Champions Are Made
Competition. It's what drives us forward, pushes boundaries. You know how you feel when there's something at stake, nerves, a racing heart, how do you, let alone those competing, handle the pressure, the elation of scoring, the dejection of conceding? Life is a series of ups and downs. We don’t always get what we want and, let’s be honest, there’s plenty of times we miss out on what we need.
Out in the Middle East and Asia, two large organisations exist that provide students of elite international schools the opportunity to mix and compete against others from across the continent in sport and music. FOBISIA (Federation of British International Schools in Asia) and BSME (British Schools in the Middle East) allow students to put into practice all they have learned in their lessons and apply skills they have been developing in a manner usually reserved for elite athletes.
There are other acronyms out there who enable schools to do likewise in their corner of the world CEESA (Central and Eastern European Schools Association) works with schools from Austria to Azerbaijan.
These federations help to build a community of schools who share common interests and beliefs, usually the way they teach their curriculum. Schools don't have the support of local authorities and clusters of schools like they do back in the UK, so this gives schools an opportunity to mix and share ideas, information and enrich the lives of their students.
On April the 14th and 15th, we wanted to give this experience to some of our students in Year 6 and below. So, in January, all students' athletic prowess was recorded, from sprints to longer distances, jumps and throws. Swimming times were taken, skills were observed in basketball and football, as we set about creating a boys and girls team to take part in a two day tournament that would bring schools from Kazan and Moscow to St Petersburg to compete against ourselves and three local schools.
Day One kicked off with a swimming event with two heats for each stroke at both 25 and 50 metres, culminating in a 4 x 25 metre freestyle relay. After powering up on lunch, action switched to athletics. Track and field events ran simultaneously, starting with the 100 metre sprint on the track and tennis ball throw, javelin and shot put in the field. Other running events included, the 1,500m, 200m and 400m, whilst long jump and triple jump were the final field events.
The students competed for their teams on both an individual and team level, with medals awarded to the top three in each event, whilst points were also awarded to the team (10 for first place, 5 for second, 3 for third). Once the 4x100 metre relays had brought the day's sporting action to a close, medals were awarded and the competitors geared up for an evening's social engagement at Maza Park, allowing the students to mix and place any sporting rivalries to the side, whilst they played and made new friends.
Day Two was the day for team events, with both boys and girls playing first basketball and then football. Tournament football is a beautiful thing, as witnessed during the FIFA 2022 World Cup, upsets occur, you have no chance to rest legs, physically and mentally you have to prepare yourself as an individual and a team between games, deal with the anticipation, believe, shrug off mistakes, channel whatever emotions you might be feeling to the back of your mind and go again ten minutes later. These are games that students will talk about for years to come - 'Do you remember when...?'
Of course we do, we were there, living it together as a team.
