The 2014 BSME U13 Games took place at St Christopher’s School, Bahrain, hosted by Dharhan British Grammar School from Saudi Arabia. It was a wonderful three days of sport with 12 of the best British schools in the Middle East competing in 5 sports.
The TES squad arrived in Bahrain on Wednesday 16th January excited and enthusiastic about the events that lay ahead. The squad consisted of 10 boys and 10 girls from Year 7/8 and 3 staff: Mr Leaver, Mrs Peterson and Mr Gibson.
Day 1: Thursday 17th January (Boys and Girls Football)
The TES squad were up very early for breakfast to be ready for the boys and girls football competitions that lay ahead. The football took place at Bahrain rugby club with both the boys games and girls games played on the same fields.
Both of the teams played some excellent football and worked tirelessly, giving everything they had for their school team. The boys games were very exciting and in a very close competition the boys finished in 3rd place in their group of six, narrowly missing out on a semi final spot. The girls went one better and finished 2nd in their group to make the semi finals. In the semi final the girls were beaten 1-0 by the eventual winners, St Christopher’s, and had to settle for the 3rd/4th play off. In the 3rd/4th play off the game went to a penalty shoot out, which unfortunately the girls lost to finish in 4th place. The boys played their 5th/6th place play off and lost out to British International School, Jeddah to finish in 6th position
All in all it had been a successful day for the TES squad finishing in very creditable 6th and 4th positions.
Day 2: Friday 18th January (Boys Volleyball and Girls Netball)
After a very tiring first day at the Games the TES squad were up bright and early for the boys volleyball and girls netball events that took place at St Christopher’s Senior School. The volleyball was played inside on 2 excellent courts and the girls netball outside on a 3G surface. Both of the boys and girls teams put in excellent performances. The boys won 4 games and lost 1 to finish top of their group and go through to the semi finals. The girls were outstanding and won all of their games convincingly to finish top of their group and make the semi finals. In the semi finals the boys had a superb game against British International School Jeddah but were narrowly beaten 25-22 and had to settle for the 3rd/4th play off. The girls however again convincingly won their semi final against Durkhan English School and progressed into the final. The boys pulled themselves together after the disappointment of their semi final loss and beat Al Khor International School, Qatar 25-18 to claim an excellent 3rd place. The girls then played their final; although they had most of the possession and a lot of shots, they were unfortunately beaten 3-1 by a very good Dharhan British Grammar School.
It was an exceptional day for TES and the results meant that going into Day 3 TES needed to finish above St Christopher’s in the athletics to win the overall trophy.
Day 3: Saturday 19th January (Boys and Girls Athletics)
The day started with a lot of rain and at one point the athletics meeting to finish the games was in doubt. However, as the events were about to get underway the rain stopped and conditions became perfect for athletics. The TES team performed outstandingly well and every pupil contributed to gaining points for the team. There were some amazing performances from the team with Mariam Noureddine taking bronze in the shot put, Farah Du Lieu taking silver in both the 320m and the girls long jump, Ethan O Kane taking bronze in the boys high jump and Sebastian Toh claiming gold in the boys long jump as well as Ethan O Kane taking gold in the boys 800m. All of the athletes from TES were fantastic and no competitor finished in less than 12th place out of the 24 competitors in each event. Before the relay events TES was announced as leader of the athletics competition. However, the relays would be worth double points and could make the difference overall. The TES teams were superb and with two 2nd place finishes in the relay, a 3rd and a 5th place the result was never in doubt. After a long wait TES was announced as the Athletics Champions with British School, Muscat in 2nd place. It had been a true team effort from all members of the TES team.
Overall Champions
After the athletics event the teams sat down for the gala dinner and presentation. After speeches from the guest speaker, Deputy Head of St Christopher’s, and the organiser of the competition the overall results were announced. The overall results are a combination of all of the scores from each event added together with 12 points for 1st place to 1 point for 12th place. After a nervous wait TES was announced as the 2014 U13 BSME Champions to huge applause and cheers.
Overall BSME U13 Results
12 International Community School Jordan (ICS)
11 Sherbourne School (SES)
10 Kuwait English School (KES)
8= Al Khor International School (AKIS)
8= British International School Cairo (BISC)
7 Dharhan British Grammar School (DGBS)
6 Dukhan English School (DES)
5 British International School Riyadh (BISR)
4 British School Muscat (BSM)
3 British International School Jeddah (BISJ)
2 St Christophers School Bahrain (STC)
1 The English School, Kuwait (TES)
This is a major achievement and something every one of the pupils involved should be extremely proud of. The BSME Games is the pinnacle of the sporting year and to finish in 1st place against 11 of the top British Schools in the Middle East is a phenomenal achievement. This was a true team effort from TES and every single pupil played their part over the three days.
It was an absolute pleasure to take such a delightful and pleasant group to the Games and to achieve such success is no more than they deserve for the amazing effort and hard work they put into each and every event. The coaches could not be more proud of these pupils and each and every one of them is a real credit to TES. Many thanks to all of the parental support, it was fantastic to see so many parents cheering the teams on. The English School is now the team to beat at BSME and has set the bar very high for success in the future. Long may it continue.
Mr Leaver and the BSME team