On 24 May, our Knights went to participate in the COBIS Primary Games in Kazakhstan against 15 other international schools. The team comprised: Nicole Chan, Charlie Dier, Zane Freeman, Aaron Hal, Sam Hellyer, Luke Incledon, Maya and Tala Kamhawi, Tina Ma, Freya Mackness, Ihsan Mathani, Alice Stevenson, Brendan Wang and Jessica Wong.
After enjoying the spectacular opening ceremony, the 3-day competition kicked off with the swimming. Every pupil competed and there were many personal bests set that day. They made it into five finals (with Luke missing out narrowly on a 6th). Aaron was a finalist in both his individual events – freestyle and butterfly and Alice was just beaten to bronze in backstroke. Both our boys relay teams also made it through to the final, earning vital points towards the overall score.
Here's a summary from the swimming captains, Alice and Aaron: "Well done Knights for completing our first day at COBIS! I would like to say that everyone in our team did exceptionally well and I am sure that we all tried our best. Here are some of our great achievements...for the girls relay team Tala did really well even though her goggles fell off! And also in the race Maya swam so fast you could see a mini water fountain! And the same for Sam whose goggles fell off and he still came fourth! For the boys, Luke, Nicole, Aaron and Alice were the butterfly swimmers and they did very well to keep on going with such a hard stroke. The boys did very well, and their team got to the final and came 6th. There was many more great achievements at swimming."
"Thank you to the teachers for making all this possible."
Alice
"I would like to congratulate every boy and girl who made it to the finals and those who didn’t, especially Luke, Alice and Brendan. Luke because he nearly made in into the final just nano seconds behind eight. I chose Brendon because he improved his freestyle by a lot. Alice did really well especially her backstroke." Aaron
On the 2nd day, the Knights played some great matches in football. Our football captains were Charlie and Maya. Both the girls and boys teams made it into the top half play offs and finished 8th over all (the same position for both girls and boys).
On the final day, it was athletics. Team captains are Brendan and Jessica. They again achieved a number of personal bests and made it into the finals in a range of events; Nicole placed 8th overall in 100 meters, the boys relay team came 5th, Charlie was joint 4th/5th in high jump and Brendon came 4th in the 200 meters.
The teachers who accompanied the team to Kazakhstan included Miss K. Byrne, Mr. M. Pate, Mr. D. Reid and Miss L. Kenny said, "We were proud of our pupils not only for their sporting achievements but also for the way they supported each other and worked as a team. A special mention goes to our team captains (for each day) for their organisation and motivation of the teams."
In assembly this morning, Head of PE Mr. Pate thanked each and every one for their efforts and hard work at COBIS. He even mentioned next year's COBIS Games would be in the UK. We can't wait! Go Knights!
