Phuket Football 7s Tournament 2017 Update

This year saw the British International School, Phuket host their 16th year of the Soccer 7’s Tournament. The biggest one to date, welcomed 1650 competitors playing for 165 teams from 39 international schools, based in 10 different countries – making this tournament a truly remarkable meeting place for Asia's top young footballers, and the international school community. 

Having trained solidly for nearly ten weeks, with the knowledge of their team’s games strategies, and with good weather abound, we witnessed two full days of fantastic football, plenty of skill, and most importantly – good sportsmanship. Our BIS HCMC teams played with their hearts out on the pitch, winning, drawing, losing along the way, and never losing sight of the fact that this was a game, and how they carried themselves on the pitch was just as important as off it. 

A huge congratulations to all students who joined in Phuket Football 7s Tournament 2017 last week. We are so proud of every single one of you!

Match Reports

U9 GIRLS

The U9 Girls team came into the tournament naïve, raw, and very, very excited. Having trained for ten weeks solid, they were prepared, focused and determined to have fun and do well as a collective team.

The first day gave us a mixed bag of results, losing to stronger opposition, drawing one, and finishing with our first win. Our defenders, Kathy, Khanh Linh and Kyu-In were flying into tackles, and chasing down attackers like a dog after a bone. Goalkeeper Sara was awesome on goal, saving shots from all angles and throwing out to provide our team with quick counter-attacks. The strikers, Amelia and Mina, worked tirelessly up front, chasing through balls and hassling defenders. Daphne impressed with her direct dribbling down the win. Casi scored the cheekiest of goals with a quick thinking free-kick. And Captain Fantastic Sabrina, tucked away a penalty, and must have covered every inch of the field with her determination from start to finish of every game.

Day two started with us the strongest opposition in the tournament, and with a gritty display to nullify their potent attack, we finished level. That final result meant that we were now through to the quarter-finals, and after recharging our batteries we faced stiff opposition against a team who had narrowly beaten us before. We matched them in all areas, but an unfortunate own goal, and a contentious second goal saw us finish the tournament.

Whilst disappointed with the results, the girls can be very proud of their performances on the field, and I certainly hope to see these rising stars of the future, grace the sports field again soon.

GK          Sara Ito                
DEF        Kyu In Park
DEF        Kathy Nguyen
DEF        Khanh Linh Thai
MID        Daphne Shooter
MID        Casi Curran
MID        Sabrina Gladchuk ©
ATT        Amelia Jorgensen
ATT        Mina Goto

Mr Simon Grimshaw, Head of Primary PE

U9 BOYS

A curved ball from a corner kick and straight into the goal.. Yes, and not just once, but twice! And it came from a nine-year-old boy! That’s how exciting our matches were in the Under 9, 7-aside football on the tropical island of Phuket. The boys greatly entertained the crowd with their relentless attacks on goal and superb tackles, giving each opposing teams a fair and tough game. Yes, we were beaten in scores, but everyone felt like a winner after every match played. 

We played an exciting and heart-stopping match against Dulwich College of Shanghai (DCSC) in the Plate Finals, wherein BIS HCMC scored first, followed by tons of goal-scoring shots from Jamie, Soma, Kai, Jay, SeoJun and Michael, while the defenders, David, Minhyeok and Tony mightily defended the backline with all their might. But DCSC got their first goal from a penalty after an accidental handball from our team, and eventually, we lost with a score of 2-1 and finished as runner-ups for the Plate. A close match, and better with our  little but amazing goalie Minh Tri, who was able to show a lot of fantastic saves all throughout the match. 

Overall, everyone had a great time playing football but more than that, what they gained in this competition such as wonderful experiences with friends, meeting other people, and other great moments are far better than any medals or trophies.

Mr Lamech Sancho

U11 GIRLS

There were 18 teams in the U11 Girls category. BIS HCMC were in Pool A and managed to finish at the top of the group after the first day. They won four games and lost one – their performance on the pitch was impeccable. Throughout all five games, the team conceded only one goal and scored numerous! Due to a spectacular performance after the first day, this lead them on to the Quarterfinal of the Cup Knock-outs. 

Here, BIS HCMC U11 Girls faced Marlborough College, Malaysia (MCM). It was a gripping game throughout; every single player gave it their all. The final score at fulltime was 0-0, resulting in a penalty shoot-out. The pressure was immense, a whole crowd of supporters watching in anticipation. The final score after penalties was 3-2 to MCM. Unfortunately, we just missed out on progressing to the Semi-finals. Despite the score, our girls held their heads high.

I want to thank Jasminh, Asha, Kashish, Celina, Jenny, Amelie, Mathilde, Bao Van, Rachel and Emma for training so hard over the past two months, supporting one another throughout the ups and downs of this football journey and for showing determination, passion and above all true sportsmanship on and off the football pitch. I am so, so proud of every single one of you. Congratulations! 

Ms Lindsey Shuttleworth, Primary PE Teacher

U11 BOYS

Although they came home without any medals to show for their hard work, the U11 boys should feel very satisfied with what they achieved over the two days. After winning their first two games on the Friday morning convincingly, the team came up against an extremely strong Bangkok Patana side. Unfortunately, what had worked so well in the morning for us, didn’t work in the afternoon and we went home that first night ready to learn from the mistakes of the last game. 

The boys had high expectations for the two Saturday games, and they played exceptionally well; however, the goals just didn’t eventuate for us. We dominated both games, but came away with two devastating losses. Although we had done enough to go through to the plate finals, they boys were shattered by that stage and we played our worst game of the tournament against Marlborough College Malaysia to drop out in the Plate Quarter Finals. 

Disappointed to go out of the tournament in that fashion, the boys made their coach and their parents incredibly proud with the fight and determination shown throughout the weekend. They will learn a lot, and come back even stronger next year! BIS HCMC U11 Boys – Christian Gladchuk, Sam Lyons, Julian Perez, Adrien Blanc, Pierre-Olivier Salapete, Nathan Nguyen, YunJoon Choi, Lewis Menzies, and Rens Evers. 

Mr Chris McKelvie, Assistant Headteacher Primary

U13 Girls - A Message from the Captains

So the first day started off great! Everyone was on time, in the right kit and ready to play. Our first match was tough. We played against an amazing side but kept them to 1 nil. And yes we might have lost but we played to the best of our ability. The second match was more tough but we tried to keep position and stay positive. However, we did lose 7 to 1 and we know in our hearts that we could have done better. The third match was beautiful football. Yes, again we did lose but a fellow alumni, Ela Iles, said that we were doing amazing considering that they are known to be the best team in Malaysia. That really boosted our confidence and we are ready to dominate the next team with our heads up high! All in all it was a emotional roller coaster but we have an amazing team of ten to support us through this remarkable journey.

The second day began very early.  We were very tired but ready to play the best football.  Unfortunately we didn’t win our first match which put us into the plate but we tried our very best to stay positive and power through any negative emotions. The second game rolled around and we were warmed up and ready to play.  We started off strong and stayed strong but didn’t win and were knocked out.

Overall we played fantastic football and have a better understanding of our football ability and are getting ready for next year!!  Congratulations to our MVP: Hannah and our PVP: Haley. They deserve it.  We are a little sad that we couldn’t win a game but are leaving very positive knowing that one more kick would have made it in.

Olivia and Hannah, Team Captains

U13 Boys - A Message from the Captain

Our first day in Phuket was filled with excitement, thrills and sadness. It was a roller coaster of emotions however we ended the day happy with our performances and ready to win on the second day. Sadly we lost our first two games but we turned our third game around after being two nil down, with screamers from Mac and Takuma. Our last game was a disappointing one all draw which means we couldn’t win the gold cup but we were still very in the race for the silver cup. Bento, Ciro, Takuma and Mac all got on the scoresheet, with Bento and Ciro scoring twice. Bento Mac, Ciro and James all got assists with Bento getting two again. He is our joint top scorer and leading with assists after our first four matches. 

However there is no individual star so far this tournament as everyone on our team fought hard and played extremely well. Our two goalkeepers, William and Bonny, played exceptionally well saving our team from conceding countless times and both gave MVP worthy performances. Overall this was a great day with amazing performances but sadly the results didn’t reflect the true quality we showed on that field.

Sadly after the second day of the tournament we didn’t make it into the silver plate nor did we win the bowl. However we gave it all we had and only got eliminated on penalties. We played our last group game against boys much bigger in size, they were much fitter than us however we dominated the game. We were superior in midfield and a rock in defense with Takuma and James forming an amazing defensive partnership. Even though we were the better team neither of us could break the deadlock as the match finished nil-nil. This meant that we could not qualify for the silver plate and were sent to the bowl. 

In the first round of the bowl (quarter finals) we were drawn against an equal team in terms of quality. The match started off tight however their captain managed to chip William from outside the box. We turned things around in the second half and with so much pressure they eventually cracked and scored an own goal. The match finished one all and we went to penalties, unfortunately Bento and Mac missed their penalties and they scored both theirs meaning we got knocked out. 

After that we went back to the hotel where we stayed there for two hours and then went to the mall to have dinner. Back at the hotel our coaches announced our MVP’s for U13. Our players voted Ciro and Haley and our coaches chose Takuma and Hannah. We are very happy with our performances just not pleased with our results so we will be ready for next year where we will try even harder.

Ciro Verni, Team Captain

Well done to all the students who participated in the tournament, you should all be very proud of yourselves. We’d also like to say a big thank you to all our travelling supporters who witnessed all the highs and lows of each game. And a special thank you to our four coaches who gave their time and dedication to these amazing teams. For all the photos and videos from the tournament please take a look at our PE Twitter feed:

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