Joseph O'Brien

ISBT Norway

Yuppppp, I’m goin’ to Norway in August!!

Me, Mr. Kinsella and a few other from UCC Badminton club are heading to Oslo for the 17th Anual International Student Badminton Tournament (ISBT).

Heres some more info on what exactly an ISBT involves!!

International Student Badminton Tournament (ISBT) is a badminton tournament organised for students, by students. They take place all over Europe, including England, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Norway and Russia. ISBT’s promote both the sport of badminton and the social aspect of the game.

ISBT’s are open to all standards of player. Many of the tournaments allow recent graduates to enter under their former clubs. The players are divided into 4 categoriesEach player competes in two out of the three disciplines: singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Each match consists of 2 games, so that the result is either a win, loss or draw.

The tournaments are usually 3 to 4 days long and consist of playing badminton during the day and partying at night. Competitors often sleep in the same sports hall where the matches are played and are typically woken up in the morning to the sound of themed music and announcements of the first match of the day. A good example of such a wake up song is ‘Gutenmorgen Sonnenschein’ by Nina Miskouri. In the event that a player does not turn up for a match, their opponent will receive a walk-over and full points. ISBTs are usually themed, with a fancy dress party on the last night.

ISBT’s have grown rapidly in popularity over the last few years. One of the biggest ISBT of the year takes place from the December 28 to January 1 in Enschede, Netherlands; in 2008 over 240 players from all over Europe entered.

Source: Wikipedia

After playing in the ISBT Limerick before and having a bit of success (even tho I was more than tipsy the night before ), I definetly cant wait for Norway!

ISBT’s are great fun and you meet all kinds of strange people, sleep most of the day, stay up most of the night and bring loads of sweeties to eat while yer waiting around. I bet Norweigan people are really strange! :p

This years theme is “Las Vegas”. Ah yes. I can wear a glitzy little number

Check out some of the pictures from last year