Campus Clash: Segovia vs. Madrid
The sun was rising at 7:30 am. The excitement grew higher and higher. On a no-class Wednesday, students from every degree were taking a bus going to Las Rozas de Madrid. Most of them were athletes, members of an IE team, dressed in their sports gear and holding a bottle of cold water. Five minutes before departure, Parishma Shrestha rushed to the bus to go cheer in her friends’ games. She got into the bus and it leaves.
When the bus finally arrived to Polideportivo Navalcarbón in Las Rozas de Madrid, Parishma glanced at the venue and walked towards the football field, she took a seat and awaited for the competition to begin. The IEU Athletics teams from Segovia and Madrid were having a friendly match as part of the celebration of Tomás de Aquino saint, known commonly as the student’s patron.
On January 31st, the first edition of the Campus Clash occurred. This is an internal IE University competition organized by IEU atheletics and Student Life, where Madrid and Segovia’s athletics teams come together for a friendly match. That morning, the Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Indoor Football, Rugby, and Cheerleading teams competed against each other creating a fun environment forging a bond in the University’s athletic spirit.
IEU Athletics is formed by more than 250 student-athletes, across both campuses, but often-times member don’t even know all the everyone who participates in IEU Athletics on their own Campus. This was a great way for everyone to get together and socialise using sports as the focal point.
As many other students, Parishma sat down to watch most of the matches she could. Following the schedule, the first match outdoors was the boys’ football game.
The men’s Football Team from Segovia won 2-1 against Madrid’s Football Team. It was an intense test where Madrid had the ball most of the time, but Segovia’s team defended to excellence. The crowd cheered constantly one team or the other, especially when goals were scored. The two goals scored by Segovia’s team were by Marco Cremascoli and by Miguel Brader, from the Madrid Team, Alvaro Moreno scored.
Paolo Colombo, captain of the team expressed his content about the win, and the challenge they faced after a night of partying.
“Everybody gave it all and I’m very happy, all Segovia was relying on us and we didn’t let them down” he said and then added, “we gave 100% in Irish, but our 200% in the field.”
Leonardo Parma from the Madrid Team said he enjoyed it a lot, yet he thinks the team could have done it better.
“I feel like the Madrid side didn’t give their full potential, we could have done better and we didn’t get the results we wanted, overall I think it was a good experience.”
After the football game, one of the most expected games followed: the Rugby match. A history of competitiveness between both campus was left behind for the friendly match. Nevertheless, some tension was present in the fixture, both teams wanted to win. In the case of Segovia, Coach Dan Bloch has been preparing the boys for this game.
“It was certainly an intense month for the IE Rugby squad in Segovia - between January 20th and February 3rd, the squad had 4 fixtures” said Bloch. “Over this period, there has certainly been a lot of challenges, with a high amount of injuries taking toll on the squad.”
In the rugby match, Madrid won with 15 against 5. For the Madrid team, Ladislas Lefourt, Mateo Ariño and Alberic Renividaud scored. For Segovia, Jules Vanthournout scored the try. The tight game lasted only 50 minutes, where Hèlios Ruiz was awarded as Man of The Match for the Madrid team and Ernst von Puttmacker for Segovia.
Ernst von Puttmacker was glad for the opportunity of playing against Madrid again and would even like to have another one soon.
“I enjoyed the Campus Clash because it was a good competition and good spirit, [it is a] great opportunity to bring both campus together” said Ernst. He continued by saying that he would enjoy to “have two Campus Clashes per year, one in Sego and one in Madrid”
On the other hand, from the winning team, captain Callum Hedigan was happy on the advances and improvements IEU athletics have achieved throughout the years.
“I’m just really happy on the way rugby is turning out in the Uni, during my first year there was some fuse, and now they are having sports days and it’s just fantastic all the involvement [student life is having] I hope it just continues” he said.
The IE Rugby Team Madrid is of the best teams in the Madrid municipality, they even currently have their own coach and are part of the Spanish professional league.
Meanwhile, the football indoor team was playing at Polideportivo Los Matos. After a dramatic match, Madrid won 5-3 over Segovia.
One of the goalies of the Segovia team, Marin Gomart, said he found positive the Campus Clash because it allows teams to compare their expertise level in a friendly environment.
“I think it was a good idea to compare the levels of the teams on both campuses and in my opinion it would be a good idea to do this more often, with both teams at full strengths and in shape.” he said.
At the inside courts, the basketball, volleyball boys and volleyball girls took place. There, another attendee, Lupita Prada, was cheering for boyfriend Santiago in the Volleyball game.
“I mainly went to support and see my boyfriend play” Said Prada. “I liked to see in the event how both campus can compete in a fair way, you can see there is some healthy rivalry”
For both Volleyball games, feminine and masculine, only two sets were played.
The volleyball boys game, Boy’s Volleyball Segovia team won 2:0. The first set was very tied with Madrid scoring 24 points and Segovia 26. On the Second set, Segovia won on an advantage of 8 points, final score being 17:25.
"We performed quite well today. I think the game was a culmination of teamwork and practice. The game against Madrid showed what we are capable of and that our season looks bright" said Volodymyr Lakomov, one of Segovia team players.
For the girl’s match Segovia’s Girls Volleyball team won 2:1, both sets with a score of 19:25 (19 for Madrid and 25 for Segovia).
Irem Guven, former player of the Segovia team and current Madrid team player liked the fact she could see her ex-teammates and coach again.
“The Campus Clash Volleyball game was a great opportunity for both teams to play each other again and see how they’ve improved since our last game against each other in the fall. The game itself was very short, as many of us were expecting a game out of five sets rather than three or two, nonetheless it was fun to see both teams giving it their all. I personally really enjoyed it as I was on the Segovia team last year, and now, having switched campuses, I got the opportunity to see some of my old teammates and my coach.” Said Guven.
While also cheering at the volleyball game, Irene Ocariz, member of the Basketball Girls IE University “Stallions", got a glance on the boys' basketball game.
The Final score of this game was 45:34, where Madrid won on a difference of 11 points.
“The campus clash was fun, a shame that the game was so short and that we had no audience so we really couldn’t go at it but all in all, it was a fun experience.”one of the Segovia team players, Yannik Scheurer said.
Under the midday burning sun and with some hunger the girl’s football teams played the last match of the day. Irene, Parishma and Lupita were watching the game together. This game was very symbolic for some of the people present. Segovia’s football team had no uniform and some of the players in the Madrid team used to play in the Segovia team.
The final score of the match was Madrid 4-1 Segovia. The goals were scored for the Madrid team as follows: 3 by number 9 Adriana Kuzmanic and 1 by number 12 Lauren Savant. On the other team, Sofia Peralta scored the goal, which was chanted and got the spectators truly excited and proud.
Since both teams get along pretty well, the feeling in the field was positive in general.
“We came in and we weren’t cocky, we didn’t come wanting to win” said Adriana Kuzmanic. “This game was a lot better [to ones we had previously] we bond really well as a team, and our team clicked.”
The Campus Clash was the IE sports event of the year. Even though the event didn’t have a lot of student turnout, the people who attended enjoyed it very much. Student Life coordinator Clint Goodrich thinks the event was a success and knows what can be done better for future editions.
“Athletically speaking, the event was a great success because our teams from the Segovia Campus and the Madrid Campus were able to come together and share their passion for the sport(s) they play, and they did so with great sportsmanship.” Goodrich siad. “On the other hand, we were disappointed with the student-fan turnout. We have great hope that our student body starts to rally behind IEU Athletics, and to support our student-athletes and subsequently IE University itself. Supporting our athletics teams is a great way to take part of something special, something our athletes work very hard and dedicate much time to. It is an opportunity to further develop our IE community.”
After a sweaty morning, everyone who attended was delighted to have a small barbecue to close all the emotions and energy, smiles and disappointments the matches brought. But most importantly, both campuses came together at this moment, where students shared their love for food and sat down together for lunch. Parishma took her plate with a burger and joined Lupita and Irene on the green field. All three sunbathing, relaxing and eating, while reminiscing about the great experience they just had.
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