Last weekend TES competed in the prestigious BSME U13 Games. This year the competition was held in Kuwait and hosted by BSK. The squad competed in 4 sports: Boys and girls football, athletics, girls netball and boys basketball. 12 of the best British Schools from around the Middle East took part in what was an unforgettable weekend of sporting action.
Day 1
Day 1 began with the Athletics competition at Kaifan Stadium. Before the competition the 12 teams enjoyed the opening ceremony and all of the teams were welcomed to the 2015 Games.
All throughout the day the TES squad performed superbly well in the events. Every athlete contributed to the overall team score and the squad members that were not involved in the athletics were excellent in supporting and encouraging their teammates. There were some outstanding performances and TES accumulated many 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes giving the team a consistent amount of points as the day went on.
However, one performer was absolutely outstanding for TES. Yousef won 3 gold medals in the high jump, shot putt and 100m, an incredible achievement. His superb victories and the accumulation of points from the other athletes put TES in the top placings going into the relay events. In the relay events TES were outstanding. The boys ran a terrific 4x100m relay and took the gold medal by 1 second over BISR. The girls then put in an excellent performance to also come in 1st place and take the gold medal giving TES maximum points from the two relay events. The scores meant that TES could not be beaten and were crowned the BSME U13 Games Athletics champions. An outstanding achievement and the 3rd year in a row the school have achieved this honour. The overall results showed that TES had won the field events and track events and finished 16 points clear of second placed BISJ.
Overall Athletics Positions
| 1st |
TES |
| 2nd |
British International School Jeddah, Saudi |
| 3rd |
St Christophers, Bahrain |
| 4th |
British international School Riyadh, Saudi |
| 5th |
British School Muscat, Oman |
| 6th |
Al Khor International School, Qatar |
| 7th |
Brighton College, Abu Dhabi |
| 8th |
British interational School Cairo, Egypt |
| 9th |
NES |
| 10th |
KES |
| 11th |
BSK |
| 12th |
TEA |
Day 2
After the outstanding performance by our athletes on day 1 of the Games the girls and boys produced exceptional performances on day 2 in the netball and basketball competitions and were crowned champions in both events. A quite remarkable achievement on what was a very special day for TES.
Boys Basketball
The TES squad members were exceptional all day and swept all of their opponents aside in the group stages with wins against:
St Christophers, Bahrain: 17-2
British international School, Jeddah: 9-4
NES: 15-3
British International School Cairo: 10-2
Brighton College, Abu Dhabi: 14-0
This meant that TES finished top of the group and faced Al Khor International School, Qatar in the semi final. The boys put in a superb performance and won convincingly 11-2 to move into the final. In the final TES again came up against British International School, Jeddah who they had beaten earlier in the group stages. The boys were absolutely magnificent. BISJ had no answer to the TES superb defense and the boys played some great attacking basketball to win the final 10-2. It was an amazing day and all of the boys were absolutely outstanding throughout the tournament.
Overall boys basketball positions
| 1st |
TES |
| 2nd |
BISJ |
| 3rd |
KES |
| 4th |
AKIS |
| 5th |
St. Christophers |
| 6th |
NES |
| 7th |
BSK |
| 8th |
BISR |
| 9th |
BSM |
| 10th |
BISR |
| 11th |
Brighton College |
| 12th |
TEA |
Girls Netball
The girls squad were outstanding in the netball tournament and cruised through their group with impressive wins against:
Al Khor International School, Qatar: 9-0
British International School Cairo: 11-0
British School Muscat: 7-0
NES: 10-5
British International School Ryihad 8-1
This meant that the girls finished top of their group and played Brighton College Abu Dhabi in the semi final. The girls were fantastic and played some amazing netball to win convincingly 8-1. It was a wonderful performance and put them into the final against British International School Jeddah. The final was not for the feint hearted and both teams cancelled each other out during the game. It was tight and scrappy but at 4-3 to TES the girls fought and gave everything to creep over the finish line and become BSME netball champions. All day the girls played superbly well and fully deserved to win against some excellent competition. There were tears of joy at the end and all of the players were so happy to have won the trophy.
Overall Netball Positions
| 1st |
TES |
| 2nd |
BISJ |
| 3rd |
Brighton College |
| 4th |
NES |
| 5th |
St. Christophers |
| 6th |
KES |
| 7th |
AKIS |
| 8th |
BISR |
| 9th |
BSK |
| 10th |
TEA |
| 11th |
BSM |
| 12th |
BISC |
It was a very special day and a day that will live long in the memory for the children.
Day 3
After the amazing performance on day 2, the final day of the games took place and it was another superb day for the TES squad. Both the girls and boys competed in the football competitions and performed very well. It was a tense day as TES knew that top 4 finishes for both teams would probably be enough to claim the overall BSME winners trophy.
Boys Football
The boys put in some super battling performances and after 5 games in the group they qualified as group winners after going undefeated against:
British School Muscat: 1-1
British International School Jeddah: 1-0
KES: 0-0
British International School Cairo: 0-0
Brighton College: 1-0
In the semi final the boys played local rivals NES and in a very tight affair the game finished 0-0. This meant the game went to penalties. The scores were tied at 1-1 when Rayce saved and TJ stepped up at the second attempt to send TES through to the final. In the final TES played St Christophers. It was a very even contest and there was nothing in the game. After 14 minutes the game ended 0-0 and went to a penalty shoot out. Unfortunately for TES this time it was not meant to be and the boys were beaten 3-1 in the shoot out after missing one penalty. TES finished runners up, a super achievement to finish a fabulous weekend.
Overall Boys Football Positions
| 1st |
STC |
| 2nd |
TES |
| 3rd |
BISC |
| 4th |
NES |
| 5th |
BSM |
| 6th |
AKIS |
| 7th |
BISJ |
| 8th |
BISR |
| 9th |
Brighton College |
| 10th |
BSK |
| 11th |
KES |
| 12th |
TEA |
Girls Football
The girls put in a superb performance in the football competition and battled extremely hard throughout the whole day. They gave everything and played some super battling football to finish top of their group going undefeated against:
British International School Jeddah: 1-0
NES: 0-0
British School Muscat: 1-0
Al Khor International School: 2-0
BSK: 2-0
In the semi final the girls played against BISJ. They played very well and were very unfortunate to be defeated 1-0. This meant that the girls would play off for 3rd/4th against Brighton College. Again the girls gave everything but luck was against them and they were defeated 1-0. The girls were very disappointed but it was a very good achievement to finish 4th overall.
Overall Girls Football Positions
| 1st |
STC |
| 2nd |
BISJ |
| 3rd |
Brighton College |
| 4th |
TES |
| 5th |
TEA |
| 6th |
BSM |
| 7th |
BISC |
| 8th |
NES |
| 9th |
BISR |
| 10th |
BSK |
| 11th |
KES |
| 12th |
AKIS |
Overall Trophy
Day 3's results meant that TES had gained enough points to be sure of becoming overall champions for the 3rd year running at the BSME U13 Games. However, the squad had to wait until after the gala dinner to find out.
After a long wait it was confirmed that TES were the 2015 Overall BSME Games champions. A quite outstanding achievement against 11 of the best British schools in the Middle East. All of the squad should be extremely proud of this excellent achievement. It was an absolutely fabulous weekend of sport and all of the squad played their part at some point over the weekend. It is worth remembering that TES are the smallest school at the Games and are constantly achieving amazing success on the sports front.
There was great support for TES teams all weekend and I cannot thank the parents enough for the support given to help the teams succeed. Also a big thank you to Aldana Boesley for her time in organising sponsorship and for producing the excellent kit for the pupils to wear at the Games.
It was a wonderful weekend of sport and TES are firmly at the top of the tree for sport at BSME level. Long may this continue.
Overall U13 BSME Games Positions 2015
| 1st |
TES |
| 2nd |
St. Christophers Bahrain |
| 3rd |
British International School Jeddah |
| 4th |
NES |
| 5th |
Brighton College Abu Dhabi |
| 6th |
British International School Riyadh |
| 7th |
Al Khor International School |
| 8th |
British School Muscat |
| 9th |
British International School Cairo |
| 10th |
BSK |
| 11th |
KES |
| 12th |
TEA |
Mr Leaver