This years intervarsity was in the amiable Cork city. It doesn’t get much further south than that, and the people don’t get much friendlier either. There is nothing outstanding about Cork city that separates it from the rest of the cities in Ireland, but we were able to make the most of it and have a good time. We were staying in Sheila’s hostel, which luckily for us was close-by and easy to find from the bus stop! Some other crazy people decided to fly with ryanairs cheaper than chips (literally!) flight from Dublin, but afterall we all seemed to arrive at the same time. It turned out that we had a walkover in the first round so we just hit amongst ourselves and watched some of the tennis around us - we were quickly made aware of the massive task that faced us!

We got back to the hostel and together we made some pasta. Was a good team building experience, and we managed not to poison each other. We also met some australian guys who were travelling, and the came out to play tennis one of the days with us as well. That night we were to head out to a place called ‘Rafters’ but we arrived a little late and the queue was horrendous! So we decided to get a quiet drink elsewhere as we were all pretty shattered from the travel. So enters the first theme of the week - Our fourteen year old (lookin!) no.3 Andrew Barrow aka Bazza. He had no ID on him that had his DOB on it, and so we had to beg him into most places! This time proved unsuccessful and so we decided to head back to the hostel, which brings us to theme 2 - Timmy and food. We could not walk past a MiccyD’s without Tim wanting to stop, and there were plenty of them! Hope you were well fed tim!

The next day we finally got some tennis. We were feeling good because the weather was fine, no wind and strangely warm for the time of year (could be the few degrees in latitude ). That hope was soon to be snuffed out as we all suffered heavy defeats at the hands of U.C.C. 1sts. Thibaut was the only one not to disgrace himself, with a very impressive 7-6 6-4 loss to the great Eoin Mawe, and he was up a break in each set…oh what could have been! So heavy-hearted with our loss we decide to have another team bonding experience and hit the sauna back at Sheila’s. This would be another theme of the week; to lose at tennis-sauna-then sleep! Sauna virgins Bazz and Tony took well to the heat, as veteran Thibaut just kept piling on the steam.

Afterward we headed out to a place called the Mardyke not far off the club we were playing at. In fact everything was in easy walking distance. This place was awesome. It had at least 20 pool tables, a couple of air hockey tables, a bowling alley! and a bar, if only QUB had a place like this! Definitely something good for those who don’t necessarily enjoying clubbing 24-7. What made this place even more impressive is that it had free WiFi internet which brings us to theme 4 as Chris & Tim were obsessed with their superphones that could browse the net wirelessly for free anywhere in the world there is wiFi! Next stop was Fast Eddies night club, a chance for the lads to show of those dancemoves, and so we did - to each other lol! It took us a while to infiltrate a group to socialise with but eventually with Thibaut’s french charm we worked our way into a mixed group of people from Cork/UCD/and Trinity.

Day three brought around our plate match against Galway 1sts. Given our recent stuffing, and realisation of how much better the other teams were, we were not that confident. However the sun came out and we gave a good go of it. Chris and Tim, Thibaut and a Cork guy, and Baz and Tony all had close matches but we were to lose again, which put us out of the competition altogether. We did make good connections with the Galway players however, so look out for a possible friendly coming soon. After our daily ritual of sauna n sleep, we headed out to Rafters (same place as before except we got there early!). The dancefloor was packed! as it was CIT’s rag week as well as the tennis varsity. We danced the night away knowing it would be our last night as we decided to go home the following day.

On the last day, some of the guys went home early on but Thibaut and Chris decided to watch some scintillating semi final action. DCU in the mens despite being a man down gave trinity a right beating, and it was similar dominance for the DCU ladies as well against UCC, will the tide ever change? With Tennis Ireland setting up it’s excellence in tennis centre in DCU, and offering their students grants, it’s hard to see how that monopoly will be taken from their grasp. Later that evening Thibaut and Chris began their 8 hour journey back home to Belfast, eventually getting home at 2am, with much sleep required!

At the end of the tournament, UCD2 won the mens plate, NUIG won the ladies. DCU won the ladies championship and again DCU men were eventual winners, but not without being taken right to the wire by UCD 5-4! It gives some hope to the rest of us as we host the intervarsities in Feb/Mar 2009, so if you missed out this year, that will be your best chance to experience what is probably most peoples favourite time in the university calender (for those who have experienced it). Our team consisted of Thibaut de Lorgeril, Steven Smyth, Andrew Barrow, Tony Patterson, Chris Scorah and Tim Gilpin. We weren’t disheartened by our performance as we had a makeshift side of 1sts/2nds and 3rds players as we had a great time, and with the right 1sts squads we can mount a serious challenege in both the mens and ladies championships next year. We must figure out why we had such a poor attendance this year however, and try to sort it for Belfast 2009; bring it on! Check out the bebo for the pictures.

(Newbie) Andy ‘Bazza’ Barrow: “Overall it was a great week, apart from the 7 hours driving there and back!!! The quality of tennis was amazing; I went there thinking I wasn’t that bad a player and by the end realised I suffered from PPS (ask andy for translation!). There was something on each night, which was great…however the highlight had to be the ‘male-bonding’ sessions in the sauna!”

(Veteran) Tim Gilpin: <--- coming soon.... --->

Quote of the week: (Thibaut asks a bouncer - imagine his accent) “Can I bring in this muffin?”

Intervarsity Details

(02/02/08) Update…. So the time has now come to sign up, you have until Wednesday 13th February to confirm if you are going. The cost is roughly £40 for your intervarsity ticket (or less if you don’t intend on being at the presentation dinner), £25 to fly down (or £12 to get the bus), and approxmiately £45 for the accommdation (less again depending on the length of your stay). Please don’t let the cost put you off, becuse it really is worth it, few other experiences at university will come close to this.