Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Efterskoler – Uniquely Danish
A year at HMI is about adding to everything you already know, meeting new people, developing your personality and facing a number of challenges.
Working with others to help you grow Every year, 163 students live and learn at Hou Maritime Idrætsefterskole (HMI). They only go home at the weekends – and only if they want to. HMI, as the name reveals, is a boarding school with a wide range of exciting opportunities.
Among other things, they will learn to dive, go kayaking and climb the highest trees around. It will be an action-packed adventure, in other words.
By Stephanie Brink Harck | Photos: Hou Maritime Idrætsefterskole
Where HMI stands out from most boarding schools in Denmark, is in its sailing programme. Every student at HMI gets to choose between four different main lines of study, one being sailing. During this programme, students are taught how to maintain a boat, navigate, do boat racing and much more. The role of captain typically rotates between the students and, between scheduled hours, students can look forward to cruising for almost a month. Not bad, is it? Well, neither are the other programmes: outdoor and adventure, football, and handball.
player. Qualified staff structure the daily training and the teams compete against other clubs and schools, helping to boost the team spirit.
Passion as a driving force
Course participants will most certainly develop and improve immensely during the year, so while extraordinary talent and exceptional skills come in handy, they are far from a prerequisite. You just have to be ready for a big commitment, comradeship and high professionalism. To testify to your newly acquired skills, you receive a certificate when you pass the youth coach training and other relevant proficiency tests.
Regardless of which ball game you choose, HMI ensures that you are looked after both as an individual and as a team
Students who choose the outdoor programme will also face great ambitions.
60 | Issue 83 | December 2015
The high level of professionalism offered and expected is epitomised by the facilities HMI provides. The school is located on the Danish coast in a seaport close to the ocean, the beach and the forest. It boasts 25,000-squaremetre facilities, including a music room, a gym, a sports hall, playing fields and a fleet of match race boats, kayaks and surfing equipment. Peter Gordon, the principal at HMI, explains why these four particular sports (sailing, outdoor and adventure, football and handball) were chosen. “It is important to us that the students get competences and strength during the year – something they can benefit from for the rest of their lives. These programmes do exactly that. When sailing, for example,