Physical education and sports is a class that every Bachelor’s student at ITMO must take for their first few years of studying. There is a wide range of options for how you can complete this discipline, with many different sports at varying levels of difficulty. If you want, you can join a club for a specific sport and compete, or you can complete the disciple on your own time by running or working out at a gym.

Photo courtesy of KronBars

A large percentage of students still choose to attend classes for physical education. 5 points are earned for each class, and a total of 100 are needed to pass the discipline. However, you can only attend 2 classes a week. If you are very busy during the week or need a way to quickly get some more points, there’s a way to do so.

Throughout the semester, ITMO organizes small tournaments and events any student can join for extra points. These events involve one specific sport and tend to be lively competitions, where students compete to try and win. They are scattered throughout the semester, so it’s important not to miss them. Incredibly, anyone can sign up and participate.

10 points are awarded just for participation. But! The winner gets more points, with up to 20 points awarded for first place. That's the same as attending four classes. Of course, apart from extra points, winners receive medals or certificates!

Important! A student must get at least 60 points from attending classes. You can attend as many of these tournaments as you want, but the extra credit will only be counted after you get 60 points.

Where can you find these events and sign up?

Tournament information is posted on the VK page of the university’s KronBars sports club: https://vk.com/kronbars, along with other information about the discipline. You can find posts for all upcoming sporting events with information about where/when they will be held and a link to sign up. All you have to do is fill out a quick Google form — and you’re free to show up to whichever event caught your eye.

My advice is to check the VK page occasionally, as it's very easy to miss upcoming tournaments. Professors also occasionally mention events coming up. There is no penalty for not showing up if you find yourself suddenly unable to attend, but of course it’s preferable not to skip.

Examples

Competing at these events may seem intimidating at first, but attending them can be fun. Even if you go by yourself, it’s a great opportunity to learn new things and try out some sport or activity you always wanted to.

I myself went to two such tournaments this semester: one for track-and-field and the other for backgammon. For backgammon, the day of the competition they explained the rules to everyone so it was easy and simple to understand and play. I had fun, but unfortunately lost 2 out of 3 games.

As for the track-and-field competition, I won first place for the women’s 500-meter dash by complete accident. I only decided to attend when I found out my friend was helping organize the event. There were two categories: 100m and the 500m dash. While there were more competing for the 100m race, only three girls (me included) signed up for the 500m dash. They both decided to leave after the 100-meter event as they won first and second place respectively, leaving me to win by default. Halfway through the race, as I started to fall behind the men, I passed by some ladies sitting on a bench who, seeing me struggle, started cheering me on. The whole experience was surreal.

Conclusion

I highly recommend trying out one of these tournaments. Who knows, you might enjoy it a lot more than you thought, and even win first place. For around a few hours of your time or even less, you can have a fun new experience and grab yourself 10 extra points.