Without a doubt, local basketball successfully promotes our city and is one of the key entertainment and sports elements of student life at the University of Zielona Góra. Yesterday, foreign students from UZ found this out, while cheering on Zastal Zielona Góra during its game against Tauron GTK Gliwice. We hope that thanks to the emotions their experienced during the event, the international students will remember their stay in Zielona Góra for a long time!
Every year we host many students of various nationalities at the University of Zielona Góra within international student exchange. At the beginning of the 2023/2024 academic year, another circa 60 people from different parts of the world came to us. Some of these students will still stay here for the summer semester. It was a couple of them who showed up at the Sports and Recreation Centre’s hall yesterday.
We do care about foreign students’ comfort and satisfaction during their stay in Zielona Góra, that is why we provide them with many attractions, including the city’s offer and want to show them what is the best here! To pass the time during the exam session and the anticipation of the next semester, this weekend we took them out to the basketball game of Zastal Zielona Góra, which for years has been one of the main symbols of our city and its residents' interests. We received the tickets thanks to the cooperation with the club. The ticket winners were selected by a student organisation - the Zielona Góra Erasmus Student Network (ESN). What is more, a few other international students decided to join the group on their own!
Yesterday’s game was one of those of particular importance for our club to remain in the main Polish league. Everyone realised how crucial was to win. However, the game ended otherwise - Zastal lost....
From the first half, the Gliwice team played better, taking the lead all the time. Zastal chased the opponent successfully, which was reflected by the 45:45 tie after the first half. Waiting for the second part of the game, we had a lot of faith in the success of our team.
Unfortunately, Zastal began the third quarter poorly and thus allowed the team from Gliwice to build a lead of as many as 21 points! This turn of the events cooled down our mood for a while.
When we thought that the result of the game was already closed, in the fourth quarter our players showed their will to fight and gained on the opponent’s team by just a few points. The hall was delirious with joy! Our hope was back. Unfortunately, the guest team continued to score and did not let our team take away the lead, defeating Zastal 99:94.
More than 3000 people turned up in the Sports and Recreation Centre (CRS) hall yesterday. Our foreign students quickly got into the atmosphere of the event. They watched the game with commitment, experiencing every action. The show just excited them! And this is not surprising, for, in addition to the on-court emotions, the wonderful cheering led by the Zastal Fan Club warmed everyone up like in the best years. It was green, loud and thrilling!
The following international people from UZ watched the game live:
The foreigners were also accompanied by Błażej Iwanowski - a psychology student at UZ. Błażej reapeared in the stands of CRS after several years and did not regret it!
Although everyone did not dared to stand in front of the camera, we managed to record a few students' words ;)
In the video you can see: Błażej Iwanowski, Manuel Galan, David Gonzalez, Lucia Escalona and Zurabi Ugulava. Edited by P. Przykaza/Academic Index Radio.
The Polish student said:
This is the 3rd time I have gone to Zastal’s game. It’s been a couple of years since I have been here last time. I am really enjoying today’s game, there is a very nice atmosphere in the hall. So far the score has been even but I hope we will win and keep the league in this tough season.
Sunday’s game certainly provided the Erasmus+ students with entertainment and became a nice memory of their stay in Zielona Góra. They could identify with the city even more by supporting our local team.
PS You can check out our recently created compilation: Studenci wybierają: koszykarska playlista (Students choose: basketball playlist) available on our Spotify.
