Let the games begin!

-Anita Yehudai

Every year in May more than 1000 students from European business schools travel to the HEC campus close to Paris to compete in various sports. This year 2 bus loads of students, partners and kids from IMD made there way to this event called MBAT (MBA Tournament). Some of the participating teams had been practising for weeks or months- basically whenever there was a bit of leisure time during the tight schedule. For instance, the soccer team met every Sunday morning, the rowing team met on a few Saturdays, some people worked on their badminton skills on Friday evening, others met for a volleyball session, and there were loads of table tennis exercises every day after lunch. Regardless of the level of preparation, all teams had two things in common: the Olympic spirit from living in Lausanne (where the IOC is located) and tons of good mood.

The IMD partners probably presented the biggest group of MBA partners at MBAT and we made sure we got involved by either competing in a sport, cheering enthusiastically or doing both. I had the pleasure to play table tennis and pull the rope during the tug-of-war. Both teams were great!

In fact, the whole IMD crowd was so actively cheering and celebrating, we must have left a memorable image behind. As a result, we won a special award at the end of the games for fair play and team spirit!  

Here are some pictures of us partners and kids in action:

Beate [Germany] and the ultimate frisbee team

Swati [India] on the BabyFoot

Elena [Russia], Angelika [Greece], Anita [Germany] and Khatera [Germany] during the lunch break

Masha [Russia] practising for the MBAT 2035 

Helen [Norway] getting ready for the climbing competition

The cricket team before their match posing with Kate [Australia] and Mahima [India]

Nathalie [Belgium] explaining the rules of ultimate frisbee

Me with the table tennis maniacs

Beate[Germany] during a volleyball match

Mahima [India] and the other fans were cheering at the football match… 

…and even kept their enthusiasm when it started raining 

David [Peru/USA] and his dad watching… 

…Angela [USA] on the frisbee field 

Angie[Greece] while documenting the tug-of-war final…

...in which we won the gold medal! Yippie!