On the 10th March this year we took 24 year 5 and 6 pupils to the annual British Schools of the Middle East Games. This year the event was held at Modern English School in Cairo.

Over the 4 days of the games we competed in 5 different events. On Thursday, after a wonderful sightseeing trip to the pyramids and the Sphinx we competed in the swimming event. This gave the team a wonderful start as we managed to place second overall, which was our best finish in swimming ever. The winter training that Coach Elpseth had been doing with the children had certainly paid off.

Friday was a big day at the games and the morning started with the athletics event. Our star athlete Michaela Sandy narrowly missed out on first place in the high jump, but can now claim to be the 2nd highest jumper in the Gulf! Both of our boys and girls relay teams made it to the final and were placed 1st and 2nd place respectively. I must say I was particularly impressed with the skill level that was displayed and well done to all the athletes.

In the afternoon it was the turn of the netball and football competitions. Both these ran at the same time, so for the spectator it was difficult to watch both. Our netball stars had an outstanding start and won every single one of their league games very convincingly. We narrowly lost in the semi final, but managed to secure 3rd place in this part of the competition. The effort by coaches Mrs Lodwig and Mrs Holness certainly paid off.

On the back of a resounding victory at the Unity Cup in Dubai the footballers were under immense pressure, coupled with the fact that a number of the specialist footballers had not travelled with the team. They had a shaky start but then managed to find their feet later on in the tournament with some spectacular goals from goal machine Robert Koeck. Mr Maye and Mr Holness certainly had the team well drilled for the tournament.

The final day was the basketball tournament and after finishing 2nd last year, the pressure was certainly on. The boys and girls were strong from the start and were certainly taking the lay up chances that presented themselves. Again luck wasn’t on our side and we missed a semi final spot by one basket, but ended up making it to 5th place.

I think the proudest achievement was the fair play award for the team that demonstrated good sportsmanship and behaviour. Once again it was an absolute pleasure to take the following students to the games:

Robert Loeck, Chris Egan, Tom Fossett, Finn Doyne, Jack Litherland, Zac Nasser, Lorenzo Fantechi, Johanna Lawson-Dick, Kirsty Gaston-Grubb, Kristine Luke, Jonathon Jaworski, Nicole Moir, Madeleine Westley, Arpitha Yoga, Sofia Cortes, Kianna Legg, Ben Willis, Will Licence, Shane McCarthy, Phoebe Licence, Martha Doyne, Michaela Sandy, Majid Al Yousif, Ethan Aspin.

Also many thanks to all of the coaches; Mr Holness, Mrs Lodwig, Mrs Holness, Miss Elspeth, Mr Armstrong, Mr Maye