A Season to Celebrate!

For ten years, Kunming International Academy has been attempting to develop a football program.  For nine of those ten years, KIA has had a boys' high school team, but until this year, that team had only ever competed in any kind of meaningful competition once, when we traveled to Singapore to play in a mini-tournament against three other international school teams.  That year (2008), the boys took second place, but from then on they have only gotten to play sporadic friendly matches against some local Kunming high school teams and adult teams.  Because the Kunming City high school football tournament is held annually in July, when our students are mostly out of the country, we have never been able to participate in this competition, like our basketball teams, whose tournaments take place in November/December.  In any case, this year KIA decided that it would take both a boys' and a girls' team to the Association of China and Mongolia International Schools (ACAMIS) 7 v 7 football tournament held (this year) in Chengdu.  With that goal in mind, the boys' teams practices became very competitive, as eighteen athletes competed for twelve roster spots.

In the above shot, Nicolas (12, Hong Kong) looks to control the ball in a small-sided scrimmage in January.  Eduardo (09, USA/Italy) seeks to defend his teams goals (small orange arcs).  With the tournament in mind, the boys made it there goal to have greater commitment at practice and greater intensity during each training session.  The senior boys really set the tone, but the other grades pitched in, making this one of the most skilled teams KIA has had.

During my ten years at KIA, the girls had only ever had a team once before, and that team never got to play a single match.  (In Kunming, high schools do not have girls' football teams.)  So taking a team to Chengdu for the tournament meant creating a team in the first place.  This year's team did not have a lot of football players, but it did have quite a few athletes.  Many of the girls from the KIA basketball team came out for the football squad, and their athleticism and willingness to compete made instant impacts on a very young and unskilled squad.  In the photo above, Yeon Woo (11, Korea) controls the center of midfield, while Grace (10, Australia) looks to provide a passing option.  The girls' team had a couple athletes who trained with the boys last year, and they also had a handful of very fast, very aggressive underclassmen.  Together, these athletes composed the core of this year's tournament team.

Hannah (12, Korea) is one of the girls who trained with the boys last year, and she certainly was the offensive threat.  After only one match, one could hear the opponents and their coaches communicating, "Stay on number two!  Stay on number two!"  Hannah's skill, speed, and size made her a difficult match for any of the opponents.  Plus, she can run forever!  When the team needed a goal you could be assured that Hannah would be called upon to make something happen, and if KIA needed to secure its lead Hannah usually found herself shifted to the center of defense to offer a calming factor.  She will be missed next year!

Grace (09, Australia) was a key member of the girls' basketball team this year, and her agility, speed, and aggressiveness made her a real threat on the wing, where she often found herself in 1 v 1 situations.  In the photo above she takes on a defender from the NingBo high school from ZheJiang Province.

The girls' team was a revelation at the ACAMIS tournament.  They ended up taking second place, losing only two matches, both when facing the eventual tournament champions, YCIS ChongQing.  With even more training in the future, the KIA girls could be a real threat to win it all at future ACAMIS events.

The competition in the boys' division of the ACAMIS tournament was a bit more competitive and even.  While the first and second place teams did not lose a match prior to the final and were far-and-away the best two teams, the difference between third place and sixth place was rather minor.  In fact, the KIA boys' squad, in a match with YCIS Hong Kong that would determine which team would be second in our qualifying group, played the eventual third-place team to a 0-1 loss, decided only by a late slip by our goalkeeper, allowing the ball to trickle through his fingers.  Naturally, the entire team was a devastated, but they continued to play hard all the way to the end.  In the photo above, Jason (11, Taiwan) looks to clear the ball with his head in our match versus BIBA Hong Kong.

The strength of our team really was our team defending.  While we created numerous scoring opportunities and did score numerous goals, our ability to remain in matches really came down to how well we limited our opponents' scoring opportunities.  Nicolas (12, Hong Kong), number 14, has been as strong defender for our squad for more than four years.  However, as the photo shows, he also received quite a bit of help from (left to right) Pepe (09, Mexico), Jason, Daniel (11, Korea), and Nathaniel (12, Singapore).  Overall, our defense played quite well and even received praise after our 0-1 loss to YCIS Hong Kong.

One real positive we took from the tournament is just how young both our teams are.  In the photo above (from foreground to background), Daniel, Caleb (11, USA), Timothy (09, Korea), and David (10, Korea) will all be returning next year.  While four seniors did take up spots on the tournament roster, the other eight will be returning, and we still had six other athletes, who are all in grades 9 through 11, who did not make the travel roster.  So next year we have a firm foundation on which to build our "new" team.

Eduardo (09, USA/Italy), taking on the opponent, and Pepe, the goalkeeper in the background will also be returning for another year.  So we have athletes on all sides of the ball returning for next year.

Another positive is just how versatile some of the athletes are.  Here is a picture of Pepe controlling the ball against YCIS Chongqing.  Pepe's family may also be bringing another son to join us next year.  Each of Pepe's brothers have solid skills and a strong understanding of how the game moves.  So we have new teammates to look forward to as well.

We will also have a whole new group of senior leaders.  Daniel, who has been with the program since he was in grade 9 will be one of those grade-12 leaders next year.  His abilities on the ball are probably the best on the team, and we will be looking to him to help control play next year.  Here, Daniel takes on the defense of the YCIS Pudong squad from Shanghai.

In all, this year's football experience was unlike any other of the previous years.  Both the girls and the boys experienced success and the opportunity to actually compete against teams their own age in meaningful competition.  That was certainly a first, and it created a great deal of excitement on campus.  I am looking forward to building on that excitement next year.