Every time we completed a GISST event – the Cross-Country and then the U14 football and then the Varsity football – I sighed a breath of relief. We did it. We managed to complete another tournament without the dreaded ‘C’ word spoiling it for us. And then it did. The Varsity Volleyball tournament, due to be hosted by Dresden International School, at the end of November got cancelled. However, we were ready for it and instead of letting it get the best of us we hosted our own Volleyball tournament with five LIS teams – four student teams and one staff team on Saturday 27th November, and it was epic.
At 8:30am on a Saturday morning the gym was awash with a sea of red as our school volleyball players wore their official GISST school uniforms and warmed up for their games. Due to the corona regulations we were unable to invite parents or alumni to come and play or watch, but there were still approximately 50 players and a few student and teacher spectators, to help make for a great atmosphere.
It was wonderful to see so many students choosing to come to school on a Saturday voluntarily, just so that they could participate in some sport. There really is a demand for it as the students have missed being able to play any competitive sport for a while, and it is something that I hope to be able to continue with in the future.
There were some fantastic and very competitive games amongst the students and staff and some surprising winners!
Badminton
A week later we found out that we would be unable to travel to Berlin for the GISST badminton tournaments, so we decided to invite the teachers along to the final training session to give the students someone new to play against. They certainly rose to the challenge! The teachers didn’t stand a chance against some of our Varsity players in a singles match!
The students and teachers have really enjoyed being able to play some sport together in recent weeks and again it is something that I hope to make a permanent fixture in future calendars.
