ESB Christmas Party for Juniors 2025

Once again, Forever was beautifully lit with glowing Christmas lights and festive decorations, the work of some very busy little elves. It created the perfect warm and cheerful atmosphere for ESB’s junior players’ Christmas party.

The party kicked off with a lively Christmas-themed warm-up led by Jenna-tonttu (the elf). With energetic music and smiles all around, the warm-up got everyone moving and muscles warmed, just like a real badminton athlete would do! It was also the perfect prep for the games that followed and the grand finale: a “Tonttu-Letkajenkka”

Last year, ESB juniors made history by breaking the world team record for fastest gingerbread eating. This year, they were ready to beat it again.

Now! 1, 2, 3, 4… even the official timekeeper was sweating from all the crunching and munching … 5, 6, 7… and finally… a new world record!

9.55 seconds - beating the old time by an impressive 0.45 seconds!

Next, it was time for some badminton fun and Christmas activity stations. The juniors took part in target serving, tried out the shuttle robot, did some Christmas crafts and “Coach Bombing” and of course, played badminton in the dark with only Christmas lights lighting up the court. The coaches were kept busy with eager players testing their skills — and a few were spotted at the Christmas treat table too!

The youngest party visitor had just turned one year old, and the oldest… well over 700 years

- Santa Claus himself!

"When we heard Santa’s footsteps, everyone turned to look and started singing “Joulupukki Joulupukki”, and finally Santa arrived with his big bag of gifts".

Judging by the size and weight of the gift bag, the kids had clearly been well-behaved this year.

After handing out the presents, Santa decided to try his hand at badminton.

“He was really good, but I still beat him,” one young player proudly said.

It seems Santa truly caught the badminton bug, staying on the court showing off his skills and playing matches for nearly an hour! A great thing too, it gave the reindeer some extra rest before their next magical sleigh ride.

Pictures

A great evening in a good company - ESB style!

Merry Christmas!