This highly attractive sports event manages to bring everyone together, regardless of their gender, major, age or academic year.
Jacobs Games 2019
At Jacobs University we have four different residential colleges: Krupp, which is represented by the colour red; Mercator College, represented by blue; Nordmetall, with the colour yellow; and College III in green. All colleges compete against each other in a variety of sports activities ranging from direct team sports such as Football, Basketball, Volleyball, Cricket and Rowing, all the way to E-Games, Cheerleading, Tug-of-War and Fun Relays. Every college is highly challenged and motivated in order to take the trophy back to their residence, and this event fosters unity and college spirit as motivation. This creates an atmosphere full of excitement and euphoria. Four different mascots, four different chants, painted T-shirts in your respective college’s colour lead the emotional vibrancy. It is a week of intense practices, especially cheerleading, which requires creative leaders and thinkers; the choreographies must be thoroughly thought out, suitable songs must be chosen and students must be trained. The cheerleading training happens every day in the evening from 9pm- 12am one week prior to the games. Such training intensity requires a lot of commitment, college spirit and enthusiasm, which all students are willing to contribute. A few days before the actual event, everyone meets in their respective college. This is a perfect opportunity to get to know new people, paint your own T-shirts and sing along to your college chants. Snacks, drinks and good music contribute to making the event and the atmosphere even better.
The actual events take place on Friday and Saturday that week, where one of the highlights is gathering at the Campus Cinema. Every college meets in their servery and gets hyped and energized with drums, war paint on their faces and is ready to sing, compete and have plenty of fun! When all participants and supporters from each college have gathered, everyone marches in the direction of the Cinema theater, which is a 5-minute walking distance, and there everyone sits closely with their college residents. The atmosphere is heated, the rules and procedures are explained by the main organizers of the event and finally, fun-games between the colleges begin. After the ceremony ends, everyone reunites and celebrates the start of the event at our campus bar. The next day all different sports activities take place one after the other from early in the morning all the way to the evening, with several students watching and supporting the different teams and games. Finally, on Saturday evening everyone gathers in the sports and convention center and with the final performance of the different cheerleading teams, the winner will be announced.
Jacobs Games 2019
Jacobs Games 2019 was a particularly exceptional experience! The thrill, adrenaline and anticipation before and after every game and event filled each and every supporter with strong spirit and a sense of achievement and accomplishment, regardless of the results. This time around, with the participation of the freshies, there was a high inclusion of everyone, irrespective of gender, year of study and skill in each event. Although each college strived to win, the entire event was an opportunity to get to know and work with new people, get active, have fun and overall get involved! This year, the trophy was awarded to both C3 and Mercator, which tied on the scoreboard. As I mentioned, the anticipation leading up to the announcement of results at the final event (Cheerleading) was strong, and in the end every college as well as each individual participant, supporter or player, was not only proud of themselves, but also of others. I think this serves of great importance when you realize that you live on a campus with so many people you get to call a family!
It is a weekend filled with emotions and traditions that have belonged to Jacobs University since it’s very first year. It brings new friendships and the feeling of home in your college, as well as with each other. Jacobs Games is one of our yearly events that really allows for a home away from home.
By Emilia Ergin (Germany), and Larissa Massamby (Mozambique) | Class of 2021
