The teams played a tournament at the VU Sportcentrum at Uilenstede. After the matches the third year’s team won, with the first year’s team as a runner up. The second year’s team ended as third place and the staff team last.
We interviewed Baris to find out more about the idea behind the tournament and his future plans for the PPE community:
What was your idea behind the football tournament?
I have always had the feeling that students and staff at the fourth floor would like to spend more time with each other outside of the university, so I organised the tournament. It was also a good opportunity for the relatives of staff to get an idea of the PPE students and vice versa.
What do you think is the value of organising events for students and staff to connect outside of the college?
We are always talking about the soul of the fourth floor, and we say that we are a bit different from other institutions. Events like this improve my ability to empathise with our students. When I, for example, write a reference letter for a student, I really wonder what a student will do in the future, and when they get accepted, I am genuinely happy for them. You cannot separate the way we do things from the outcome.
Do you have a background in football?
Not really. I did not have an internet connection until the age of 10, so when I was a child and had nothing to do, my parents told me to play in the street. So you could say I played football on the streets of Istanbul. But it‘s not like kids from the Brazilian favelas, I (sadly) did not play with future world stars. I also never played for a club.
How did you like it?
I liked it a lot. It was an experiment and I was very nervous about it, but it seemed like everyone enjoyed it. It was also competitive enough that it was not boring. As an improvement for the next sports day we should organise a social gathering after the game.
Why do you think the staff team lost?
One problem was fitness. Us JuDos need to go to the gym more often. Another factor was that we had never played as a team before, unlike some of the student teams, who had been playing together in the university league for quite some time. Lastly, I want to make a remark on the gender mix rule. I really wanted to make this tournament as inclusive as possible, so I made a rule that all teams should have at least one female player. Sadly, the second and third year teams violated this rule. In the end, all teams were fine with playing anyways, but that is something I want to improve for the future.
Will you repeat this? What are the plans for the future?
Yes, I want to expand the PPE sports day. My next aim is to use the university facilities for a beach volleyball tournament in the following months. Other options are hockey or volleyball, basically anything we can play at Uilenstede.