20th Intercrosse World Games, Prievidza, Slovakia - August 5 - 10, 2008

The 20th edition of the Intercrosse World Games took place in Prievidza in Slovakia August 5-10 2008.

A total of 72 players from 8 nations attended this the 20th World Games.

Pictures from this event is available in our Gallery.

You can also find pictures of the teams and results from this event on the organisers website; http://www.interkros.sk/WG2008.htm

Tuesday, August 5th

Tuesday was arrival day with the opening ceremony and drawing of teams.

The opening ceremony started with a group of majorettes performing a dance. Then, the major of the host city welcomed everyone to Prievidza and officially opened the games together with the FIIC president Mrs Floriane Cotnoir Ranno.

Then tre drawing of teams commenced, starting with the goalkeepers, the girls and then the men.
Eight teams were created.

Wednesday, August 6th

Wedesday started off with breakfast followed by the games in the preliminary round from 09:00 to 15:00.

In the evening a trip was organised to the castle located in the neighbour town Bojnice.
The castle, first mentioned in scrolls from Zobor Abbey as far back as the year 1113, was originally a wooden fort but was over the years rebuilt and improved using stone. It was traditionally used for defence purposes.
In the 20th century the castle was decorated in the Romantic style to the form it is today.

The participants received a guided tour around the castle, followed by dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Following the dinner, everyone attended a show in the castle surroundings.
The show started off with a falconeer showing off different tamed birds such as a falcon, owls, a raven, a condor and an eagle. Following the bird show, there was a dance show and a jester.
The second part of the show included a fakir and a fire show as well as a demonstration of old weapons ranging from simple handheld firearms to cannons.
A really great performance!

Thursday, August 7th

Thursday continued with matches from 09:00 to 17:00 completing the preliminary round.

The evening was dedicated to bowling and darts in a nearby pub; "Extreme Club".

Friday, August 8th

Friday was scheduled with matches in the second round to complete the teams' positions for the final day.

The evening was open for free activities.

Saturday, August 9th

Saturday was the last day of matches. Games for 7th, 5th, 3rd place and finally the grand final between the Yellow and White teams.

The final was something extra. The game was tied after full time, leading to a five minute overtime period.
In the overtime, the Yellow team proved the strongest and won the game 18-16.

So finally, the games were over. The only thing left was the closing ceremony with the long expected Penguin Award ceremony.

The closing ceremony started off with a presentation of the teams in ascending placement order. The teams were called in pairs and the organisers had prepared a small competition between the two teams. The price was a bottle of champagne to the winners and the glory of course.

The teams ending up in 7th and 8th (red and orange teams) place fought in a competition where the team had to pass a skipping rope from the first man to the last by slipping it through the shirt and pants of each person.

The 5th and 6th placed teams (green and blue teams) were placed in two lines, holding hands, and had to move a "hula hoop" ring from one side to the other without breaking the line.

The teams placed 3rd and 4th (light blue and black teams) had to run two and two through a slalom course with a balloon between the heads without using the hands.

Finally the first and second teams (yellow and white teams) ran backwards through a slalom course with an intercrosse ball places on a spoon without dropping the ball.

In addition to the competitions all participants got their well deserved applause as well as a medal provided by the FIIC to remind the tournament by.

Following the team presentations was a set of awards from the organsers to, among others; "Best goalkeeper", "Best male player", "Best female player" and "Best goal scorer".

Last but not least, there was the "Penguin Awards". As many of the players did their first World Games, this tradition was somewhat new to many in the audience, but those who had seen it before was very eager to know who would win the glorious awards. To quote a person from the crowd; "I wouldn't want to be in the jury's position having to choose a winner among all the players...".

But the jury did not disappoint. The winners were;

Penguin Rookie Of The Year: Marc-André Dion, Québec
Naughty Penguin Of The Year: Jan Zýka, Czech Republic
Leffe's Choice: Radoslav Chlpek, Slovakia
Special Fair-play award: Daniele Scaccabarozzi, Italy
Special Penguin Wizard award: Miroslav Janek, Slovakia
Special Happy Penguin award: Lucie Régé, France
Penguin Of The Year: Olivier Cloutier-Charbonneau, Québec

Then the participants continued to party until late night (or even early morning).

Sunday, August 10th

Then came sunday and the departure from this the 20th World Games.
Everyone was surely tired from an action packed week but already looking forward to the next tournament wherever it will take place...