By Tamar Bot
— On Saturday April 16th, AUC won the sixth edition of the annual University College Student Representatives Netherlands (UCSRN) Tournament, previously known as the Inter-UC. Students from eight Dutch University Colleges participated in sports, performances, and miscellaneous activities such as painting and chess to compete for the UCSRN trophy. AUC won the overall tournament with a final score of 99 points, 6 points ahead of runner-up University College Utrecht (UCU).
The tournament was held at the UCU campus. Students from AUC, UCU, Erasmus University College (EUC), Leiden University College (LUC), University College Maastricht (UCM), University College Roosevelt (UCR), University College Groningen (UCG) and University College Twente (UCT) battled from 11:00 until about 23:00. It was the first time students from UCG and UCT participated in the tournament. Because of the small size of their schools, they competed as a joint team.
The AUCSA Board brought in the UCSRN trophy in a cabrio during the opening ceremony at 11:00 am, only to get a hold of it again about 12 hours later. AUC’s mascot, AUCharizard, attended the UCSRN tournament for the second time, and cheered on the sidelines of various matches. His feet and head were stolen by students from other UCs multiple times, but third-year student Hidde Boonstra managed to retrieve his upper part at night and AUCharizard safely returned to Science Park.
AUC did not get first place in the majority of the competitions. From all the sports categories, AUC only came in first in both running competitions (5 km + relay). It still won the overall tournament, because of its steady performance throughout. In sports, AUC was the runner-up for basketball, both football competitions (male + female), table tennis and volleyball.
AUC did slightly better in the Creative and Intellectual Activities (CIA) and the performance categories. The dancing crew “SlayUC” won the dance competition, and AUC also scored first in debating and the Beer Olympics. The latter category closed off the tournament and hence was the deciding factor.
The victory came as a surprise “because the organization hid the results at the beginning of the evening,” said Jan Willem Bruggeman, one of the AUCaptains of the UCSRN team. “By that time, UCU was still leading, so it was not only exciting but also surprising to hear we did so well!”
The UCSRN is the biggest of the few events in which students from different Dutch UCs come together. Many students who weren’t participating came along to support the participants. Members from UCM’s student association Universalis even livestreamed parts of the event on their Facebook page. “We filmed some action moments and results moments for students who couldn’t attend the actual event,” said Sebastiaan Olislagers, one of the UCM students in charge of the livestream. The day ended with a closing party for all participants in the UCSA bar.
This year’s edition was also marked by the introduction of two new competitions: baking and poetry slam.
The baking competition took place in one of the rooms of the dining hall, where participants from all the UCs gathered to create their edible masterpieces. A mystery ingredient which had to be incorporated into the dessert was revealed to all the teams. This year the ingredient was coffee. Teams had ample time in advance to figure out how to adjust their recipes accordingly. AUC’s competitors Steef van den Einden and Anouska Meutstege were in high spirits as they prepared their three layer mocha cake, a recipe they put together ten days in advance and had already tested.
The other teams’ desserts ranged from cheesecakes and fruitcakes to intricate, chocolate creations that included surprising ingredients such as chilli and pears. Contestants had roughly two and a half hours to complete their desserts, before they were judged based on taste and presentation. AUC came in third in the challenge, behind EUC and UCU.
This year was the second time the tournament included a League of Legends competition, and it proved to be a worthwhile addition. The game between AUC and UCR even got media attention from national broadcasting organization NOS in an item on Saturday night’s prime time news.
It is the first time AUC won the UCSRN trophy in an away game: last year, when the tournament was held at its own Science Park campus was the first time AUC won at all. The first four editions were all won by UCU. The time and location of next year’s tournament have not been announced yet.
Additional reporting by Ivana Solar and Anastasia Yakunina.
The feature photo of this article was taken by Marianne Lesigne.
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