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Electives

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At Ollerup, we offer a widely varied range of both creative and physical electives – sure to spice up your stay. See the entire selection here!

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Electives at Ollerup

When good ideas for subjects come along, we create space for them while other subjects are occasionally paused. This means that our selection of electives varies from year to year, and that the selection is often determined by our teachers’ greatest passions and competencies. That’s also why you can expect all our electives to be taught by skilled, committed teachers in both our two categories of electives:

Our non-sporting electives, including our creative, crafts-related subjects are imaginatively named electives, and you’ll spend two hours a week on them. We call the physical electives Sports, and you have them either two hours (spring) or four hours (autumn) per week. Both Electives and Sports are divided into two periods, so you have the opportunity to choose again in the middle of the semester. 

What makes a game good? If you’ve ever played a game of Monopoly with your family, you know that board games are no joke. In the elective course Board games, we’ll be trying out a bunch of different forms of board games, playing with and against each other, trying to beat the game and be introduced to a lot of new, exciting ones as well. And even though we play for fun, we also have to find out what makes a game work. We do this by researching the elements of the game and eventually developing our very own board game.

Several of our own favorite games have been developed by former students, and with a little luck, ingenuity and thoughtfulness, your invention could earn a coveted spot in our living room’s Hall of Game Fame.

There is something special about creating something beautiful.

To create a piece of real craftsmanship, something that with a little care will last the rest of your life – that’s what we’ll be doing in our knife workshop.

Following old craft traditions and with old-fashioned tools, we take a blade, a raw piece of wood and refine them into your very own beautiful knife. You don’t have to be a boy scout, a fisherman or an outdoor fanatic, you really just have to feel like creating something with your hands. You will of course be guided through the whole process, have plenty of time to concentrate, talk to those around you, and afterwards you will, of course take home your new, luxurious knife.

Do you enjoy doing something with your hands – and discussing the world in the meantime? Then Cross Stitches and Comments are tailor-made for you! As you have undoubtedly figured out, we focus our attention on embroidering with cross stitches, where we make a lot of fun, beautiful and interesting motifs – at the same time discussing the world. This is an open discussion forum where politics and broader issues are addressed and discussed, and where we can debate and test attitudes while working with our hands. If you think it sounds fun, cozy and educational, we are sure you will enjoy Cross Stitches and Comments – because you’re absolutely right.

In the elective subject ‘ Let’s talk about…’ we’ll be discussing sex and sexuality. It’s time to drag a few taboos into the light, talk openly about our thoughts and feelings and we guarantee that you’ll leave with a better understanding of yourself and your insecurities as well as your sexuality. We are all human, and every one of us think we have weak spots. It’s easy – even normal – to feel shame or guilt about how you think, feel or what you like – When, on the other hand, you feel a sense of shame or guilt over how you think, your desires or some of the characteristics we all have… Then it’s time to address the problem.

It’s always a little anxiety-provoking to share in an open forum, but it really doesn’t have to be. We create a safe space where we can be honest, share our thoughts and discuss both how different and how similar we are. We’re sure you’ll find that you can be honest without being judged for it, and that you’re exactly as you should be.

Since the dawn of time, a burning bonfire and a hot meal of food have been able to gather people. Today, just as back then, you share what you have around a bonfire – and that’s what we’ll be doing in Food and Fire. It is, as the Danish cultural icon Bonderøven says, ‘all about making everything a little simpler’ – not faster and cheaper, but about being together around something. And of course it’s about the fuel we put into ourselves. That’s why we’ll be developing a consciousness about the origins of our food. We’ll be visiting fish farms, agriculture, pick seaweed, taste unexpected (and delicious) things and make puff pastry and pancakes over a campfire. There is plenty of room for vegetarians, vegans and meat eaters alike – and to question it all.

At the same time, we’ll be trying to share some of the stories that are especially suited for sharing when sitting by a campfire, away from all of the world’s distractions. If you think it sounds wildly college-like, you’re absolutely right, and you can be as skeptical as you want – but we guarantee that it’s going to be a lot of fun.

You can expect a small number of extra hours when excursions or bonfire evenings are on the menu. We’ll make all arrangements around  the food and the fire – the stories’ll be coming all by themselves.

Want to learn a digital, visual craft?

If you think photography, video, graphics and design are the coolest, MEDIA is your new favorite elective. We work with the production of visual material, and this means in particular that you can try out photography, video, photoshop, video editing and graphic design. Everything that catches the eye and maintains your attention – whether it hangs on walls, websites or social media. And it all starts with learning how to use a camera – both the one on your phone and a ‘real’ camera.

We start by peeling from the very outermost layer, explaining about ISO, aperture and shutter speed before we go into depth with how you can use it to capture cool moments in sharp focus, and as storytelling. The elective also functions as Ollerup’s own mini-agency, and therefore during the process we’ll be produceing material for Ollerup’s social media and website, making photo, video and graphic material. We’ll be covering all our major events, playing and giving you an understanding of the technical elements behind the visual – and it’s exactly as nerdy and cozy as it sounds.

You also get the opportunity to use the equipment on an ongoing basis, both when we cover events and when you feel like nerding around on your own.

In music, we’ll be doing band practice for every level. You and your fellow players will be taught both the craft of the instruments and get to choose the repertoire we’ll be working with throughout the course. That means that you’ll become more proficient on your instrument, gain a broader sense of music and will, of course, have an awesome time. We’ll be finishing the elective with a voluntary, short concert for the other students, but the clear focus is to have to have a great time working with music.

Maybe you want to develop something you have already learned. Maybe you want to try your hand at something new, and maybe you really just want to have fun – no matter what, the joy of music and community go really well together.

Knitting is no longer reserved for old ladies and needlework teachers.

Long before knitting got its well-deserved resurrection and became a fashion phenomenon, knitting was a craft, an opportunity to be alone with one’s thoughts and an obvious opportunity to create something with your hands. We’ll be learning how to knit, both because it’s great to create something, to accomplish something with your hands, and especially because knitting is a meditative and amazingly fun craft. Along the way, of course, we discuss both big and small things in our lives, but in the end you will come from here with a new craft and your very own knitting trophy to be proudly displayed.

Outdoor life is the elective subject for every nature-lover. If you want to experience nature up close, and if you don’t need wild activities to go outside. Outdoor Life has a few obvious similarities with our Adventure / Outdoor elective, but the subject is actually fundamentally different. Here we won’t be going at a furious pace, but instead focus more on living and being outside. We are going to spend the night in nature, and after having built our bivouac in the snow, having lit the fire, and cooked and eaten a wonderful meal, it’ll all of a sudden make sense, why we’re even doing it. In outdoor life, we will see, feel, feel, smell and taste nature, simply because it’s amazing. It’s also traditional to build our very own Finnish sauna and that’s always a great time!

Sports electives

Adventure / Outdoors is the wilder version of the outdoor life you may already know and love. We’ll be going out into nature in all kinds of weather, get the wind in our faces and try our hand at experiences that just don’t exist in an indoor version. Of course we’ll be lighting fires and socializing, but we’ll also be focusing on experiences that go fast. We’ll rappel, kayak, climb, try high jumping, wear wetsuits, have an insane RHIB trip and work through a wide range of cool outdoor activities.

If you think that sounds wild, you’re absolutely right – it is. We promise, however, that it won’t be more dangerous than you can handle, so don’t be afraid that it’ll be too much. If you are into the outdoors, cooking, bivouac and Finnish sauna, but don’t necessarily want to climb, rappel and be wild, the elective Outdoor Life is a good alternative for you.

Tumbling is crazy. Pure speed, all backwards tricks, insane twisting and an unlikely amount of rotations. Everyone crawls before they tumble – and in Basis Tumbling we make sure that you get a handle on your whipbacks before we go for the Miller.

If you immediately understood that reference, you’re well on your way – and if you still know nothing about tumbling, don’t be nervous; It’ll come along beautifully once we meet in our training facility – and that’s exactly what we’ll be working on in Basic Tumbling. We are quite proud to have some enormously skilled instructors teaching our Gymnastics courses, and you’ll be in the very best of hands when they teach you the technical, theoretical and physical aspects of tricks, boosting your gymnastics development.

We can’t guarantee you a spot at the olympics, but we can promise you that regardless of your level – whether you are brand new to gymnastics or you have national team experience, you are very, very welcome. It’s not about medals, it’s about becoming a more skilled tumbler, being able to structure and enjoy your training – and it’s about having fun!

If you want to develop an intelligent body, and if you think dancing and rhythmic gymnastics are the coolest, our Dance course is perfect for you. We work with a variety of genres, music and expressions and we create strong, intelligent, rhythmic bodies. If you are already on the Dance or Dance / Rhythm profile course, you may experience a bit of repetition in the teaching, and you’ll see that Dance as an elective is a little less theoretical and a little more practical. That’s simply because we have less time together.

You will also experience – no matter what line subject you have chosen – growing stronger and becoming a more skilled dancer, no matter what level you start from. You will be taught by skilled teachers and develop a new, broader and deeper understanding of what dancing is – both for you and in relation to rhythmic gymnastics. If it sounds a little advanced, don’t worry. It’s fancy talk for amazing teachers, a lot of out-of-breath giggle fits and a fantastic physical experience.

Football is play and action combined with technique, tactics and overview , where you are totally tuned in, have to make split second decisions and your team relies on you – and it’s brilliant. In our elective Football class, we’ll be working on all of it. You get the chance to to practice dazzling tricks, fine tune your shooting technique and of course play a lot of actual football.

When we’re not practising at Olympen (Mount Olympus – our huge outdoor ball field) we’ll be either in our stadium or in Ollerup Arena, where we play ball andgo through exercises. We play mix, meaning that all our elective students play together – and our skilled teachers train you at your level, so you can maintain and develop your skills. At the same time, we focus on maintaining the fun aspects of the ball game. This means that you’ll find room for ambition and for a break from your normal, sporty daily life at Ollerup.

It’s cool enough to look big and strong – but it’s cooler to actually be strong. Functional training is about being able to use your body for the things your body is built for. We workout with movements that follow your body’s natural range of motion, giving you a toned, functional, healthy and strong body.

We use simple gear, train TRX, use free weights, kettlebells, bulgarian bags and our body weight because Functional Training is about putting function above form – making sure that our bodies can more than ‘only’ be aesthetically pleasing, and that our muscles are suitable for more kinds of movements than just the heavy lifts that typically dominate a regular training routine. Inspired by the body’s own composition and natural movement patterns, you will experience an interesting, hard and above all functional workout pattern that improves your knowledge about your body and its functions, which will be of huge benefit for you after your return home.

In addition, you will gain experience and understanding of how to train in the long term in a healthy and effective way, and we hope this motivates you to become – and remain – agile and strong.

Because honestly – what’s the point of having big muscles if they aren’t good for anything?

Martial arts is one of the oldest, most demanding, physical subjects. Every year we challenge our students’ physical courage when we give them a broad introduction to everything that is fighting – whether it’s done standing, lying down, with hands or feet.

Our highly skilled martial arts instructors go through a lot of different genres including boxing, karate, judo, brazilian jiu jitsu and much, much more. You get a broad, MMA-like education, get to know your body and get pushed to your limits when we spar and fight against each other. If you want to challenge yourself, build your physical self-confidence and try something completely new and exciting – then martial arts is definitely for you!

Do you trust the environment? Do you have the necessary technique and strength? And do you know how to fall? Don’t worry – all 3 parts will come when you start in our parkour hall.

Parkour looks dangerous. The performers go at breakneck speed, throwing themselves from rooftops to rooftops, jump from insane heights, and it’s almost always terrifyingly close to going horribly, terribly wrong. At least that’s how it looks on Youtube.

Reality, as you may know, is not entirely like Youtube – in our case, it’s actually better. In Ollerup’s parkour hall, we have created an environment in which you can throw yourself around, with softer floors and drop mats underneath, so you don’t get hurt. We experience very, very few injuries – and we’d like to keep it that way. That being said, we work extensively on our fall technique, and try to handle our emotions when we get afraid of doing something.

Obviously no one wants to get hurt, but few people know how to deal with fear of being injured. This fear is in itself rational, but sometimes the amount of it doesn’t correspond with reality. We’re going to fix that. If this fear is not fully calibrated, we let it slow us down even though we actually have all the physical preconditions needed to experience something new. We push ourselves to our limits and get exactly the experience of success you deserve when you dare to throw yourself into something new. 

At SvendborgLab, we invest in our bodies.

The concept has been developed at Ollerup, and aims to ensure that you can continue to deliver and perform at a high level. An all too common problem for young athletes is that you underestimate the level of wear and tear that your sport has on your body. This often results in frequent injuries, overexertions, pain and possibly even forcing you to give up your sport. We help you avoid that.

Through screening, feedback and training, we  strengthen your body and agility, giving you some very real tools that can keep you going for a long time. During the elective, you become aware of your body’s signals, allowing you to make sensible choices about your training and participation in competitions, but also helping you keep your body healthy and strong, so that you can continue to develop and stay in your sport.

SvendborgLab’s purpose is to train you to make wise choices , so you can take your knowledge with you on your teams, whether it be in competition or otherwise. The purpose is  to keep more talented athletes active and injury free.

It is a misconception that you can’t wear your body out when you are young – and many only discover the error too late. This is when the damage happens, and you can risk suffering for it for the rest of your life. SvendborgLab is the decision you will appreciate having made – both in many years and when the damage was dangerously close.

Ollerup has Northern Europe’s oldest indoor swimming pool. And we still use it every day for both training and play – especially in our swimming elective. Of course, we train in order to become more proficient at swimming, and even though we train with purpose, there is nothing elitist about our training. It’s about creating technical competence, working in a focused manner and staying aware of maintaining a comfortable environment.

Whether you come from an elite swimming background, whether you are actually a little uneasy around water, or whether you ‘just’ want to swim for the sake of exercise and fun, you are 100% welcome. A swimming pool is possibly the world’s best playground, and we are very focused on having a good time.

Volleyball is more strategic than you think – and it actually places enormous demands on communication, teamwork and of course coordination. It has traditionally been used as a team building activity because it’s one of those sports where a single talent on the team is not enough – it requires communication, taking responsibility and staying focused. The wild popularity of the game can possibly also be explained by the undeniable fact that it is hilarious.

We try to play on our outdoor beach volleyball courts as much as we can, but of course switch to indoor training when the weather is against us. We use the competitive element in support of the core high school teaching, so we get the best of the game itself, train our communication skills and of course get to deliver some furious smashes past our opponents’ defences.

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