bed and spent his night in the changing rooms on the floor. “
Day two:
Day two started off in bed, tired, gekeerd, hungover, and without the will to get up for some of the people. And for some people it stayed like this for a relatively long time. Others however had to get up, eat some Liga’s get changed and onto the court to play badminton again. In the end USSR was able to win one category being the women’s double 7, which was played by Dian and Irene. In the men’s double Nick and Lyndon became second. Rajeev also had the chance to win a price, but he lost of a ten year old child in the semi-finals. The prize ceremony, which we almost missed because PSV-Feyenoord seemed more important, presented the winners with some orange monkeys and marked the end of the tournament.
The only thing which rested, was the long and tiring journey back to Delft. But even in this journey a competitive element was introduced as it became a match between car and train, who would be faster? In the end the car turned out to be 10 minutes quicker. The train was a lot of fun though as Yorrick and Lyndon were abruptly woken up from their sleep by a train guard who wanted to check their tickets. The look on their faces when being awoken was one to never forget. An even better facial expression followed when the guy told Yorrick jokingly that he had forgotten to check-in. To close-off a small delegation of USSR had a dinner at Pavarotti in Delft were some fun games were played leading to Lyndon crying of laughter. We hope that everyone who joined the tournament had a lot of fun, and that this story inspires the rest of the members to join as well in upcoming tournaments.
Written by: Mathijs Stratermans & Nick Ebben
