In the context of the 2nd lockdown period, with students spending much of their day in front of their screens, ENSTA Bretagne’s Sports Association decided to organize weekly sporting challenges.
The Sports Association (AS ENSTA Bretagne) is a non-profit 1901 association that oversees some thirty sports clubs (individual and group sports) at ENSTA Bretagne. Its Office is composed of 7 engineering students and one staff member. It has 400 members (general engineering students, apprentice engineers, Specialized Advanced Masters and PhD students).
During the autumn 2020 lockdown, Office members decided to organize sporting challenges for students.
A tournament composed of six sporting challenges to take up during the lockdown
The tournament aims to encourage students to play sports individually while representing their teams (during the tournament, each student participates in the name of a club).
In this rather bleak context, the challenges provide participants with opportunities to unwind and relax. They also help keep the team spirit alive between clubs and maintain contact between us,
explains Juliette, the Sports Association’s Communication Officer.
Every week since mid-November, one of the AS’s Office members disseminates a video presenting the challenge to a private Facebook group. Participants have a few days to take it up and send in a video or photograph bearing witness to their performances.
Challenges taken up by members of the AS Sailing Club (together)
A few examples of challenges:
- Run a maximum number of kilometers in a single outing, while complying with lockdown regulations. Some participants ran in their gardens (around their houses, for example) and managed their best possible performances in 1 hour. In total: 1,482.32 kilometers covered, including 15 semi-marathons!
- Do three laps of a short muscle-strengthening circuit comprising 5 exercises: 15 pushups (knees pushups if you want), 10 V-ups (abs), 15 squats, 10 Russian twists (abs) and 20 jumping jacks, as quickly as possible. 125 people took up this challenge!
- Carry out a maximum number of repetitions in 1 minute without losing your balance: The movement consists of starting out standing on one leg with the opposite arm raised skywards; you lean forward and touch the foot on the ground with your hand and then go back to your initial position. It’s known as “clean-and-jerk” in weight training circles. Here, we asked boys to do the exercise with a bottle or weight weighing at least 1 kg, and girls to do it without weights. There were 4,727 repetitions of the exercise in total. The movement consists of starting out standing on one leg with the opposite arm raised skywards; you lean forward and touch the foot on the ground with your hand and then go back to your initial position. It’s known as “clean-and-jerk” in weight training circles. Here, we asked boys to do the exercise with a bottle or weight weighing at least 1 kg, and girls to do it without weights. There were 4,727 repetitions of the exercise in total.
At the end of each challenge, the AS’s office calculates the averages for performances in each team (so as not to disadvantage smaller clubs). Girls’ performances are also weighted to ensure equity. Finally, penalties are imposed if a student who has enrolled in the tournament does not take part in it.
Each challenge’s ranking indicates the various clubs’ positions and honors a few outstanding individual performances (but without bonuses to teams’ rankings).
The final result will be announced before departure for the Christmas holidays. But the tournament has already proved a great success!
