Rising Star Football Academy (RSFA) is a player development academy that aims to provide young footballers in Ho Chi Minh City with a passion for the game. Rising Star weekly sessions provide firm foundations for future football success and ensure that every child enjoys a springboard to success within and outside the classroom.
The BIS-RSFA team have gone from strength to strength this year, with regular representation at tournaments at BIS and throughout the city in various 7-8-9 and 11 a side formats. Please see end of season reviews from two RSFA BIS players Gemma and Ben:
I play for the U-19 Women’s RSFA team and my season this year has included multiple tournaments, friendlies and training sessions at least three times a week. I’ve found myself improving as a football player, in addition to enjoying the game more than ever. The opportunity for female football players, like myself, in Ho Chi Minh, is now endless thanks to RSFA. I appreciate the number of tournaments, friendlies and training that RSFA provides us with. Prior to RSFA, this is something that players in my team and I struggled to find.
In November, we had our 11-Aside football tournament, in which we were up against a group of very good adult Women’s teams. We were familiar with the teams from previous tournaments and were eager to become champions this time around. Unfortunately, we only just missed out on first place when we lost to Futsal For All in the final. In spite of us missing out on the victory, we scored some banging goals and it was one of our best performances and I was also awarded the tournament M.V.P accolade. Being able to play in more professional and realistic conditions is a great experience and helped me develop my football knowledge.
One of my highlights during this season was when we partnered with the school community partners, Mai Tam House of Hope. We all gathered in the gym on various Saturday’s and spent the afternoon playing football with the children. Personally, I feel as though giving back to the community is such an important thing to do, and what better way to do so than through something we all share a common interest in. This experience was so enjoyable for both myself and the children of Mai Tam House of Hope. I look forward to future events with RSFA similar to this one.
Throughout the season we played various friendlies with a few different teams; including S4E and Saigon Women’s Football Club. One of which that stands out for me was in March when we went up against S4E. They are a very talented team and never fail to challenge us. We managed to win the game with a remarkable score of 8-2. All season we hadn’t managed to get a win in a tournament, despite us being fully capable of doing so. We showed this capability during our final tournament of the year on June 15th. We played 4 incredible games and managed to come out on top as champions. I believe this victory concluded our season excellently.
The improvement of the girl’s team at RSFA has been unbelievable, we have all grown so much as players. It’s a team I am incredibly proud to be a part of. I am also very happy to have been awarded the RSFA Leadership Award for Term 3.
Regardless of the RSFA season within Ho Chi Minh finishing, the main footballing event of this year for me is still to take place. This summer I am attending the RSFA summer tour once more. Players from our team in Vietnam will join with RSFA members from Korea and ex-RSFA players from all over the world, including the U.K, Australia and America. The tour will begin with a week’s training camp in Portugal where we will prepare for the tournament and have the chance to get to know one another. During this week we will stay and practice at an amazing Sports Resort called Colina Verde. This will be followed by travelling to Denmark and attending Cup Denmark. Although the competition will be challenging, I am excited to be exposed to a level of football that I’m not particularly used to. I believe this opportunity is exceptional, I can’t wait to make amazing memories and most importantly play some excellent football.
This year I have progressed to play for the U19 RSFA team, and throughout this season we have achieved many positive things, whether that be a game result or just training sessions in general. I can say with great confidence that throughout the whole year, there has been a lot of success and growth in every aspect in our team, and for myself as an individual. One of my personal achievements has been being chosen several times to be the team captain for games and tournaments, as well as recently being awarded the RSFA U19 Player of the Year.
Our 2018-2019 season has been filled with lots of fixtures, tournaments, a league and a constant supply of three training sessions per week. It is rare to get as much quality football like this in Ho Chi Minh City. The quality of our training sessions are the best I've ever had, and I always find myself learning something new at every single one. Having been living in Vietnam and playing football for over 11 years of my life, I have never played for a team that gives so many rare and quality opportunities like these to young players. What is more important is that we are no longer limited to 7 Aside football but now have the opportunity to play real football with 9 Aside and 11 Aside tournaments and games.
The tournaments and fixtures allow us the opportunity to be able to play against other teams, to compare and to grow and learn as a team and individuals. We have tournaments at the end of every term and these give us a chance to show what we have learnt in training and to put it into practice as well as having the chance to identify where to improve.
As our Vietnam football season comes up to an end, myself and many others still have the most important thing to look forward to, and that’s the RSFA Summer Tour. This year the tour will take us to Portugal for a one-week training camp in a professional sports resort and then onwards to Denmark to take part in the famous Cup Denmark. This year locations have changed from the usual England and Norway as RSFA wanted to expand on the experiences and opportunities us as players get. The summer tour is a great chance to meet new players from around the world and expose yourself to the football world outside of Vietnam which is a great opportunity.
We wish our students the best of luck at the RSFA Denmark Cup this Summer and can't wait to hear all about their success!
We are incredibly proud of our Year 11 class of 2024, for their impressive IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) results. This incredible cohort of 155 students, our largest IGCSE class in the history of the school, have significantly surpassed UK and international averages and were awarded 97% of all grades at A*-C. An incredible 62% of all grades awarded were at A*-A.
