NTNUI is the sports association of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and have energized the students of the university for more than 100 years. In contrast to many similar organizations outside of Norway, NTNUI is run solely by students. Today NTNUI has become Norway’s largest and most diverse sports association, with more than 12 000 members and an offer including more than 70 sports. “To activate as many as possible and to promote friendship through sports” – this was the organization’s ambition when established in 1910. NTNUI is today still pushing for a healthy student environment and for as low barriers for exercise as possible.
The sports are organized in NTNUI through its many groups, and several groups contribute with multiple sports – for example the Martial Arts group or Dance. In the groups NTNUI has obtained a high level of diversity. Traditional sports like football, cycling and sailing meet in NTNUI underwater rugby, quidditch and lacrosse. If we don’t have your sport, help us set it up!
NTNUI is not just a sports association with tons of good athletes. It could not have come far without its many volunteers who keep on working only to see the joy for sports spread to others. Many hundred students commit themselves administratively to keep the association running. All the groups have their own boards. Centrally, the main board and the administrative committees support the groups to the best of their ability. NTNUI’s members are its highest authority, their will expressed at the general assemblies convening every semester.
NTNUI (NTHI) was established on the 25th of October 1910, the same year as the institute opened its doors at Gløshaugen. In the very beginning, the association could only offer 10 different sports and consisted of 89 members. Throughout the years, not only the number of sports available has increased, the association has experienced much in its long journey through the last century. Members of NTNUI have pestered German soldiers stationed at Studenterhytta during the war and the pope has delivered a sermon at Idrettsbygget, students have on flippers run the Hu og Hei Run, an orienteering course of more than 30 km, and NTNUI has multiple times arranged UKA Rundt, a relay which in 2017 lasted 38 days. The association’s colorful cannot be told in short, and to read more of its first 100 years the book Ekte idrettsglede by Gaute Heyerdahl (in Norwegian) can be bought at the NTNUI office at Idrettsbygget.
One NTNUI
Diversity – Unity – Sports enjoyment
Strategy 2020-2022
Objective
NTNUI is Norway’s largest sports team. We are built by, and for students. The fact that we are built by volunteer students leads to regular replacement in various positions, which is a great challenge. Throughout the years, this has led to a low degree of continuity in the work done to develop the club. Much of the workforce in NTNUI has been used for administrative work, and there has been little profit to further develop the sports team. In order to be able to offer physical activity to as many students as possible, there is a desire to focus more on developing the club by strengthening the framework for the groups. By strengthening the groups’ framework centrally, it becomes easier to conduct activity in the groups and NTNUI reaches more students.
By creating a strategy plan, we set down focus areas that NTNUI will work on in 2020-2022. In this way, we will work to improve the current situation in certain areas over several years, instead of working on new things all the time. Nevertheless, we want the club to have ownership of its projects. In advance of the general meeting, the interim executive board will prepare annual action plans, and discuss with the members how they will work to achieve the goals within each focus area. In this way, it will be clarified what NTNUI is working on.
The process
The strategy plan has been developed by a project group consisting of Øystein Fruseth Christiansen, Eirik Søreide Hansen and Vilde Teksum. The work is built on the foundation Eirik S.H. and Thine Hestnes did in 2018 in collaboration with Henrik Carstens, who is the club supervisor in the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports.
Through two group leader meetings, input has been collected and NTNUI’s purpose and values have been formulated. Furthermore, proposals for focus areas have been prepared based on the input from the group leader meeting in March 2019 to all shop stewards in NTNUI. These focus areas have been discussed and given content through a forum meeting held in April 2019 and a consultation round that ended in May 2019.
During the summer of 2019, the project group reviewed the responses from the consultation and other available material. We have discussed and agreed on the three focus areas Facilities, One NTNUI and Recruitment. Then we have written more comprehensive descriptions of the purpose, focus areas and values.
About our plan
The focus areas contain a description of what it is desirable for NTNUI to work with in the future and why it is important to work with precisely this. For the values, it first says what we put into the fact that something is a value and how this should affect the organization. Then specifically what we put in the various values, why this affects NTNUI, as well as how we want NTNUI to feel for members and how it should perceived by externals.
Our vision: “The best moments in your studies”
Study time is an exciting and challenging time for many, characterized by a lot of freedom, and with it a lot of insecurity. NTNUI aims to meet students where they are and their needs. We will not only be responsible for the best moments during our studies, we will also promote NTNUI’s interpretation of student sports.
Student sports are more than just sports. NTNUI will show the students at NTNU that sports is not just training, but a social arena where we meet other students with the joy of sports in common. NTNUI will strive to get as many students as possible into physical activity and promote camaraderie. The days as a student are characterized by a lot of sitting and mental effort. NTNUI is an important arena for relaxing and recharging until the next day. Sports and activity should be a natural part of everyday life as a student, and we strive to create a sporty campus by setting a low threshold for joining. The environment in NTNUI is a result of the volunteers’ fantastic commitment to their loved ones in our association. NTNUI is not the same without, and as part of its vision, will work to ensure that this effort helps to create not only good, but the best moments for its elected representatives. Experience from positions in NTNUI should come in handy both during the study period and later, in working life.
NTNUI is Norway’s largest sports team and will be a role model for the rest of sports Norway. The association works for the best possible relationship with both the educational institution and the student organization, and this places NTNUI in a particularly advantageous position. NTNUI will work actively to strengthen student sports in the rest of the country as well.
Business idea
A business idea should briefly summarize what an association is and what it offers. We want our business idea to complement the vision and elaborate on who NTNUI is and how our great club has become what it is today. Together with the values, the business idea provides guidance on how NTNUI is to be operated, developed in the future and appear to new students.
Our business idea is:
NTNUI is a diverse community built on volunteering
and respect for inequality. Here you experience student sports,
mastery and development in a good social environment.
Our values: Diversity, unity and sports enjoyment
Our values are the cornerstones of NTNUI. They will act as guides for the actions and decisions made by all members of the organization. The values are repeated throughout the organization, and will be associated with NTNUI. In this way, the values will serve as guidelines and guidelines for all volunteers in NTNUI. At the meeting where these were decided, there was great agreement on what “is” NTNUI. We are Diversity, Unity and Sports Enjoyment.
Diversity
We will reach out to all students at NTNU, and facilitate a community across different backgrounds. In NTNUI, people who are otherwise completely different can gather around the joy of their activity. We will work to ensure that diversity characterizes our offer, and create a broad range of activities in the club. There must be a low threshold for joining NTNUI.
Unity
Fellowship in diversity is our strength. We will facilitate the NTNUI spirit and bring students together about our fantastic colors. NTNUI should be a place where people can gather about their sport and build friendships for life. NTNUI is more than a sports club, and we will create a very strong social affiliation to the groups for our members. NTNUI is a community across groups. We create the best memories together.
Sports Enjoyment
A common joy for sports and activity is the basis of life in NTNUI. We will facilitate mastery in everyday life and meet the students’ needs. It will be fun to play sports in NTNUI, and we will cultivate the unique moments of activity with friends.
Facilities
Maintaining an activity offer for as many students as possible is the core business of NTNUI as a student sports team. Facilities for activity are therefore the most important cornerstone for our groups, and by building a better framework around the development and operation of the group’s facilities, we will increase and improve the activity for the members.
It is important to coordinate the work within plant development with external partners and to utilize the networks we have to achieve the best possible result. Good cooperation has given us the facilities we have today and will be central to further developing the capacity and quality of the club’s facilities. Nevertheless, we must always look for new opportunities and be innovative in the development of facilities.
Each group knows their facility needs best. This is also where we have the experts on how the facilities can be developed to be as good as possible for all students who want to conduct activity. There should be a low threshold for new initiatives from the spirits who are passionate about their activity. In this way, we will build commitment throughout the club to rethink their facilities and help make them better.
One of the most important tasks of NTNUI as a student sports team is to maintain an activity offer for as many students as possible. To be able to do this, the focus must be on having good facilities to conduct activity. This applies to maintenance and operation of the existing facilities NTNUI currently owns, as well as working on the development of current facilities and the development of new facilities.
One NTNUI
One NTNUI is a collection process in NTNUI. The goal is for you as a member to feel a sense of belonging to NTNUI. This means creating a community in the club, due to the strong diversity that exists among the groups today. Specialized, administrative committees will contribute to raising the competence of the sports team and give the groups a stronger support apparatus. This will make it easier for the groups to focus on NTNUI’s core activity, namely to organize the activity for the membership. In the long run, the process will ensure a greater work capacity in the club and open up for more energy to go to club development, which will benefit the members.
NTNUI will work to increase collaboration in the sports team, and there will be a low threshold for communicating across groups and positions. Projects between the groups will increase the flow of information and exchange of experience, at the same time as administrative committees create a good framework and make it advantageous to communicate on the basis of one’s own group. Commitment shall be encouraged by increasing transparency in NTNUI and the opportunity to influence major decisions made between general meetings. The goal is for the members and our volunteers to feel ownership of the whole of the project that is
NTNUI.
NTNUI will be an arena for building friendships and networks. As a member, the threshold must be low to get to know the diversity of groups in the club. NTNUI will focus on establishing more meeting places for discussion and exchange of experience. The groups are NTNUI’s most important organizational members and must be included in order to further develop the organization in the right direction. One NTNUI is characterized by a strong community of volunteers, with strong roots in the groups. One NTNUI will stand firm and provide the necessary stability to the club, and ensure a good framework for all the new initiatives that are cultivated among the members.
Recruitment
NTNUI will be an inclusive club with capacity for everyone who wants to be active. To achieve this, it is important that the groups have a good basis for recruiting students from NTNU. NTNUI will collaborate to showcase the versatile offer and promote other groups if they do not have space themselves.
It is also important to recruit to the various positions in the club, both to the groups and to the administrative part of NTNUI. We depend on enthusiasts to be able to run NTNUI and maintain the offer we have. It should be attractive to have a position in the club. Competition for the positions will ensure good quality in the organization and develop NTNUI in a positive direction.
Recruitment is an important measure for all groups to be able to live on. The club should therefore find out what offers are available, and information should be easily accessible. A collaboration within the club will make it easier for the groups to recruit members. Visibility is a key tool for this, especially at the start of the semester for new students. NTNUI’s colors must be visible on campus and around the city. The more you see of it, the more you will want to take part in it. NTNUI will make it easy for the groups to show themselves and their offer.
Future
In 2022, we are One NTNUI. It is easier to collaborate across and play each other well throughout the association. The standardized framework that has been developed centrally in the club is seen as good enough for the groups to choose this over their own solutions. Good arrangements for information flow give members a clear picture of the club’s scope and ownership of the projects that are carried out. New meeting places open up for better exchange of experience and cooperation between the groups.
NTNUI has expanded the administration. There are well-functioning administrative expert groups in the association, and there is room to work on the development of the club. NTNUI will have a larger workforce and the administration will be better able to assist the groups with their tasks. Our volunteers are proud of their work and the club is perceived as an attractive workplace – regardless of interest in sports. At NTNUI, students gain relevant work experience and responsibility for interesting projects.
NTNUI will be a natural choice as a new student in Trondheim, regardless of background. In 2022, several collaborations across the groups have made NTNUI more visible in Trondheim, especially for new students. NTNUI shows the full range of its activities, and students who do not participate in their first choice, are informed about and led to other groups in the association.
In 2022, the project on campus development at Gløshaugen has reached the construction phase. At this time, a replacement for Dragvoll sports center has been secured and work is underway to achieve a friction-free transition to the new sports center. Through various projects, as well as streamlining of current land use, we have increased our total capacity. NTNUI now has a larger workforce towards the development of the current facilities, with also an increased focus on expanding with new arenas for activity.
