Sports is an incredible and powerful medium, it places students in situations that require immediate response, teaches them to be leaders and gives them the skills of communication, teamwork, determination; the list is endless.
Last weekend we experienced a monumental moment in our school‘s history, after two years of no sporting competitions, we were able to compete again!
We took a group of 45 students from years 10 to 13, along with 4 members of the Physical Education department, and travelled to the incredible city of Budapest in Hungary for the Budapest Festival of Sport. We set off at 5am with some very sleepy students but arrived bright eyed and excited for the two days ahead.
The British International School of Budapest hosted a wonderful, exhilarating, and well-resourced sporting festival, with the sun shining brightly and crystal-clear blue skies, which created a spectacular back drop.
It is situated in one of the world’s most photogenic cities, with its dramatic skyline, which offers panoramic views of this19th century city peppered with architectural wonders.
One of the most majestic buildings of the city is the Parliament building which sits staring at its own reflection on the river Danube. This weekend of sporting competition allowed our students to reflect on their past and present experience and create wonderful lasting memories from this experience.
Another is Heroes Square, that iconic pillar, dating back to 1896, where those giants figure of the 7 founding figures and national leaders stand. That is how we will reflect and remember this incredible weekend; our students were our Giants, and it was an honour to be part of their journey. Some of these Giants will forever remain embedded in our memories. So many of them had moments where you saw them raise their heads above the parapet and stand out.
However, for me, the student who was simply incredible throughout the whole weekend was Maria V. Her empathetic nature, compassion, determination, and tenacity drove others to continue when they felt they had nothing left. She was an inspiration to us all.
I could write something about every single student who came, as they all had moments of brilliance, but I cannot go without talking about Karol Y. incredible goal playing football, which was a goal Christiano Ronaldo would have been proud to take ownership of.
The students of BISB Bratislava were not only outstanding ambassadors of our school in every aspect, but they were also determined, compassionate, supportive, entertaining, respectful, loyal, and inspiring. It was a moment of such pride in all of them, with so many stand out moments. We saw leaders naturally evolve, individuals taking on roles to support, motivate, nurture, and inspire their teammates. Sometimes just a simple hug, helped to ease the soreness of muscle pain and niggling injuries.
It was a weekend where old friendships flourished and new friendships evolved, emotions of time together became very apparent, and the reminder to leave a wonderful legacy on your school community. For the year 13s it was evident to see their emotions and how they were realising this was an opportunity that they wanted to savour and potentially their last time representing the school.
This weekend was not about winning or losing, it was about so much more and providing the students with the opportunity to compete, and that is what they did! With pure hearts, enjoyment and giving every part of their physical being. There was nothing left in the tanks they gave it their all! We could not have asked anymore of them.
Results of the Sports
Day 1 – Friday 11th March Started with Girls Football and Boys Volleyball (Morning)
Girls Football
Girls' 2nd team v Budapest 3rd team, 0 - 0
Girls' 1st team Budapest 3 team, 0 – 0
Girls' 1st team v Budapest 2nd Team, 6 - 0, Indie S. scored 4, Alexandra K. 2
Girls' 1st Team V Budapest 1st team, 2- 0, Alexandra K. 2
Girls' 2nd Team V BBIS, 3 – 1, Natalia O. scored 1
Girls' 2nd team V Budapest 1st Team, 1-1
Girls' 1st Team V BBIS, 9 – 0, Indie S. 3, Alexandra K. 5, Rebecca L. 1
MVP football was Aylin Y. who was outstanding in goal and Natalia O. in the second team. Wonderful demonstrations of cohesion, hard work and friendships.
Volleyball
Boys 1st team v Budapest 1st team, 0- 2
Boys 2nd team v Budapest 2nd Team, 2 - 0
Boys 1st team v College Champittet, 2 - 0
Boys 2nd team v Budapest 1st team, 0- 2
Boys 1st team v d’Overbroecks, 2- 0
Boys 1st team v Budapest 2nd team, 2-0
Boys 2nd team v College Chapitettet, 2-0
MVP for first team was Max H. and second team was Luke B.
Friday PM Boys Football & Girls Volleyball
Boys 2nd Team v Budapest 2nd team, 4 – 0
Boys 1st team v d’Overboeck’s 1st, 0 - 1
Boys 2 team v Budapest 1st, 0 - 5
Boys 1st team v d’Overboeck’s 2nd, 4 – 0, Karol 2, Philip 1 & Kofi 1
Boys 2nd team v College Champittet, 4- 1, Alexsey 1, Gregg 1, Kristoff 1, Sam 1
Boys 1st team v Budapest 2nd, 5 -0, Phillip 2, Kofi 2 & Max D 1
Boys 2nd team v d’Overboeck’s 2nd, 3 – 2, Kiko 1, Jan 1, Kristoff 1
Boys 1st team v Budapest 1st team, 3 – 0, Karol 3
MVP for first team was Kofi T. and second team was Kristoff K.
Girls Volleyball
Girls 2nd Team V Budapest 2nd team, 1-2
Gilrs 1st team v Britanica International School, 2- 0
Girls 2nd team v Budapest 1st team results, 0 - 2
Girls 1st team v Budapest British International School, 2-1
Girls 1st team v Budapest 1st team, 2-0
Girsl 2nd team v Britanica International school, 0-2
Girsl 1st team v Budapest 2nd team, 2-0
MVP for Girls Volleyball Rebecca L. 1st team and Louise L. 2nd Team.
Saturday 11th March Girls & Boys Basketball
Girls 1st team v Budapest 3rd team, 11 - 4
Girls 3rd team V Budapest 1st team, 10 - 0
Girsl 1st team v Girls 2nd team, 12 - 10
Girls 2nd team v Budapest 2nd team, 9 - 6
Girls 3rd team v Budapest 3rd team, 4 - 8
Girls 1st team v Budapest 1st team, 10 – 4
Girls 2nd team v Budapest 2nd team, 8 - 6
Girls 1st team V Budapest 2nd team, 11 - 6
Girls 2nd team v Budapest 1st team, 7 - 9
Girls 1st team v Girls 3 team, 10 - 3
Girls 2nd team v Girls 3rd team, 9 - 6
In the 3 v 3 tournament the girls 1st team was undefeated in all games and won the 3 v 3 competition outright. MVP for this tournament were Molly T. in the 1st team, Louise L. and Maria V.
Boys Basketball competition
Boys 1st team V Budapest 1st team, result loss 10 – 9
Boys 2nd team V College Champittet 2nd team
Boys 3rd team V Budapest 3rd team
Boys 2nd team V d’Overboeck’s 1st team
Boys 1st team V Budapest 3rd team, 17 - 7
Boys 3rd team V d’Overboeck’s 3rd team
Boys 2nd team V Budapest 3rd team
Boys 1st team V College Champittet, 19 - 6
Boys 3rd team v d’Overboeck’s 2nd team
Boys 1st tean V d’Overboeck’s 2nd team, 18 - 7
MVP for 1st team Boys Basketball Jonathan S. 2nd Team Bobby Renhe & 3rd team was Karol Y.. Greg G. won the longest distance shooting competition. The All-Star team selected were Jonathan S., Bobby R., Victor S., Ales J. & Kristof K.
As the Head of Physical Education, I would like to say how proud I was of all our students, their conduct on and off the court was exemplary. We had a lot of wonderful sharing off emotions on the journey home as they were thrilled to have had this opportunity. It was without a doubt a tournament that will remain imbedded in their memories as a wonderful sporting occasion and in ours as a department.
Finally, I would like to say a huge thank you to Ms Katka, Mr Mumby, Mr Pavlik, Ms Shanks and Mr Krizan for their wonderful passion, commitment, and dedication. Our students are very fortunate to have the opportunity to be taught by such passionate, outstanding individuals like you.
A huge thank you to Barbora K., Ivan P. and Jarmilla P. for all your wonderful work in helping to coordinate this wonderful trip.
