St. Andrews Primary Panthers set off on Thursday 29th May for the Primary FOBISIA Games in Vietnam. The Games take place annually between 9 schools from Asia and are a great event to showcase the abilities the children have in 4 different sports: teeball, football, athletics and swimming.
The Panthers went into the competition after 2 years as overall champions so expectations for success were high. They did not disappoint!
The Games kicked off with an Athletics event which saw the Panthers on the podium an unbelievable number of times. Particular highlights were the 4×100 relay where we finished with 5 golds and a silver medal in 6 races. Understandably this speed translated into the individual sprint races which brought plenty of gold medals too. We knew the Panthers were quick, but we also found they could run long distances too with golds in the long distance events also. It was apparent the Panthers were the dominant force in the Athletics.
Year 6 girls celebrate their victory in the football competition.
Swimming was less one sided with St. Andrews vying with Bangkok Prep to see who would be top dogs (or cats) in the pool. It ended up being too difficult to call. Again the podium was graced on a large number of occasions and the children showed great courage and determination to race so soon after the grueling morning of Athletics.
After a night of indulgence on the hotel buffet and a good sleep the children were ready for teeball on day 2.
Eve and Maren from year four celebrate their victory.
Another near perfect day saw the Panthers win 7 of 8 games across the 3 age groups and were 1 game away from gold in both U10 and U11, while 2 games away in U9 before a thunderstorm called an early halt to proceedings. Unfortunately there was no other time to complete the competition and no winners were announced. However, with a record matched by none it was clear that the Panthers were the team to beat. As an aside the U9’s, U10’s are unbeaten in 2 years now.
Football was left to the last day and all fingers and toes were crossed that the competition would finish before the inevitable afternoon deluge. Fortunately, only 5 minutes after a full day of competition the heavens opened.
At this point the Panthers had many admirers and coaches were wondering if they could better last year’s total of 3 golds and 2 silvers on the football field.
Across the 6 competitions a total of 29 games were played with the Panthers racking up an amazing 24 wins and 2 draws. This left them chasing 5 golds in 5 finals. The first 4 finals were all hard fought affairs with the Panthers coming out on top of all 4 by the odd goal or 2. The fifth final proved 1 too far and although the U10 boys dominated they couldn’t find a breakthrough and lost the final on penalties.
Four golds and a silver medal meant we had beaten our record of the previous year and was a great way to finish off the 3 day event. Other highlights in football included an 8-0 semi-final win for the U10 boys, Plaeng from the U11 girls scoring 14 goals in 5 games, the U10 girls winning 6 games with a total record of 12 goals scored and none conceded (not one shot on goal from an opposition player!).
Overall it was 3 days of awesome competition and performance both individual and as a team from the Primary Panthers and they can be rightly proud of their achievements. Once again they can call themselves the (unofficial) Overall Primary FOBISIA Champions.
Thanks to all the parents who travelled and gave the children such a great boost with their support.
Nick from year 3 powers across the finishing line.
