May 2011 – A big international group of enthusiastic SIFE members on its way to the Hague. Again we took part in the national competition, which took place in the Haagse Hogeschool in the Hague, a great environment to enjoy this inspiring day.

It all started with an introduction, during which the 12 participating teams were assigned to 3 leagues. It was a great feeling to be together with all these international, enthusiastic and open-minded people, and it was going to be a surprising and exciting day. We were among the last teams to decide in which league to present in the first round – we ended up in league 3 which was a great starting position.

Then the first round of presentations started. We were all so excited, but unfortunately were only the third team to present. The first team - University of Rotterdam - was so inspiring. Now we just wanted to present even more. Some of the team members hadn’t seen the presentation yet, so the excitement was even greater! Then it was finally our SIFE team on stage! The presentation was amazing, a great story line and the presenting team did a great job. The introduction of our presentation included a song. Given that we had never practiced it with the whole team present, you can imagine how we sounded. But the team-spirit we spread outweighed our musical skills!!! One more presentation to finally receive the decision of the judges. And in between a coffee-break during which we got positive feedback on our presentation. Do we really have a chance to compete? Will we be the winning team of our league?? Minutes passed.

Then we were finally called back into our presenting-room. Silence. You could feel the excitement and curiosity in the air. And then: First place of the league – SIFE Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. We could not believe it, first place in our league! The team was stoked!

Before we had to present another time in the second round of the national competition we had another break to refresh our minds.

Then the second round started. A big lecture hall, great sound, and a great group feeling with 12 SIFE teams from all the Netherlands around. Let the show begin!

This time again we were third in line. SIFE Uva. SIFE Tilburg University. And before SIFE Utrecht closed the second round, SIFE RUG went on stage again. This time the introduction-song worked out much better than in the first round! The presenting team again delivered an inspiring and enthusiastic presentation, that could not be affected by the small technical error which occurred with the video about WANAZIWI. The team spontaneously improvised and made the best out of the situation. The following question-and-answer-round was easily dealt with by the presenters, who provided the judges with precise answers.

Now again we had to wait. And then the final decision was announced: 4^th place of the national competition 2011 – Universiteit Groningen! Wow! Our team was so happy and more than satisfied with this result! SIFE UvA and SIFE Tilburg University were on the 3^rd and 2^nd place, and SIFE Universiteit Utrecht will be representing SIFE The Netherlands in the National Competition 2011, which takes place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

After the national competition we headed into town and had dinner together. Then we all went to the After-Party, which was a great way to end this day.

This National Competition was a great chance not only to get into contact with different business advisers and companies, but also to get to know about the other SIFE teams in the Netherlands, their projects and methods of working. It was inspiring and a great experience for the whole team. It certainly strengthened our team and we are already looking forward to another great national competition in 2012!