Hi! My name is Lisen, and I am a proud member of NTNUI-Friidrett. I am also a member of the board as the social manager and leader of the social committee. After speaking with the rest of the board, we decided that one of us should write a post about NTNUI-Friidrett and how we function as a social arena for all students and some of the social events that we will be hosting throughout the school year. Adding to this I thought I would share some of my own experiences being a part of NTNUI-Friidrett, and why I chose to join the team.
TRAININGS
Our weekly trainings are mainly every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (Facebook page for more info). Even though we split up into groups during the training, we always gather before and after running. This way everyone gets to talk to one another, even though we don’t always run together. We usually split into groups of long distance, middle distance and short distance, with every group having their own leader. I recommend trying out the different groups (long-, middle- and short distance). This is a great way to meet new people and expand your running skills 😉
SOCIAL
Besides training together we also arrange social gatherings and events throughout the school year. First up is the welcome week (23.-29.august). Welcome week is a tradition and an important week for us at NTNUI-Friidrett. During the welcome week, we arrange different activities every day and welcome both old and new members to Trondheim and to NTNUI. Other social events we will be hosting are the student relay race, beer mile, cabin trips, and parties. We also host smaller social gatherings such as long runs, breakfast runs, playing volleyball, game nights, and pre-parties. NTNUI-Friidrett is also known to participate in popular sports events and we have competed as a team in both Trondheim Marathon, Trønder Karusellen, Midnight Sun Marathon, Studentgames and in Student Championships.
One cannot talk about NTNUI-Friidrett as a social arena without mentioning our yearly trip to Spain. Usually, we go to Spain at the end of February/ beginning of Mars, and we start planning the trip in early November. We go to Spain to run, eat, relax and to have fun. With the pandemic going on you can probably imagine that the Spain trip this year was a bit different. We were lucky to go and made it home just in time before the borders to Norway closed. Spain is a tradition and a trip many members look forward to. Hopefully, we will be able to go next year as well.
WHY I CHOSE TO JOIN NTNUI-FRIIDRETT
When I first moved to Trondheim I tried out several NTNUI groups, before deciding that NTNUI-Friidrett was the right group for me. The main reason why I selected NTNUI-Friidrett is that I felt very welcomed by everyone in the group. I ran with my local team before moving to Trondheim, so I found joining a new team after I moved both scary and exciting. When I saw that NTNUI had an athletics/running group, I thought I would give it a try. I joined some of their pieces of training and I really liked that I could run and meet new people at the same time. I was happy to see that so many people with different running experience and goals could run together! Personally I have always been focused on performance when it comes to running. After joining NTNUI-Friidrett I have learned that running and training are much more motivating when you do it for fun and with others, and not just because you have to achieve something. Not focusing too much on performance actually made me improve my performance. I think what makes NTNUI-Friidrett special is their way of making everyone feel welcome – NTNUI-Friidrett = TEAM.
