Van Lint Week 2025 took place from 15th to 18th of december at the Student Sports Centre in Eindhoven. During this annual sports festival, student teams compete in dozens of sports from volleyball and basketball to the more chaotic multiball and knotsball. Our association joined with a motivated (and occasionally still hungover) group of athletes, ready to give it their all. Here’s how we experienced this unforgettable week.

Monday — A Strong Start
The week kicked off with multiball and volleyball. Even though we didn’t have many players, we absolutely dominated multiball, winning every match by a huge margin and securing a spot in the finals. Volleyball was a bit less successful but still full of fun moments, with Daan (La2) scoring point after point like a true MVP.

In the evening, ESSF hosted a music bingo with great songs and fun prizes. Somehow Jasmijn (La1 and Board) managed to win almost everything. After bingo, we hung out with each other and with other Van Lint participants. A great start to the week, and it set the tone for what was coming.

Tuesday — Chaos, Knotsball, and Canteen Takeover
Tuesday brought knotsball and 3v3 basketball. For those wondering what knotsball is: imagine field hockey, but with a giant foam club. We had an amazing team that even managed to beat an actual hockey team at their own sport, they relied on technique, we relied on smashing the ball as hard as possible. Due to an organisational mistake we didn’t make the finals, but after they realised the error, we still received the first‑place prize (3 pitchers).

Basketball was next. With 12 players (yes, 9 substitutes), enthusiasm was high. Skill levels varied… a lot. One board member attempted to launch an opponent across the hall and then stormed off to drink beer in the canteen. Despite the chaos, we still won one out of five games and somehow ended up in the finals. The evening ended with us turning the SSC canteen upside down with beers and video games.

Wednesday — Rugby Glory and Archery Tag Disaster
Wednesday featured Tag Rugby and Archery Tag. Luckily, Tag Rugby went extremely well, thanks to star players Vincent (P1) and Lucia (La1), who actually knew the rules, and we reached the finals.

Archery Tag, however… was a different story. We had three hours of free time between sports, which apparently was enough for some people to get a little too enthusiastic with drinks. The result: arrows flying everywhere, strange helmets, and a very entertained audience. Afterward, the sports canteen was buzzing with gezelligheid. Some P3 players challenged our board members to endless fingering games, and a few people may or may not have ended up in the city. What happened there remains a mystery. Or does it…

Thursday — Finals Day and the Grand Finale
Thursday was the big day: finals day. At 18:30 we started with the tag rugby finals. We were also supposed to play squash at the same time, but since rugby finals meant the chance to win beer, we made the logical choice (sorry Kathie and Mick). We played incredibly well and reached the final two but unfortunately lost to a team we had already beaten twice earlier in the week. No beer for us yet.

Next came the multiball and basketball finals, which were scheduled simultaneously. We split the team strategically. Basketball was tough, as we faced a team full of actual basketball players, but our team still had fun. Multiball was the one we were most excited about after Monday’s easy wins, but let’s just say Wednesday night’s drinks didn’t help our performance. Totelos refereed and tried to help by giving us lots of football rounds, but even then our football skills were… questionable. Best not to talk about it too much.
The final party made up for everything. We celebrated, drank, laughed, and enjoyed the last evening together. After an intense week, our athletes finally headed home to rest.
A huge thank‑you to everyone who joined, supported, and cheered for us throughout the week. The board had an amazing time and we hope you did too. Special shout‑out to Christine (La1), who was there every single day and gave her all in every sport. We hope to see all of you again next year!