By Asek Wheeler
The sport of volleyball is one of the ultimate tests of teamwork, mental strength, and physical prowess. All these factors and more must be taken into account for a competitive volleyball team. This past weekend, BIS had the opportunity to show their volleyball skills in the BISA volleyball tournament. The BIS U15 girls team showed evidence of all of these traits, taking 1st place in the tournament, dominating the competition.
The rest of the teams also put in a great effort, but weren’t able to come out on top. On the boys side, the U19 team came 5th, and the U15 team came 4th. The U19 team lost to UWIS 2, Hope Academy, and Oxford. However, they did end up beating QSI. The U15 boys team lost to almost every other team, most importantly losing to UWIS main knocking them out of the tournament. The winners for U19 boys were Hope Academy. UWIS 2 won for U15 boys. On the girls side, the U19 team came 4th place out of 5.
Although most of the teams did not find much success the experience was very fun and educational. The athletes were able to visit the new UWIS campus which had many features that make it unique from other buildings in Bishkek. Overall our athletes learned from the highs and the lows ultimately bringing them closer together as a team. The dedication and will the players had to show up to practice, play in friendly games, and play on their own time, was a great show of commitment and should be commended. Although this tournament was all the teams in Bishkek the real one that matters is CAVC, taking place in Astana where the best international schools in central Asia will match off. Our teams should consider the local tournament as a warm-up and good practice, in the sense that they will have adapted to playing many games in one day and learning to strengthen their mentality. The BISA tournament should of course not be deemed as not important, but our athletes shouldn’t have their thoughts dwell too much on this tournament, and should mainly focus on CAVC. We wish them the best of luck in Astana, and I believe they can show improvement through hard work.