Our ECA and BISCAP sporting programmes enable our talented coaches to have extra time with the students and this is beginning to show in team performances.

Volleyball

On Thursday our girls’ volleyball team ended the season with the same enthusiasm with which they started. The game against SAS Puxi was challenging but each of our players performed to the best of their ability, bringing another victory for BISS Puxi (2-1).

The team has showed admirable progress since the beginning of the season, and benefitted from a combination of the talent of each member, for example Hannah’s amazing spikes, Kana’s great digs, Linda’s incredible savings and Barbara’s strategic placing of the ball when setting it over. Also, players such as Simone and Julina, and the rest of the team, performed outstandingly well, helping each other out in difficult times and cheering the team on.

Saturday saw Miss Bouttete and Mr Hallalilo take their respective volleyball teams to the SISAC tournaments. Both sets of teams were able to use some of the skills learned this term, with our girls’ team really being able to show what they are made of, with a third place finish. A very proud  but disappointed Miss Bouttete felt that her girls had not had the luck they deserved and is confident they will do well in this weekend’s ACAMIS tournament in Xiamen.  Well done and best of luck to both teams for the weekend.

SISAC Tennis
Last Saturday we hosted our first tennis tournament on the new courts. On a bright and breezy afternoon the new tennis courts played host to some fantastic matches. More than 50 students took part, from ten international schools in Shanghai.

Players were grouped in four categories; boys’ singles, girls’ singles, boys’ doubles and girls’ doubles. Our very own tennis star, Nicole Tan, stole the show and claimed the girls’ singles title. Her devastating ground strokes proved too much for her opponents as she cruised to victory, beating some quality players along the way. This was especially impressive because Nicole was one of the youngest competitors.  Max Chao and Louie Evans-Kelly competed in the singles, and Wai Yen Wong and Chloe Dorrell played girls’ doubles. Despite not reaching the finals, they played some solid tennis throughout the tournament. A special mention must go to Max Chao who really showed class in his shots as he beat the eventual boys’ singles finalist in a tight set. Congratulations to all, for their efforts on the day, and we look forward to the next tournament.

Swimming
The Shanghai swim league held its second event of this academic year last weekend.  Hosted by SCIS, the event was split over two days with the BISS Lions swim team competing in all age groups.

Saturday saw good fortune for the Under 10s who all raced hard and achieved some excellent personal best times.  Some new  swimmers in the under 8 age group, Jack Lee, Jasper Hanson, Sienna Dawson and Antonio Carvalho showed lots of courage to compete in all four strokes, recording their first times in a competitive race.  It was the experience of Alard Schroeder in the 10 and under age group that made the biggest impact for the BISS Lions on the day; achieving a multitude of successes in all four strokes and earning him third place boy over all.

Sunday’s BISS Lions swimmers were out in force with good solid performances and personal bests from the whole team.  Both the girls and the boys on the day provided healthy competition for swimmers from the other eight competing schools.  BISS Lions achieved a very positive 5th place in the boys team competition and 7th in the girls.  

The performance of the weekend was saved until late on Sunday.  Lion Beck, Daniel Tafalski, Johnny Yeng and Jason Chang took on the rest of the Shanghai swim league schools in the 4x50m freestyle relay.  The heat was furiously paced and very tight but the Lions recorded an honourable victory over SAS Puxi and Pudong.  There was a second heat following the Lion’s heat which, after the times had been recorded, placed the boys in fourth ahead of SCIS and REGO and three other teams.

Many thanks to all the swimmers who represented the school so admirably, and to the parents for all their support over the weekend. We look forward to your continued support in future events.

Cross Country
Senior Championships, SAS Pudong
The senior championship team, comprising of Daniel, Alex, Max, Charlie and Ayaka entered the event with high hopes. The 5 kilometre course should have been no challenge for our elite runners but disaster struck early with both Max and Charlie picking up injuries in the first 3K. However, both runners soldiered on to complete the course. This put more pressure on Alex and Daniel who both finished in respectable positions. The highlight for BISS was Ayaka’s performance. She won the girls event with a 40 second margin, a great win by a great athlete.

Junior Championships, SAS Puxi
We took a slightly smaller team this year but those who ran put in strong performances and ran some new personal best times. Anne Zimmer in Year 8 competed in a very strong female field and was able to take a very impressive 4th place. The pick of the boys was Ryan Johnson, in his first year of cross country competition. He took 6th place in a very large and quick Junior (year 6 & 7) field. Congratulations to all our runners and I wish them all the success for the athletics season later in the year. Please visit the Sport area of the school’s Moodle for more information about CISSA competitions.

Football
Boys Junior 1 and 2
Whilst the excitement was unravelling at SCIS Mr. Joy, Mr. Rhodes and Mr Kelly travelled to BISS Pudong for football matches.  The games were extremely competitive with all players working hard for their team mates. Things looked good for us at half-time with our Junior 2 team leading 3-1 and our Junior 1 team drawing 0-0. However, things turned for the worst for the Junior 2 team in the second half with Pudong scoring 3 unanswered goals to take the game 4-3. Special mentions need to go out for a number of players; a super display of continuous running from Remi, Paul and Luis and Emilio. Alvern positioned himself in front of goal perfectly and exceptional goal keeping from Nicholas, who kept the team in the game throughout the match.Things faired better for the Junior 1team who played out a hard fought 1-1 draw. Pudong took the lead early in the second half but Puxi pulled it back with a great long range finish from Edi Bodea. Honourable mention to Ryan Johnson for some very solid defending.Both teams were congratulated by the opposition coaches for their attitude and team ethic.

Tuesday evening saw the year 5 and 6 team up again agianst  SAS and SSIS.  In the first game BISS won with goals from Edi Bodea 2 and Erik Anderson. BISS settled quickly and soon established their passing game. An impressive team performance, with an honourable mention for Erik Anderson for some exceptional dribbling and shooting. Our second gaem saw us see off SSIS 2-0 with more goals from Edi adn Erik.  Overall a very solid performance against a bigger SSIS team. BISS kept possession neatly and took their chances well. Honourable mention to Alard Schroeder for some fine centre half play. Exceptional whole team performances...still unbeaten!

The Junior 2 team had a tougher evening against the SAS and SCIS A teams. Both games were contested well and the team made great passes throughout both games. Some great goal keeping from Joseph as well as some excellent surging runs from Luis and vocal captaincy from Paul. The score in both games was not reflective of how the team played. A good team spirit was maintained and a growing awareness of positioning on the field and better communication between players were the strong points to take away from the matches.

Secondary Girls CISSA 1 and 2
Thursday saw our girls start their campaign in an impressive manner with two wins and two draws from the four matches played; the general consensus being that the draws would have been wins if the games had lasted a bit longer. Both teams beat SSIS and finished with goal-less draws against SAS. Both Mr Thorley and I are hoping for good things from these girls this year.