From my experience I knew one of the best ways to make my stay in a new place enjoyable is to establish the social network or connections as soon as possible. There are many ways to accomplish this. One way which I found very effective is through 'sport'. For me it is Badminton because it is the game I love. So if I could find people who like playing badminton we already have a common platform to start our friendship and normally the social network is already existing.

In this high-tec environment the most obvious place to start was the company webpage. Soon I found out there was a Badminton Group and the contact person was Thomas. An e-mail to Thomas announcing my presence and interest resulted in an automatic reply. Thomas was on a skiing holiday and it was suggested I should contact Guido. Guido was very friendly and helpful. After explaining to me how the club functioned he asked me if I was interested in playing a couple of games over lunch time. I gladly accepted his invitation. Next day I met Guido and couple of his badminton mates in the Ericsson canteen and followed them to the gynasium called 'Pro-Sport' which was only 5 minutes walk from our offices. Pro-Sport was a fairly large gynasium and the badminton hall was just as impressive. It had 12 courts and rubberised playing surface. I played two games of single with Guido. Guido was a very good player and we were fairly evenly matched. Then we had a game of double before heading back to work.

The following day I received an e-mail from Guido asking me if I was interested in playing in a one day inter-companies badminton tournament on Saturday the 29/1/2000. I accepted the invitation without much hesitation. Since I didn't have a car Guido picked me up at my apartment at about 1.20 pm. It was cold and raining 'cats and dogs'. An ideal day to stay in-door. The tournament started at 2 pm and there were 12 teams from different companies participating. The 12 teams were divided into two groups of 6 teams. The idea was, the two top teams from each group would played against each other in the semi-final. Then the winners would play against each other in the final. Each team consisted of two players. I partnered Guido and we were one of the four Ericsson entries.

Each game consisted of two single and one double sets. The rule was such if we won both the single sets we won the game and didn't have to play the double set. One big set back for me was, they used plastic shuttlecocks. It took me a few sets before I got used to the plastic 'bird'. Luckily the first few set were relatively easy. Then I played against a fairly young and strong oponent in the forth set. The final score was 21 to 20 I only won by one point. We got to the semi-final without having to play a double set. The semi-final was more challenging but we also managed to win both singles. Then a long wait while the other teams were fighting for 3rd place. By now it was almost 9 pm at night. Guido was exhausted and I was hungry as well as exhausted. Finally at about 9.30pm we played the final sets. Luckily the oponents were not too strong and we managed to win both singles and won the premiership. We were presented with a huge trophy (see photo). But the most memorable thing for me was the friendship and the comment of the organiser. He said he really liked my attitude. Overall, for me it was a great tournament, a great introduction to German badminton and a great way to make my presence felt.

Photo: Guido, me and the Factory Fun Cup 2000

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