The Eindhoven student e-sports association Zephyr has been around for ten years, and some members claim it is the oldest student e-sports association in the Netherlands, though the students of its sister association in Delft make the same claim. “However, we can show our articles of association, and as far as I know, the others cannot,” says Oscar Mur, chair of Zephyr.

Beside Eindhoven en Delft, the student e-sports associations of Tilburg and Nijmegen are currently also in their second lustrum year, which is why all four together threw an extra-large LAN party together end of February, with 240 participants. “At the SSCE, because Eindhoven is relatively centrally located and because we already have experience organizing this kind of event, since we do it annually – for about 70 members.”

Ten is our favorite number because we’ve been around for ten years, but also because ten people compete per game.” League of Legends, Valorant and Counter Strike are all played five against five. Zephyr trains three nights a week at Fenix. Mur explains why a remarkably large proportion of the members are international. “The gaming is already in English so it’s only natural to speak to each other in that common language as well.”

“Above all, Zephyr is a place to connect,” says Mur. “There’s a reason why our slogan is ‘Where gamers connect’. We have a nice lounge with four couches where you can play, but also get to know each other. We don’t have a favorite pub on Stratumseind, but we can often be found at Hubble. To eat before a training session or to have a drink after an event.”

The Zephyr chair is happy with the location in Fenix, but wouldn’t mind having a more central location on campus. “It’s spacious here, and after 6 PM, we’re here without non-members. But it would also be nice to have a space we can close off, where we don’t need two people to spend a quarter of an hour setting everything up and another quarter clearing it all away.”