EADA participants appreciate the value of hard work, the ability to overcome obstacles and the importance of cooperation both inside and outside of the classroom. Already in 2018, MBA and International Master participants have taken part in two sporting events organised in the community. Most recently, 30 participants ran the eDreams Half Marathon on February 10.
The half marathon –in which runners take to the main streets of Barcelona–, is an annual event that raises funds for charity. In fact, teams are created based on different charitable causes such as underprivileged youth, poverty, rare medical conditions or disabilities. The EADA community chose to donate its funds to the Josep Carreras Foundation for Leukaemia Research, with a total of 500€ collected.
According to EADA’s runners, “We chose to support leukaemia research because one out of five children and one out of two adults cannot survive leukaemia”. The foundation’s overall approach was especially interesting to them. “Not only is their mission to make leukaemia a 100% curable disease through scientific research, they also provide support to suffering patients and their families, as well as putting them in contact with donors,” they explained.
A few weeks earlier, on January 27, our international participants took part in another sports event, a football tournament near Barcelona in L’Hospitalet. They were divided into different teams, each made up of students from different EADA programmes. The tournament was won by the ‘Too cool for school’ team, with participants from the International Masters in Finance, Marketing and Sustainable Business & Innovation.
The event was organised by Max Schneider (Germany – International Master in Management- Bilingual programme), Daniel Cortés González (Mexico – International MBA – Bilingual programme), Juan Pablo Fonseca (Guatemala – International MBA), Moufid Dayoub (Lebanon – Master in Management) and Luc Smeets (the Netherlands – Master in Marketing). “One of the things we liked most was the competitive spirit that was present among all players, which brought us back to the roots of sports,” said Moufid.
Juan Pablo agreed. “What I probably liked the most was the healthy competition that among the International Master participants,” he said. For Max, “it was amazing to see how many different people came together – this created a deeper connection between programmes and classes”.
When asked what values they associated with the event and with sports in general, the organisers highlighted teamwork, strategic vision, fair play, discipline, resilience, respect and a competitive spirit. Luc, currently plays hockey for F.C. Barcelona, identified three transferable values: “Happiness — without joy you cannot get results. Teamwork — just as in sports, teamwork is of the utmost importance. You are dependent upon others, but together you are able to go further. And finally, trustworthiness — because trusting your teammates, in a sports or work environment, is invaluable”.
To Jordi Díaz, EADA’s Associate Dean of Programmes and International Relations, “A year in EADA is a complete life experience. We understand that our full-time programmes are a life experience, something more than just attending class and receiving a diploma at the end.” He went on to share his views about the values that drive athletes. “The football tournament and the half marathon offers our students the chance to get to know the city better while doing sport. Sports share some core values with EADA like hard work, teamwork and reaching a goal.”