Fulbacho is a website on which you can host sporting events. You can select the kind of sport, the time and place, how many people can join and give an estimation of eventual costs, after which people can join your event. These events can be hosted in a private or public atmosphere.
Nickname
The idea for Fulbacho – a nickname for football – originated from the barriers international (PhD) students experience when they come to Enschede, says Laborde. ‘At first, you don’t know anyone. This is a way to meet people with the same sport interests. In addition, the platform allows the user to see all the events going on in the city, plus it facilitates the task of organizing the activity.’
The most activities are organized on the UT campus, but also at local football club Rigtersbleek and the Performance Factory, according to Laborde. The most popular activities are football, followed by basketball, volleyball and cycling.
Grow and prosper
Laborde is very positive about the facilities at the UT Sport Centre and the offer of sport clubs. Why is this platform established then? ‘The average age of our users is between twenty and thirty years old’, Laborde explains. ‘Some people think they’re too old to join a sports club or they think it takes up too much of their time. We also see that they’re trying out different kinds of sport using Fulbacho to see what fits their interests.’
To Laborde, Enschede is a great city for Fulbacho to grow and prosper. ‘It’s a small town with lots of students coming in and out – also at Saxion. If we grow, we may need to think of changing our organization. In the long term, this could mean that we could show our users which sport facilities are available in the city.’
App
It hasn’t come that far yet, says Laborde. In the short term she also wants to launch a mobile app for the platform, which is now only available as a website. ‘We’re looking for people who could help us with programming. We want to grow as a team, so we can keep on improving Fulbacho.’
