Last week saw our U13 FOBISIA heroes travel to Malaysia to take part in the FOBISIA A Red Games.

Day One:

On the first competition day, the boys competed in football and the girls in basketball at the spectacular sports facilities of Kuala Lumpur Alice Smith School. Now that we are competing in the highest possible FOBISIA group, with the biggest schools in Asia, such as Bangkok Patana and KLASS, we knew it was going to be a tough task.

A lot of life lessons were learnt during the first competitions, including how to win with grace and lose with both dignity and honour. The tournament structure and forthcoming results meant that if both the boys (in the football) and girls (in the basketball) would have won one more match, they would have moved up from 5th to 2nd place. Its tight at the top!

Both boys and girls came away with two wins and three loses in an action packed day, with the boys doing a double over KLASS and beating the eventual tournament champions a particular highlight. Stand out performers include Sam Hendricks being our top scorer with 5 goals and Naomi Martin for her industrious play.

Day Two:

Competition day two saw roles reversed and boys playing basketball and girls taking on the footballing might of Asia. It turned out to be yet another day of highs and lows, excitement and tension, but most of all pride.

The girls managed to get our first trophy of the tournament, playing brilliantly to take third place in their competition, only losing out to the team in second place on goal difference. The girls winning 3 games, drawing 1 and losing 1 game. 

They've done it! One more Gemma Handscombe special puts the game beyond NAIS. It finishes 2-0 #bishcmc #soproud #tootiredtocelebrate pic.twitter.com/dqggJIjcqH

— BIS HCMC PE Dept. (@BISHCMC_PE) March 10, 2017

The boys went into their final game aiming to potentially win the whole competition. The fight back against TES epitomised their outstanding basketball technique and never say die attitude. If they could have won either of the tied games against KLASS or TES then they would have gained 2nd place, but can be delighted with their performances to take 4th. The boys winning 2 games, drawing 2 and losing 1 game.

Tyler Nguyen scores a crucial free throw to make it 21-21 against TES. 1 minute left #bishcmc #itssotense pic.twitter.com/DOo2RWwFGU

— BIS HCMC PE Dept. (@BISHCMC_PE) March 10, 2017

Star players include Gemma Handscombe and Teaghan McKelvie with their Bend It Like Beckham free kicks and Gus Stevenson for his at the death 3 pointers.

The lucky ones who were in KL to witness the heroic effort and achievements of our sportsmen and women will testify the amazing achievements of our team on the final day of competition. Both before and during the day we had illness, ailments and injuries. This did not stop some people performing through the pain barrier. Or others to step up at the last minute and show why they have trained so hard for the last few months on the off chance they would be needed to fill in. And they didn't just fill in, they showed their technical and determined side to win many medals!

Day Three:

In the athletics competition, the BIS HCMC athletes made sure that it wasn't going to be another two horse race between Alice Smith and Bangkok Patana, with the #BISLions matching the two big guns in every event.

There was a constant stream of BIS burgundy going onto the podium and going into the half way mark BIS HCMC were in second place, one point ahead of KLASS and one behind BPS. The medals didn't stop one iota in the second session and the athletes skill and heart was evident to all who were there and the firsts kept on coming.

In the end BIS didn't have quite enough to break the top two stronghold, but did achieve a success rate of being on the podium for 70% of the events, which is a truly outstanding achievement.

Medal winners include:

Joseph 2 x 3rd, 2 x 2nd and 1 x 1^st

Kai 3 x 3rd, 1 x 2nd and 1 x 1^st

Ben G 2 x 1st

Ben B 2 x 2nd

Jon B 1 x 1st

Niclas 1 x 1st

Sam H 1 x 1st

Gus 1 x 2nd

Tyler 1 x 3rd

Quang 1 x 3rd

Khoa 1 x 3rd

Gemma 1 x 3rd and 2 x 1st

Emma 3 x 3rd and 1 x 1st

Ly 1 x 3rd and 1 x 2nd

Ela 1 x 2nd

Sakura 1 x 2nd

Letizia 1 x 3rd

Victoria 3rd

Joseph Kang - 3rd 200m A, 1st triple jump B, 2nd HJ B, 3rd Discus A, 2nd Relay A #hero #BISHCMC pic.twitter.com/5GgnGcnbmT

— BIS HCMC PE Dept. (@BISHCMC_PE) March 11, 2017

It was exactly the same story in the afternoon in the pool, but with no less excitement. Our now smaller and wearier swimming squad looked to emulate the athletes. They did this, and more over! The desire to win as a team was evident with people stepping up a division to fill in for an injured swimmer. Or a completely new swim member donning their gear to make sure we had not just a BIS HCMC Swimmer in the race, but on the podium! Rather incredibly, 90% of the races had a BIS Barracuda in the top 3. meaning another overall 3rd place finish for the team.

Medals were awarded to:

Gemma 2 x 3rd 1 x 2nd and 1 x 1st

Man Nghi 2 x 3rd and 2 x 2nd

Ly 2 x 3rd and 1 x 2nd

Sakura 4 x 3rd

Caroline 2 x 3rd

Srishty 2 x 3rd

Ela 2 x 3rd

Mel 1 x 3rd

Zanneth 2 x 3rd 1 x 2nd and 1 x 1st

Khoa 3 x 3rd and 1 x 2nd

HyunSoo 2 x 3rd and 1 x 2nd

Khoa 2 x 3rd

Niclas 2 x 2nd

Kai 2 x 3rd 3 x 2nd

GiaVinh 1 x 3rd and 2 x 2nd

Jon B 1 x 1st

Ben B 1 x 1st

Tyler 1 x 1st

GOLD ALERT! Gemma Handscombe blows everyone away in the 50m breaststroke B race #bishcmc #thegirlisahero pic.twitter.com/1lLnIi8juz

— BIS HCMC PE Dept. (@BISHCMC_PE) March 11, 2017

BIS HCMC definitely showed they were head and shoulders above the rest of the field and pushed BPS and KLASS all the way in every sport. An honour to be part of the games and proud to watch our supreme sports young men and young women doing so well.

Phil Husband, Director of Sport / Head of Sec PE