The biggest weekend of CDNIS Sport in the SEASAC Calendar saw TWolves teams travelling to Singapore (Boys Tennis), Bangkok (Girls Tennis and Boys and Girls Basketball) and Kuala Lumper (Boys Rugby and Girls Touch Rugby).
CDNIS won the SEASAC Sportsmanship Award and also earned SEASAC 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 5th and 7th place finishes in the 15 school, 6 country tournament. These places possibly do not reflect the intensity, excitement and heartbreak in the competitions. John Wooden once said, “Sports do not build character; they reveal it”, and I am proud that plenty of character was shown by our Twovles teams this weekend.
SEASAC Rugby 2nd Place (Div 2)
Like all CDNIS teams, travelling presents its challenges; for the Rugby and Touch teams, this included a diverted plane (first ever SEASCA team to go to Penang!) then sapping heat in KL for SEASAC Day 1. They finished Day 1 with a 2/3 record but had the two top teams to play on Day 2. On Saturday the team came out firing and convincingly beat Stamford American (Singapore) 19-0 and then rolled over the top of Australia International School (Singapore); CDNIS qualified top of the Round robin play. The boys were playing with speed, skill and confidence. They dominated the Semifinal to enter Sundays SEASAC Gold medal match with great momentum and confidence. The game started well, with 2 great team tries setting up a 12-5 halftime lead. In the second half they recovered from a couple of serious injuries to key players to extend the lead to 24-5 with 5 minutes remaining ….. then the unbelievable (literally) happened, a comeback from SAIS saw the Lions score 3 quick tries, the last deep, deep into added time, to lock the scores up at 24-24. A five-minute golden point extra time could not separate the teams, and it was only a fine team try to SAIS that gave them the championship in the second period of OT. The way our CDNIS Boys carried themselves after the game was impressive, I was very proud. Even though they were devastated, their sportsmanship, dignity and pride were obvious to all. Instead of thinking they lost gold it is important to celebrate that they won silver and more importantly they won the respect of all who saw the TWolves team in action. The Boys are well led by Coaches Metz, Shortt and Underhill.
SEASAC Girls Tennis Bronze Div 2
Congratulations to the young and brave SEASAC Tennis Girls tennis team. We brought home Bronze in SEASAC Div 2; Sophia, Michelle(s), Minin, Medha, Alison, Ella and Janice combined to equal our best SEASAC result. The Team enjoyed fantastic facilities at Harrow School in Bangkok and made all TWolves fans – and especially Coaches Shirley and Schmalenberg – very proud. The highlight of the weekend was our 4-1 win in the bronze medal play-off v AIS from Singapore. Hopefully, we can keep this team together and keep improving to enjoy further SEASAC success. Good luck to the girls who will combine again in the ISSFHK finals on Wednesday. Thanks again to their passionate Coaches Shirley and Schmally for leading the team.
SEASAC Boys Tennis 4th place Div 1
CDNIS continued their proud tradition of top 4 finishes at SEASAC and this year may have been our best chance to build on previous silvers and bronzes. Unfortunately, success for Jay in the HK Age Grade championships meant he had to stay in Hong Kong to play and he was a very late withdrawal from our SEASAC team, this meant our strong #2 seed was out and everyone else had to move up. Our Boys were awesome in this tournament. Coach Smriti could not be prouder. In key moments key players stepped up to clinch wins v TTS and UWC East that meant CDNIS qualified the semi-finals. In the semifinals we went down 2-3 to NIST going down to the last game in the last set of doubles; in this game, we had 3 players new to SEASAC and so we look strong for SEASAC Tennis 2019. Congratulations to the Boys Team and thanks to Coaches Smriti and Roland for their leadership and player management.
SEASAC Boys Basketball 5th Place Div 1
The Boys had great wins v ISY (Myanmar) and GIS (Malaysia) to cement their spot in Div 1 with a strong 5th place finish. The team pushed hard for a semi-final spot with close games v UWC East, UWC Dover and NIST, but we can be very proud of the development of this team – on and off the court – this year. The team have played 19 games since January 4, and their improvement is a testament to the dedication of both the players and coaches. Congratulations to Issac, finishing a great B20 basketball career (3 seasons) as SEASAC MVP; Issac led a real team effort at SEASAC with big contributions from the Twins, Vince and the B16 players who stepped in and stepped up. Thanks too to Coaches Riverin and Wright.
SEASAC Girls Basketball 5th Place
What a weekend of heart-stopping action in an extremely even Div 1 SEASAC Girls competition. It is surprising Coach Young still looks so young with 4 out of 5 matches in pool play going down to the last minutes and in 3/4 the TWolves just coming up short (losses by 6, 8 and 1 point!) But when it mattered most the team came together to win the 5th/6th place game v RIS and confirm our spot in SEASAC Div 1 for 2019. Congratulations to MVP Harriet and to all the girls for giving it all out on the court. What an exciting, stressful and fun SEASAC weekend. Thanks, Coach Young and Kipfer, you really need a rest after such a roller coaster of a weekend.
SEASAC Girls Touch Rugby 7th Place
SEASAC touch (Division 1) was a very enjoyable learning experience for our hardworking Girls touch team. After overcoming travel delays and the KL heat, our girls put in a string of solid performances to show that we belong in Div 1. Excellent defence, which was the result of great coaching and the player’s commitment to training, meant we had a chance in every game. We ended up playing home team class in the dreaded 6th/7th play off. A strong start saw the TWolves leading 1-0 at halftime, but home ground advantage helped the spirited KLASS team came from behind to just pip the TWolves 2-1. The girls can be proud of their development throughout the tournament, playing their best game on Sunday. We know what we need to do to compete at Div 1 level and these committed athletes will come back stronger next year. Thanks, Coaches Kahu and O’Toole, for everything you give to this team. Congratulations to Kyra who finished her SEASAC career with the deserved MVP award. Kyra is one of our most experienced SEASAC athletes in Football, Touch Rugby and Gymnastics.
SEASAC Sportsmanship
I am always very proud of our coaches. And for the first time ever our Coaches – Kadie Riverin, Alex Wright, Steph Young and Lisa Kipfer – were awarded the SEASAC Sportsmanship Trophy. The way they lead their teams was recognised by the other school’s athletes and coaches, who nominated them for this award. We are so proud to have these role models representing our school and setting the standard at SEASAC and leading our TWolves sports programme.
Thanks to all SEASAC Season 2 athletes for making our school proud. Thank you to the 14 coaches who give their time so generously, most of them arriving home after midnight on Sunday night. Thanks to all staff for supporting these committed athletes as they balance their passion for sport with their academic expectations; your support is appreciated by all of us.
For further reports and photos please check out our TWolves News Site later in the week.
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