Athletics Fall Season Round Up

Cross Country

It’s hard to believe our three month season has come to an end! We’ve witnessed so much personal and athletic growth amongst the individual athletes, from personal bests to personal goals. Despite these uncertain times, the runners took part in five meets in three different countries. A huge highlight this season was our own team getaway to the Schoorl Dunes. There, the athletes had their first true introduction to a hill workout and played in the sand for hours! Our season ended with a final meet, hosted by ASH in Katwijk. We had 18 medal winners in total, and our U12 girls and boys both won their team divisions. We are truly proud of all our student athletes and we’ll look back at this season with a big smile!

– Coaches Erwin, Lex, Job, Ms Watson and Ingrid

End of Season Cross Country Results

U12 Soccer

The Football season has come to an end, in with the Basketball season! 

We are very proud of the dedication, commitment and resilience our U12 Boys have shown throughout the season. We have been training on being dynamic at all times in the game, positioning according to the ball, opponent and teammates and the ball distribution on the field according to space and opportunities for scoring. 

We have seen a good amount of progress throughout the season and are happy with the way that we managed to play as teams in our final tournament in Wassenaar, last week. We have seen good teamwork, creative problem solving, tough and physical hustling for the ball and some beautiful goals and saves. Thank you for that. There were even some supporters there to witness some of the U12 football magic. Thank you, parents, for coming out to support us and cheering us on, it was much appreciated. 

U14 Soccer

The boys from grades 7 and 8 played in the Hague our yearly NECIS football tournament. We had two teams playing, one combined team with Antwerp and an ISA team. Both teams played to the best of their abilities and ended up in 3rd & 6th place.

U12 Volleyball

This year, more students than ever before signed up for the U12 volleyball season. Most of these 27 students had never played volleyball previously. While focusing on movement, we started with basic catching and throwing skills and taught the students how to serve. With great dedication and hard work our game rapidly evolved towards normal volleyball. It was great to see what we achieved in 3 months, not only in terms of volleyball but also in terms of personal growth. A big thank you to all students for their smiles, enthusiasm and great sportsmanship. Besides great improvement and impressive results, the biggest reward is probably that many students will continue playing volleyball during the winter season. Don’t forget to celebrate your points, Go Bears!

– Your proud coaches Colby and Ralph.

U14 Volleyball

Dear all, what a ride! 39 eager players with great enthusiasm and sportsmanship throughout the season and with a great final at the end taking first place in two pools out of 3. It was a pleasure coaching you all and we are looking forward to hearing your next volleyball chapter! Go Bears!

– Coaches Mike and Claudia

JV Development Team 

With some players new to volleyball, the experienced players in the squad worked hard to help them learn the game. The players approached every session with a smile on their faces and a will to improve. In the first tournament of the year, the team narrowly lost to ASH and claimed a win against ISH. Motivated by this experience the girls worked hard on their gameplay in preparation for the ISA tournament. The first game was against ASH. In a tense affair, which went to the third set the team held their nerve and took a fantastic win. This left them needing to beat ISH to win the tournament. Perhaps going in overconfident the team lost the first set. The spirit and skill level of the team shone through the rest of the match as the girls won the final 2 sets. Finishing the season with a fantastic 75% win rate. Go Bears!

JV Girls 

It was great to be playing competitive volleyball again. We missed the bus rides and games against teams that pushed us to develop our skills. This season the learning curve was high. The players had to learn to play with new teammates, learn new positions and then we asked them to understand the rotation. It confused and challenged them as players and as individuals. Our goal was to come together as a team, develop our skills and be our best at the tournament. And by tournament, we were ready; the girls rose to the challenge and ended up in second place. It is a testament to the girls’ perseverance and positive attitude that we overcame losses through the season to come to the tournament with the belief that we were ready and able to compete with the best of them. It was an honour to work with you all, and I want to thank you for a wonderful season. 

V Girls Volleyball

The varsity girls had a great season. Throughout all the hard training and exciting practice games, the girls came together as a team that could rely on each other on and off the court. The dances before some of the games were sometimes so intense they had an impact on the game. In the final tournament, the girls were challenged on the first day by Bonn, so our goal for the second day was to reach the finals and give them a better game. Unfortunately, Bonn did not make it to the final. So we played against Luxembourg for our final game of the year. We saved our best volleyball for that game, especially the last set; it was impressive. Most importantly, the girls and I had a great season together. I wish the grade 12 players all the best and hope they continue playing volleyball in college.

JV Boys Soccer

The JV Boys team played some very good soccer this year and it was great to see many of the things we’d practised in training being put into action in the games. Season highlights included a trip to Brussels where we had 2 nice wins against ISB and AIS, and a successful first day of the tournament in Dusseldorf that saw us top-of-the-table after Day 1 with wins against Bonn and Luxembourg. Unfortunately, the boys couldn’t carry their Day 1 form through into the second day, and we ended up finishing 4th. Hopefully, this provided a valuable learning experience, and a good foundation to build from next season. We’re already looking forward to it!

Varsity Soccer 2021

This year didn’t start the way we would like it to start. Corona was still having its impact and this made it difficult to predict how the season would continue. On the other hand, the varsity soccer boys were really eager to play and had a good attitude during practices. We were able to play day-trip games mostly in Holland. In the beginning, we struggled with the system which was to play best. After a few games, we found the right way to play and the result improved, beating teams which we had lost to before. The season ended with two 4 teams tournaments. First in The Hague was the Dutch championship, which we won. So I guess we can call ourselves Dutch champions of International Schools. The second one was the Lions Cup in which we ended in 3rd place after a thrilling penalty shootout in which we managed to score 10 penalties in a row! So resuming we did have a pretty good season under these circumstances. And, as a coach, it was a pleasure to work with this group of nice students and that includes the students who joined the season but couldn’t come to the last tournament in Dusseldorf.