Football – probably the most popular team sport is also played a lot in the schoolyard and in PE classes. It is considered one of the most favoured sports and plays a major role in the lives of many of our learners. Football is played in the schoolyard during the break, club training takes place in the afternoon and at the weekend the favourite club can be seen on TV.
At our school, too, football is one of the favourite sports of many of our students. So it’s no surprise that three boys from 4AM – Philias, Matwey and Felix – had the idea to organise a football tournament during lunch break in which all football-loving learners in primary school could participate. They approached the Hort Team and explained their idea. With the lifting of the Covid restrictions, they wanted to find a way to play together in a competitive but friendly atmosphere. After a few brainstorming sessions with Mr Archie they came up with the idea of the LIS Champions League, which they presented in a recent assembly.
All interested students then had one week to form a team (five players + one substitute), come up with a team name and register their team for the league by writing all the information on a piece of paper and putting it in a box in Hort – serious business! The boys opened the box and found that there were lots of registrations, which gave them a bit of a headache. But they managed to work out a system where everyone played everyone else, over a period of seven weeks, with matches taking place six times a week. It was a complicated affair, but they managed to organise everything very well!
Here are the names of the teams and players – note the very imaginative team names!
It was a great success as children from all grades came to watch and cheer on their friends. After all the games were played, the top four teams competed against each other in a small knockout competition, and so the winner was crowned!
The semi-finals were contested by the following teams: Leipziger FC (Gr. 4) vs JILMAD FC (Gr. 3) and Ultra Youngsters FC (Gr. 5) vs Football Robbers (Gr. 2). The winners in the respective matches were team JILMAD FC and the Ultra Youngsters FC. So in the final, JILMAD FC and Ultra Youngsters FC played each other. After an enthusiastic match in which the nerves were on edge and the audience cheered enthusiastically, the team Ultra Youngsters FC won! Congratulations guys, you did great!!!!
Team JLLMAD came second, Leipziger FC finished third and one of the youngest team, the Football Robbers, achieved an outstanding fourth place.
Well done everybody, we are very proud of you!!!
But the journey is more important than the destination: During the tournament, all the children played in an atmosphere of fair play and respect. Play is an essential and probably the best form of learning for children. In play, children experience the emotions that are so important for learning and are always attentive.
During the games, Mr Archie from the Hort Team was always present as referee so that the game could be continued quickly and amicably in disputed situations. He communicated the rules of the game, had the duration of the game under control and blew the whistle at the beginning and end of each game.
We would like to thank all the students who participated in this tournament for their ambitious efforts. You all did brilliantly!!! We also thank Mr Archie for supporting the them so much and running the games every lunch break throughout the seven weeks.
And last but not least, we thank Philias, Matwey and Felix for the great idea and its implementation, so that we could experience an excellent LIS Champions League.
Well done everyone!
