BSME U13 Netball Girls
Yet another busy week of sport for our TES pupils. But it started with a bang courtesy of our U13 Netball girls. Over the weekend, our girls were in Abu Dhabi playing Netball against some of the best schools in the Middle East. After their loss to NES last week in the ISACK final, the girls were looking for some wins, and wins they certainly delivered! Win after win was indeed what they did over the weekend, meaning they came home to cheering parents in the airport as the U13 BSME Netball champions!
The 8 girls who travelled- Emily, Zeina, Maisy, Mia, Sienna, Angelina, Josefin and Darcy- gave it their all for 2 days in 30 degrees of heat and with limited shade. The tournament was a round robin, so all 10 schools competing had to play each other.
Day 1:
The girls had 6 matches to play today, each of two 10 minute halves with a 2 minute pause for half time. Of the 6, they won 5, narrowly losing to the favourites Brighton College, Abu Dhabi. But, by the end of play on day one, the girls had scored 86 goals and only conceded 19 and sat second overall in the table. The girls were well and truly on fire and left the tournament feeling excited and confident. They beat BISAK- the host school for January’s U13 Games - and BISAD, which are both top sporting schools in Abu Dhabi, as well as BISR, Gems Cambridge Abu Dhabi and the Modern English School Cairo. Their performances on day 1, meant that they had given themselves a very good chance of making the play-offs, and more importantly the final! What a superb day of netball it was for our girls, they really did play out of their skins and threw everything into each of their six games.
Day 2:
After fabulous Friday, a long day of intense heat and netball, the girls woke up ready and raring to go once again. We knew today, that winning all 3 of our group matches would see us safely through to the final and a chance of playing for the number one spot. The girls started the day well once again, beating Compass International school Doha 14-2, which was then followed by a very comfortable 17-1 win over Al Yasmina school. That meant it came down to the last game against tough opponents from the BISJ. A win would mean that our place in the final was guaranteed. The girls raised their game and won convincingly 14-4. Everyone in the TES camp -coaches, parents and players - were on a roll and now firmly focused on that final.
The final was to be played against Brighton College, who yesterday had beaten us 9-6. However having lost to their rivals BISAK 6-5 earlier in the day, we went through to the final top of the league on goal difference- a whopping 130 goals scored meant that we were number seeds going into the final. The girls raised their game once again, exceeding all expectations and beat the host school 11-3 in a sensational final! Coaches, supporters and players were jubilant around the court as TES were crowned as the first ever BSME Netball champions. They won the game comfortably and did not give an inch, to a truly disheartened Brighton College. A truly fantastic achievement and thoroughly deserved after the hours of training the girls had put in. Now- time to prepare for the U13 Games- can we do the double and win the U13 Netball final once again?
Special mentions must be given to Zeina, Angelina and Sienna, who were voted on separate occasions as the player of the match by the umpires, however Darcy managed to secure a unanimous vote from the umpires and was voted as the U13 player of the tournament- an outstanding achievement! Well done to our girls- you truly were a joy to watch and coach!
ISACK Boys Swim Gala 2
Our U13 boys have done it again! Some absolutely outstanding swims from our boys have meant that not only did they win the U13 category in this round, but they are also the overall U13 swimming champions in ISACK this year. Truly excellent from all of our boys, ranging from Years 5-8. You did yourselves and the school really proud. Huge congratulations to Maxwell, Sam, Christian, Max, Owain, Orestis. Also a big well done to Alex, Truman, Thomas and Tadros who represented the school in the U15 age category- superb effort from you all.
A huge congratulations to all of the superb swimmers and their coaches- a job well done!
KFSAC Year 3/4/5/6 Swim Gala
Monday afternoon saw the first of the two annual KFSAC swimming galas, once again hosted here at TES. As usual, TES put out the strongest team possible and thanks to the efforts of both swimmers and coaches, TES were able to win round 1 of the gala! The Year 3 /4girls squad were dominant and managed to claim first place in their age category, with the 3 /4 boys finishing second in theirs, the year 5 /6 boys winning their category and the 5 /6 girls finishing third in theirs. Thanks to some awesome swimming, TES won by a clear margin of 21 points. 19 children from across years 3-6 participated, and all of them should be extremely proud of their efforts in securing TES first place. A big well done to their coaches Ms Chal and Ms Grace for their consistently big efforts in developing the children.
ISACK U13 Boys 5 a side football tournament
After last week’s big win against KES, our U13 boys were feeling confident going into the final. However, double champions was not meant to be. A disappointing day for our TES boys in the 5-a-side football competition at KES, despite an excellent start against BSK, where the boys won comfortably 5-1. Owain scoring a hat-trick and Cassius and Orestis adding a goal each. In the second game ESF completely dominated the TES team and won 3-0, it was a poor effort from the TES players and a complete contrast from the effort and attitude they displayed in the ISACK competition they won last week. Game 3 also finished in defeat as NES won 2-1 after leading 1-0 early before the TES players fought back to equalise. Benjamin in goal with Omar and Cassius defending were kept busy and unfortunately the attack of Owain, Max, Orestis and Danny were unable to convert their chances and TES fell short. During game 4 against TEA, the boys were unable to convert their chances into goals, and after falling 1-0 behind, had to settle for a 1-1 draw in the end. The best performance of the afternoon, came once again during their match against KES. Unfortunately their efforts ended in a 1-0 defeat to the eventual winners of the tournament. The boys played well and worked hard but came up just short, if they had shown this kind of character and effort in the earlier games we would have been playing for the medal positions. Overall, the boys finished in fifth position, but as they say, you win some, you lose some- the boys will no doubt come back strong again as they begin preparations for the BSME U13 Games. Hard luck boys- let’s look to the future.