Finals Day

Swimming

Initially, there was no swim team for AIS sharks, however, we added 3 more girls to the squad to swim in the relay with Perle. We started off the day with an early start and squeezed 4 girls into the back of a taxi. Funnily enough, we got to the school an hour early, giving us plenty of time for a proper warm up. We had tough competitors but Perle came second in both her individual events (50 free and fly). Following her events, Kaylee started us off with a strong lead in the relay, followed by Scarlett and Hannah, with a strong finish from Perle, securing second place. Even though this swim team can be defined as spontaneous, we truly worked well together and supported each other throughout both relays. A big thank-you to our lead swimmer Perle for guiding + encouraging us to swim our best. Overall, it was a great experience and we will never forget this memorable event.

- Kaylee, Hannah, Scarlett & Perle (“Swim Team”)

AIS Swim Team - 3rd place

Girls Netball

The finals were definitely a tight, close match! The girls woke up nervous, yet excited. After a long, hot warmup and stretch, we were finally ready and pumped for the game. We were playing some strong opposition, yet stared hard with a bang. Our defense was spectacular and scored some excellent turnovers and intercepts. Our shooters shot some magnificent goals and moved excellently in the circle. After a strong first quarter, we were five goals down. We started the second quarter with a persistent mindset, determined to bring back the difference. Unfortunately, Hong Kong had a strong quarter and pulled forward with a nine goal difference in the middle of the quarter. Luckily, near the end of the quarter, we made a comeback and shot five consecutive goals in the last two minutes, with Hong Kong shooting one; bringing the difference back to five. At halftime, we switched our positions and brought fresh legs onto the court. The third quarter was definitely our best quarter, and we played excellently, closing the gap. We all went court with gritty mindsets for the last quarter. We left it all on the court. We even brought the difference down to a record of two goals! It was an extremely tight game with closely matched teams. Unfortunately, Hong Kong pulled away with the win by four goals at the end. Everyone played their best, and it was definitely our best game together as a team. We are extremely proud of ourselves and each other, and it was definitely an experience to remember.

- Aria & Anouk

Singapore 21 vs  Hong Kong 25

Girls Touch

We headed into finals fighting for first against our newly acclaimed rivals, Hong Kong. We knew it would be a tough fight and we went in ready to give it our all, everything left on the pitch. Hong Kong started with a strong attack and scored a try in the first we swung back, pushing harder in defense and managing to score a brilliant try off an intercept. By half time the score was even at 1 all. Emotions were high as we set off into the second half. Playing our best defense of the whole tournament we were determined to not let them the heat and glaring sun meant we were getting tired, they scored another try. Feeling our moral lowering we pushed harder to get another try. We scored again with an amazing try on the wing, even out the score to 2 all. Feeling overjoyed we needed to defend even harder than before. The match continued back and forth with neither of the teams scoring a try.  Unfortunately, they managed to score one more. With less than a minute to go, we couldn’t get another one and lost 3-2. Although we lost we played our best match against a team we lost to twice before and collected some shiny second place medals.

- Annalise

Girls Basketball

After we competed against Sharjah the day before, our team was excited to play them again, as they challenged us to work better and harder. Whilst we faced aggressive opponents, we banded together as a team and managed to win by around 20 points. As a team, we adapted to each situation as it presented itself to us. Big thank you to Jade for pushing us to our full potential during the games and help us develop our skills. We had a great time facing other AIS’s and glad to come away with a gold medal.

Go SHARKS !! :)

- Hannah & Jessie

Boys Touch

This morning the Touch boys managed to pull through a very hot, long and physical game of touch which came with a tremendous victory that we deserved. Winning gold is a first for AIS Singapore boys touch and it feels incredible to have finally beaten the Hong Kong boys as they have won consecutively over the recent years. Prior to the match the boys ran through some drills to warm up and had a team talk which was helpful to get us all in the right mindset and to remove any doubts in our minds about the game ahead. The first half we came out firing we played hard and fast, to our strengths and remaining Hong Kong boys did not expect this and could not keep up. In the first half Keegan managed to sidestep his opponents and run the whole pitch to the try the first points on the board and building our confidence. Later in the half Ryan scored a tremendous try finished with a graceful dive. In the second half,  remained the same 0-2 to AIS Singapore but there were many opportunities and close calls when we almost got over the try line again. As the whistle blew the smiles grew and we were tunneled off by the extremely supportive AIS crowd. The underdog victory was a huge achievement only possible through our teamwork trust, awesome coaching, support and mainly persistence.

- Max Prince

Singapore 2 vs Hong Kong 

Boys Football

For the gold medal, we played AIS HongKong, we knew we had the upper hand after previously beating them in the pool stage, cutesy of goals from Noah Khoury and Angus Hay. However, we were alert that they would be more than up for it to take back their pride. There was an additional pressure on the Sharks as for the last 2 years in the competition, the boys had ended up on the losing side in the final due to penalty kicks. The teams lined up for the last game of the whole tournament, the Sharks supporters lining the boundaries ahead of an enticing fixture.

The game began, consisting of a solid setup with Noah, Angus and Nathan Astridge leading the front line. The boys started strong. In particular, Dylan Saimee and Alex Munro were illustrious in creating slick passing moves and winning the ball back in the midfield.
The opening goal was almost inevitable, and it eventually came. Near the end of the half. Patrick Fox who had subbed on for Noah slotted the ball into the bottom left corner following a well worked corner. Hard work paid off as Patrick put the ball in the net after being left unmarked in the box.

The half finished, the feedback from Coach Jordan encouraged the boys to go for more but to cut out the sloppiness that was starting to show.

Additional substitutions came on as Seaton Buck, Keegan Whall and Benny Johnston took the field. The boys started again at the same high intensity as before. Great pressure and awareness from Benny allowed the ball to worked on to the wings for Matthew Paine and Marzio Tamburrini. Some sweet combination play between the two put Marzio through past the defenders. He beat the man and squared the ball cooly for Captain Patrick to knock in his second and seemingly the winner 2-0

With still 10mins to go, the boys continued to play well. A momentary lapse in concentration led to a terrific save from keeper Francesco Tomatis but the boys held strong. Chances came and went for HongKong but Seaton, Dylan and Keegan could not be stopped, intercepting and winning every ball that came their way.

Finally, the final whistle went, the boys had won 2-0 against HongKong. AISA Games Boys Football Champions! 4 wins out of a possible 4. The boys celebrated with glee but were appreciative and respectful of the efforts from the HongKong boys.

On behalf of the football boys, firstly, I want to say thank you to all the event organisers, the ref and other officials, sharks supporters, staff on tour and most importantly Coach Jordan. Jordan worked and managed tirelessly throughout the whole weekend motivating us as a team and contributing largely to our success.

To the boys, as captain I can’t say how proud I am of the team, after cruelly losing in the last two finals I can’t explain how amazing of a feeling it is to finally win this special tournament. To finally achieve our goal at the third time of asking is indescribable, especially being it my last tournament. I wish best of luck to the future successes of the football teams at this tournament and thank everyone for making AISA games Dubai memorable for me and the rest of the boys.
Perhaps being third time lucky is not just an expression.

- Patrick and Dylan

Boys Basketball

After a tough opening day with two very close losses, The basketball boys bounced back with a momentous victory over AIS HK in the third place final. in the first quarter, neither of the teams shots were falling, leading to a very low 4-3 score to end the first. after the slow start, sterling came up big with a number of scoring efforts, alongside charlie and seaton’s lockdown defence. it was a nail biter for the rest of the game, with a number of lead changes from both teams. some big plays from the boys and powerful coaching from melvin allowed the team to overcome their opponents and take away the bronze medal. despite only taking home the third place medal, the boys can take pride in the fact that they beat the 1st place team by a commanding 12 points.

- Daniel & Liam

Photos