On Saturday, the 27th of November, Lund’s Nation Championship was held, where some of Lund’s student nations were competing against each other in football, floorball, and volleyball. Lundagård visited the event to feel see how the participants felt.
Some were hoping to earn the glory of winning the tournament, while some were competing for the fun of it or because their friends were there to play their favorite sport in a stadium with many others. Either way, there seem to have been an agreement about the surprisingly large scale of the event, which certainly added to the fun, as well as about the feeling of reprieve after these long years spent with the Covid-19 restrictions.
Adam, the organizer of the event and sportförman of Lund Nation, was delighted to share with us that this was the biggest tournament in recent times. “This is my first time organizing a tournament this big, I organized all kinds of small tournaments, but nothing this big”, he told Lundagård.
He emphasized that despite a few difficulties, the tournament ended up working spectacularly, with more than a hundred players taking part, alongside numerous nations. Shortly after our discussion, he ran off to be the referee of the next floorball match, showcasing a stunning skill in multitasking.
Anna, an exchange student, and member of Kalmar Nation was playing for the joint team of Kalmar and Wermlands. She pointed out that her home university did not have events of this scale, especially when it comes to sports. While she was relatively inexperienced when it comes to floorball, she emphasized that for her, the communal aspects and the excitement of the competition were more important than winning the tournament. Regardless, Anna certainly put a great effort into this tournament, because right after a floorball match, she admitted that:
“I already played soccer, that’s fun as well. We switch teams as we are not a lot of people, so we played three floorball matches and two or three soccer matches.”
Filipp, representing Västgöta nation but originally part of Kristianstad nation, came from a rather different background. He played floorball regularly in Austria, where he comes from, and was delighted to be able to test his skill in a tournament of this scale. Filipp and his team played their floorball games quite convincingly, and after the preceding match, they were going up to the floorball finals. Filipp stressed that his motivation was specifically to play floorball, a sport with which he likes for its accessibility, and strong teamplay elements.
“It is a cool team sport, as you can see on the other field, it is even interesting for old people to play [pointing at the other field occupied by a group of older people playing floorball, independent of the championship]. I was never a good ice skater, but I was always interested in hockey, so this is the perfect team sport for me.”, Filipp said during the interview.
Alex “Messi” and Sara represented Sydskånska; specifically their football team. During a break, they caught Lundagård’s Cecilia Muszta, asking her to take a photo of them and their team. Sara is the coach of the team, while Alex, according to himself, elevates the playing quality by playing like Messi. Sydskånska has a regular football team of roughly eighteen people, who plays together every Sunday. When asked about the teams’ motivation to play at this tournament, Sara expressed that they wanted “everyone to feel happy, and to have a sport where they can feel at home. Because school is too much, and sometimes it is nice to just relax, have fun and play football!”
Albin, from Blekingska Nation, had somewhat similar motivations. He’s played floorball for “all his life”, and thus, had a lot of experience of the sport. According to him, he tried to prove that Blekingska is, indeed, a sports nation, no matter what others think. Before the finals with his floorball team, Albin concluded that “(after this event) we are a floorball nation.” But ultimately, his motivation was to have fun.
Motivations and background varied among the players, but, in the end, joy was the goal of the event, and the atmosphere spoke of it. The championship ended in three finals, about which you can read on lundagard.se here (in Swedish).
