In November, St Andrews International School, Green Valley hosted the annual U15 Group C FOBISSEA Sports Games. The competition comprises of three intense days of sports between seven schools from across Asia. Schools from Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo and Malaysia converged on Green Valley to compete in Athletics, Swimming, Basketball and Football.
The first day was packed full of swimming and athletics events in which children competed as individuals for medals but saw their performances add points to their team totals to distinguish which school would be the overall winners in each sport.
Paula scores against GIS/ELC.
There were many memorable performances from St Andrews’ students throughout the day such as Kao’s 9.11m throw in the shot put, Yutung’s speedy 400m, Georgie’s dehydration defying runs and Im’s performance in the pool. The girls found the going difficult in the pool and could only manage a credible fifth place finish against some strong female swimmers while the boys were extremely unlucky to miss out on first place by just one point.
However, there was to be a lot more success in athletics where the girls took a very narrow 1.5 point victory to take home the first place trophy and the boys were way ahead of the field finishing 18 points in front of their nearest rivals! It was an absolutely fantastic way to finish the day with both teams crowned champions and the cheers and echoes of St. Andrews supporters were heard around the stadium as the teams collected their trophies.
The weekend was to be split into separate boys and girls’ basketball and football competitions and they would bring both joy and despair in equal measures for the St. Andrews teams. Rob King was coaching the girl’s football on Saturday and here is his report:
Mr Holloway with the U15 St Andrews Boys football team.
On Saturday the girls competed in a 5 team football tournament. In the round robin competition the girls were undefeated drawing two games and winning two, meaning that they finished in 2nd place in the pool. In all the group games the girls performed magnificently, dominating most games, but just failing to find the finishing touch in front of goal. The highlights of the group stages were Paula’s excellent last minute volley to beat GIS/ELC and Mary’s net busting free kick against Bangkok Prep School.
In the semi finals, St Andrews again had most of the play and the better of the chances to win the game but could not convert these chances into goals. The resulting penalty shoot out was nerve-wracking and KIS/SIS managed to score the vital goal to put them into the final.
Kao Paputsaro, a student at St Andrews, reports on the boys basketball event:
In the first game the St Andrews team were nervous, but after a team talk by Mr LaMantia the boys went back on the court and won with an impressive score of 16-7. Their winning streak continued in the next match where they beat GIS with a final score of 19-7. This meant that St Andrews had now qualified for the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, the tactics and game plans changed. The boys changed their defensive game plan from the 1-3-1 which was frequently used in the previous game to a 1-2-1. This new game plan meant there would be one person free, and that person would be marking the opposition team’s star player man to man. The new game plan worked and the boys advanced to the finals with the score 21 – 4.
In the finals, the boys faced KIS International School. The same defensive game plan was played, and there was much more for the boys to prove to their supporters. The game was very close and competitive. Yutung Cheng was the star of the match and they were to win 22-16 and hold the U15 basketball champion trophy up with pride.
On the Sunday the sports were reversed so that the boys were finishing the competition with football while the girls played basketball. In the boys football Mr Holloway commented on one of the games: I have been involved with FOBISSEA for five years, and it is no exaggeration when I say this game was one of the best performances ever given by a St Andrews team.
After some spectacular play the team managed to get into the finals. It proved to be a tactical battle against St Stephens School. There was some fantastic play but no goals were scored, and during the extra time St Stephens managed to break away and score a winning goal.
In the girls basketball, Kevin McGee reports: The girls’ basketball team put up a tremendous effort during the basketball competition eventually coming third overall. Our 12 girls played with heart, skill and determination throughout the tournament. During the pool games we had strong wins over SIS 14 – 10 and Bangkok Prep 16 – 6. We therefore came top of our pool which was a great result. Our wins were built on strong defence and teamwork.
In the semi final we played against the talented KIS team. In a see-saw contest we eventually suffered a heartbreak one point loss 10 – 9. Although disappointed with the loss, in true St. Andrews style our team collected itself together and focused on the match for the bronze medal. The girls played with skill and determination to in beating Bangkok Prep 12 – 4 to earn a well deserved bronze medal. Well done girls, you played a great tournament.
Overall the competition was a huge success for our teams and had the points all been added together for the 3 days of competition we would have been crowned U15 FOBISSEA champions. As it is we will make do with 3 out of the 8 trophies, 2 second place finishes and a third place finish. A very commendable result!
