Austrian Young Physicists' Tournament —
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Opinions and Experiences

Here you will find the opinions and reports on the experiences of some persons who have already been involved with the AYPT (and IYPT).
The texts have been written by the respective persons themselves.

Camilla Ladinig

• Participant in the AYPT 2004 and 2005
• Timekeeper (Fight Assistant) at the AYPT 2006
• Member of the Austrian National Team at the IYPT 2004 in Brisbane (Australia) and the IYPT 2005 in Winterthur (Switzerland)

Camilla Ladinig

I took part in the AYPT three times – I started out as a member of our school team, and I ended up as being a timekeeper. AYPT was more to me than the mere physics contest. During the preparation phase and later during the contests, I formed friendships with people I probably wouldn’t have gotten to know this closely without the AYPT. The joint elaboration of the problems links the team members together, people learn not to accept throwbacks, but instead continue to work with motivation. Although during the competition every single participant naturally gives his or her very best for the team to be as far ahead as possible, you still feel like being in a big family of people with the same interests. Due to the framing program, it’s possible to meet people from other schools and other countries, and I didn’t just learn a lot about physics, I also broadened my horizon. Although I couldn’t participate in this year’s competition because of my graduation, I am still in contact with young people from Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. The IYPT, which I was allowed to attend twice because I got called into the Austrian team, also affects my contemporary life. Without it, I would never have made plans to go to Poland for a year! In preparation for the international competitions we were supported by the professors of the University of Vienna, and we gained positive impressions concerning the cohesion of students and teachers also.

Thus, I don’t see the AYPT and also the IYPT just as a chance to prove oneself in a team, but first and foremost as a chance for development of character, and I can only recommend to everyone to give this sensation of unity a try!

Ulrike Regner

• Participant in the 8^th AYPT 2006
• Team-Captain of the Austrian National Team at the IYPT 2006, Bratislava (Slovakia)

Ulrike Regner

Among the many competitions and events that I took part in during high school, the AYPT and, connected with it, the IYPT have become something very special for me. Working on the problems with my team was already a very creative and productive process which took almost the entire school year. In the last stage of preparation and even during the national competition it came out that, as it is typical for high school students, we worked much better as we were under pressure and that our productivity raised like an exponential function with the time. The two days in Leoben can be called the busiest of my life, but I surly have hardly ever learned as much as I did there in such a short period of time: of course also concerning physical facts, but mainly teamwork skills, working management and time management, presentation skills and the use of the English language. The really amazing team that I worked with did a great job in working together and motivating each other in a way that a high school student can only dream of in everyday’s life, and due to that we had a great and unexpected success being the best Austrian team.

Motivated by this experience, I started working for the international competition in Bratislava. Unfortunately there were some problems concerning the organisation before the competition so that we absolutely didn’t succeed in forming such a qualified and committed team as international representatives. We tried to make the best of it, though, and in fact the preparation time at the university of Vienna, where professors helped us working on our solutions, lead us to a great progress for both the competition and for ourselves. The competition itself included many new experiences, a foreign country (though Slovakia wasn’t too exciting for us, coming from Austria…), many new people from all over the world and of course the very many nice and convenient hours we spent with great people that we will never ever forget!

Georg Hofferek

• Participant of the AYPTs 1999, 2000 and 2001
• Participant of the IYPT 1999, Vienna
• Team-Captain of the Austrian National Team at the IYPT 2000 in Budapest (Hungary) und 2001 in Espoo (Finland)
• Austrian teamleader at the IYPT 2004 in Brisbane (Australien)

Georg Hofferek

Summing up all my experiences with the AYPT and IYPT in just a few sentences is a difficult challenge, because never before have I encountered a competition with so many facets. Already during the preparations phase I learned that team-work is much more than just a word and that one needs quite some skill to organize and execute good cooperation. Despite some uncertainties in the beginning my colleagues and I had a lot of fun dealing with the challenge. We especially liked the fact that we had been granted quite a lot of freedom and autonomy from our teacher. And even if I spent a lot of my leisure time in the science lab, I would not want to miss a single second.

It was also a great honour for me to be part of the Austrian National Team, representing our country at the international tournament, the IYPT. Especially the years 2000 and 2001, in which I led the National Team as Team-Captain to quite good final results (in 2001 we missed the Finals by only 0.6 points), make me proud in retrospect.

Furthermore there were countless occasions on which I thought of the many things which I had learned through the AYPT and IYPT. Physics knowledge, scientific procedures, English skills (especially technical terms), rhetorics, to name just a few. In many situations I was very happy that I had already made these experiences and had already gathered these skills.

Moreover I got to know a lot of really nice people from Austria and from all over the rest of the world. So for me it was only naturally to keep loyal to the tournament also after my High School graduation. And so since that time I have been involved in the organization and execution of the AYPT.

The structure of the AYPT and IYPT has fascinated me from the beginning. Even today, when I watch a fight as part of the audience, I am itching to stand up and act as the Opponent one more time.

In conclusion I can say that the AYPT and IYPT are among the most formative experiences of my life and I advise everyone who is interested in physics, science and research not to miss this great experience.

High School Thesis "The Experience IYPT"

Georg Hofferek, former AYPT and IYPT participant has written a High School Thesis on the IYPT as a part of his High School graduation. This thesis explains the IYPT from a participant's point of view, contains some Reports to IYPT problems of the years 1999 and 2000 and gives tips and advice for newcomers.