This week has been an extremely busy week for TES sport. Starting last week with our new ISACK calendars of Girls Basketball and Boys Volleyball, our KFSAC swim gala, the KFSAC Year 3 /4 Boys Football league and of course, our busy BSME weekend comprising of both the Swimming and the U11 Games. On top of this, we also have our Boys and Girls Table Tennis teams in action in their ISACK tournaments. A hugely successful week and all children involved in any of these fixtures are to be commended for their efforts in training and during the competitions. They continue to embody the meaning of sportsmanship and commitment and keeping TES well and truly on the map around the Middle East! Next week’s report will feature the Girls second Basketball fixture against KES as well as the Year 3 /4 Boys football and Boys table Tennis.

ISACK U13 Girls Table Tennis

For the past five years, TES female table tennis has reigned supreme in the ISACK world. Tuesday saw this year’s batch of young hopefuls in action at NES, hoping to retain the title for a sixth consecutive year.

NES this year however, have a particularly strong cohort of girls who, once again, dominated the ISACK U13 league. Tuesday, we had to settle for 2nd place, but as always, a fantastic effort from our girls against tough NES opposition this year. Thursday sees the boys in action.

ISACK U13 Boys Volleyball

TES  2  -  1  KES

TES put in a very pleasing performance in the ISACK volleyball league with a 2-1 victory against KES. Last week, they beat TEA 2-0 very comfortably as well, meaning they are well and truly on track to do the treble and win all 3 ISACK leagues. Having fallen to defeat against KES at the BSME games earlier in the year, the boys knew they would have a difficult challenge. TES started the game well, hitting some powerful serves and using 3 touches to force KES toward the back of the court. Nawaf, Shaan and Danny picked up multiple points on their serves which led TES to a 25-14 win in set 1. The second set was a much tighter affair with the visitors upping their game and a couple of errors creeping in from our boys. Momentum was switching from team to team with both sides taking the lead and then conceding it throughout the set. Max and Jack exemplified the TES fighting spirit by battling through the entire set and making the visitors earn their 25-21 set victory. In the decisive set, Ahmed stepped up and put in a number of effective shots for the team,  whilst the other boys were throwing themselves around to keep the ball alive. Owain really stepped up in the 3rd set and hit a number of winning shots from good assists from the rest of the TES squad. TES had the lead at the turnaround and never relinquished it, capping off a great performance with a 15-10 win and 2-1 set victory against a very good KES side. Later on this week, the boys will face ESF- can their winning streak continue?

TES 2  -  1  ESF

Our TES boys won their second game of the week by beating ESF two sets to one. The boys carried on their momentum from Sunday’s match and started the game quickly, taking a commanding lead in the opening set with Nawaf serving well from the start of the game. Jack and Danny also picked up a number of points on their serves leading to a 25-16 win in set one. The second set was much tighter with TES making a number of serving errors and mistakes in general play. Despite being behind for a long time in the second set, the boys battled all the way to the end and pushed the opposition close, losing the set 22-25. In set 3 the boys limited their mistakes and took an early lead in the deciding set that never got close. With some good defensive shots by Max and Shaan, and with Owain managing to hit a number of winning shots, set 3 ended with a score of 15-8, resulting in a 2-1 set win for TES. The two wins this week guarantee a semi final place for TES, Well done boys!

ISACK U13 Girls Basketball

TES  43  -  6  ESF

Last week the girls kicked off their ISACK season with an extremely comfortable win over TEA. The final score was 45-2 and saw all 10 of the squad take to the court to have their impact on the game. This week, they face both ESF and KES.

After a long drive to Fahaheel, the girls were ready and raring to go. The first quarter started off really slowly and many mistakes were made initially. TES managed to score their first basket half way through the first quarter, but ESF quickly responded with their equaliser. Their number 15 was an extremely strong player who was the driving force behind the ESF effort. However, after a shaky start, the girls finally got into their groove and began sinking baskets. The score was 10-2 at the end of the first quarter and we were looking more comfortable than at the start of the game. Into the second quarter, and the girls seemed to almost be in reverse. They were making excellent turnovers and drives for the basket, but we just couldn’t seem to score from layups or set shots. At halftime, the score was just 14-2. A halftime talk and one or two changes made, the girls took the game by storm in the third quarter. An impressive lead was opened quite quickly and from here, the girls never looked like relinquishing it. The fourth quarter became a slight blood bath, with numerous scrapes and collisions being the pinnacle of the final 10minutes. But our girls didn’t stop and just continued to play good quality basketball. ESF’s number 15 managed to squeeze 2 more baskets in for the host school, but it wasn’t enough to topple the dominant play from our TES girls. The final score was 43-6. Another fantastic victory for our U13 girls. Tonight, they are back in action at KES. Can their winning streak continue?

KFSAC Swim Gala 2

An amazing performance by our TES swimmers secured the 2016-2017 KFSAC overall swimming championships for the ninth year in a row! In second place was KES, followed by BSK in third place. The children swam superbly with many producing personal best times. Our relay races were extremely strong. Huge congratulations to the following children for their effort

Year 3-4 Girls

Filippa, Orla, Tabitha, Isabella

Year 3-4 Boys

Sam, Thomas, Hamza, Benjamin

Year 5-6 Girls

Alice, Lavinia, Melanie, Thalia, Mariam

Year 5-6 Boys

Sam, Truman, William, Maxwell, Christian

BSME Swimming Championships- Abu Dhabi

Saturday saw 14 of our swimmers in action in Abu Dhabi. More had qualified, however due to a clash with the U11 Games, 5 of our athletes unfortunately missed out.

The team we took, consisted of pupils ranging from Years 3-8. They were as follows:

8 and Under Group – Orla, Isabella, Tabitha, Hamza, Thomas, Arthur and Samuel

9 and 10 Years old – Finnley and Liam

11 and 12 Years old – Darcy, Max, Matthew and Owain.

All of the children managed to produce personal best times, with many of them claiming individual or relay team wins throughout the day. Hamza, Max, Matthew and Darcy all managed a top 3 finish in individual events, with many other of our swimmers narrowly missing out on medals. We had a lot of fourth place finishes - so close!  In the relay races, our Under 8 team managed to win the 4x50m freestyle relay after a truly fantastic swim by the 4 boys. If this wasn’t enough, they then went and won the 8 and under 4x50m medley relay - an outstanding effort from all involved. Adding to this, our Under 12 boys managed a respectable third place in their 4x50m freestyle relay, fending off tough competition from many of the Abu Dhabi schools. At the end of the day, Max had also managed to finish 3rd overall in his age category after having had a truly excellent swim meet, narrowly missing out by just 7 points to 2nd place - a huge well done to him and all of our other swimmers. As a team, they managed to finish 3rd place overall which is a truly remarkable achievement given we had just 14 swimmers, compared to many other schools who took as many as 30 with them. All of the children involved should be proud of their individual achievements and celebrate their success as a team after swimming so well! Your hours of dedication in the pool have paid off - a true credit to the school!

BSME U11 Games- Dubai

After last year’s huge victory in Dubai, culminating in being crowned as overall champions, this year’s squad were hungry to retain that title. The squad of 19, consisting mostly of year 5 students, participated in 5 different sports over 3 days of intense competition. The events were, Girls and Boys Football, Boys Basketball, Girls Netball, Swimming and Athletics. After 3 days of intense competition, our athletes managed to finish 2nd overall, narrowly missing out by just 2 points to the host school Horizon, who went on to be crowned champions.

Day 1:

On the first day, we saw our girls in action on the football pitch and the boys taking to the courts for basketball. Both squads started off the day extremely well, with convincing wins -and 1 draw for the girls- in the group stages of the competitions. Both squads finished top of their groups and had booked themselves place in their respective semi-finals. The semi-finals were both tight affairs, but our kids managed to pull off wins in both sports meaning they were through to the finals. What an excellent start to our BSME campaign- both teams making the finals on day 1.

The boys were up first against host school Horizon, Dubai. The game was a tight affair, with both teams making multiple turn-overs and missing baskets. The intensity of the match meant that at half time, TES were up- only 2-1. The determination from both teams continued into the second half with our boys giving it everything they had. In the final few minutes of the game, Horizon received 2 free throws. Scoring 1, meant that that with only 1minute left to play, the score was tied at 2-2. Then came another set of free throws. We were on the edge of our seats as we watched the shot go up. The first was missed, but then, much to the dismay of the TES family, the second went in taking the score to 3-2 Horizon. With 30 seconds left, our boys charged for the basket throwing everything except the kitchen sink into it. But it wasn’t to be. 3-2 was the final score, the boys had to settle for second place. Not the deserved final place after their awesome performances during the group stages and semi-finals.

Next it was the turn of the girls. After watching the unfortunate defeat, the girls were more fired up for a win now to lift the TES spirits. We faced Parkhouse in the final, whom we had beaten 1-0 in the group stages. They were a good side, with some very talented girls. The game was very even, with both taking few shots on goal, but plenty of tackles being made in the middle of the pitch. One team surely had to find the back of the net? Luckily we did with just 2minutes to spare! A beautiful strike from Divine into the top right hand corner of the goal, meant that after a gruelling day in the heat, our girls were to be crowned BSME football champions!

So, after Day 1, we were off to a flying start and were 4points clear of the rest of the field after a 1st and 2nd place finish- go team TES!

Day 2:

After such an excellent start to the Games, our children were ready and raring to go on day 2. We started the day off with the Athletics competition, which is one everyone enjoys spectating.

In the track, our boys and girls managed to make the Gold finals for 80% of the races, with the remainder qualifying for the silver place finals (this meant fewer points could be achieved). Our boys particularly were dominant on the track, claiming many top three finishes and in some cases, 1 st place. Christian managed to dig deep enough to win the Boys 600m race in the B category convincingly- his flop onto the ground at the end highlighting the effort he had gone to, to ensure TES achieved maximum points. As if this wasn’t enough, our 4x75m boys relay team not only won the relay final, but by some margin after some sublime relay takeovers. Maxwell, Truman, William and Ciaran weren’t going to settle for anything less than 1st on this day! The quality of changeovers by all 4 of our relay teams was exceptional, resulting in top 6 finishes for all of them- amazing job! In the field events, Riri was on fire. Not only did she win the Girls category on the shot putt, but she managed to beat all of the boys also by over 1m- we requested double points of course! She also managed to secure herself a 3rd place in the High Jump. William and Ciaran were also dominant in their Long Jump and Triple Jump, where both boys managed to bag top 3 places in both events- fantastic given that they are just Year 5! Christian also managed to bag himself a comfortable win in the high jump- two sterling performances from him today! In the shot putt, he and Truman managed to finish in the top three also, narrowly missing out on first place in their respective A and B athlete categories.

The fabulous efforts of our 18 athletes managed to secure a very pleasing 2nd place in the Athletics event- Horizon (a squad of 25) were the victors in the end.

After a fierce morning of competition on the track, we moved to the pool, where Sam stole the show. He managed to win all of his individual races as well as bringing his relay teams home to a win and 3rd place finish. The boys and girls gave it their all, with Ruby, Thalia and Filippa managing to secure a top 8 finish in their individual and relay races. The swimmers gave it their all on the day and should be proud of their swims. The 10 of them managed to secure 4th place in the end.

So after another great day of competition, adding a 2nd and 4th place to our repertoire, TES were still in the mix to be crowned as overall champions. Horizon however, had a perfect day winning both the Athletics and Swimming events.

Day 3:

Wins in both sports today would secure us the coveted overall champions trophy. The children really did go all guns blazing, leaving nothing behind.

The girls Netball squad - comprising of just 8 members - went into the tournament feeling confident after having had an incredible season in Kuwait. 14 from 14 wins, the girls were hungry for more. In the group stages, the girls were dominant throughout, winning all of their games bar one with big margins. Unfortunately, our BSME Netball nemesis Horizon, managed to spoil our perfect record in an extremely intense and close match. A 5-4 loss, meant that we finished second in our group and faced DESS Doha in the semi-final. The girls tried their best, but too many unforced errors and perhaps tiredness crept in. DESS were an extremely strong team - who eventually went onto to win the event - and managed a comfortable 7-2 victory over us in the end. The girls were devastated, as we knew now, the overall championship trophy could not be claimed. But we still had third place to fight for - and fight for it they did. The girls gave it everything they had against Victory Heights - a local Dubai school - where after playing some superb netball, they managed a very pleasing 10-2 win in the end. 3rd place for our netball girls, but it should be noted that 5 of the squad had never played netball before September - Kuwait champions and 3rd best in the Middle East- well done to them all!

The boys football squad also went into today feeling confident after having a successful season in Kuwait also. In the groups stages, our boys managed a 1-0 win over Horizon alongside wins and draws against the other schools in their group. They qualified in second place going into the semi-finals, where they faced DESS Doha. DESS were the other school well and truly in the mix for the overall champions title, so both schools had a lot to play for. The boys managed a superb 2-1 victory over our rivals, meaning they went through to the finals to face Horizon. It was a close and very tense game - much like the basketball. Our boys tried their best and gave it everything they had, but a break through the middle of the pitch, meant that Horizon went 1-0 up with just 2 minutes left in the game. Try as they might, our boys just couldn’t find the equaliser they so desperately wanted. 2nd place once again for our boys, but a truly fantastic Games they had!

Huge congratulations to our 19 athletes. It was a truly fantastic weekend, showcasing the hard work of our children paying off after numerous hours of training after school, during break times and at times, over the weekend! Final placings: