CISSA (Canadian International Schools Sports Association) is a new member association where Canadian schools across Asia have joined forces and each year will meet to celebrate Canadian education and the sports that our students love!
This year marked the first annual meeting, where Middle Schools students from Guangzhou, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Malaysia and Macau came together in Cambodia. Three days of great sport, making new friends and Canadian sportsmanship followed. We thought it was the perfect opportunity for a daily diary, please enjoy!
DAY 1 – Thursday 26th April
We woke up very early, I woke up at 5:00am. Our flight was at 8:45am. Once we arrived we were early so Mr. Bowden and Mrs.Rola went to drink coffee and we had a little walk in the airport. Our flight was late 1 hour because the airport was very busy. When we arrived we had no time to go to the hotel so we went directly to the school. When we arrived we had to change our clothes, but Gorden forgot to bring his top, luckily he had a black shirt to wear instead.
It was very fun playing hockey with other teams because they were very friendly. We finished playing before the others so we went to the hotel. We got stuck in the traffic so we were 10 minutes late. When we went back to the school we had a pizza party. The pizza was very good. We went back to the hotel at 7:30, we had a little meeting about the rules and then we went to our hotel room. It was such a fun day.
Written by Laresa Khamis (Grade 6)
DAY 2 – Friday 27th April
Today we woke up at 6:30, we got dressed in the red Grizzly uniform for basketball. This is day 2 of this journey. We ate breakfast at 7am then we headed out to the school at 8 am. We were supposed to play the first game against TIS but the floor was wet, so we had to wait till it’s dry. When the floor was dry we played basketball for 4 rounds behind each other with no stopping, so technically 2 hours and 30 minutes of basketball! We first played against the Malaysian school and lost by 1 point, same with Bangkok. Chris shot a lot of three pointers, his shooting was great! All of us did great, we all worked hard and didn’t give up.
After all the games we took a shower and dressed in nice clothes, we went to the mall Aeon and bought dinner for me, Lulu and Ms Rola for the boat cruise party later. We got ice-cream from Mr. Bowden. After buying the dinner then headed out to the boat cruise party, we ate dinner and had lots of fun on the boat and meeting new people from other schools. That was day 2, such a fun and kinda tiring day.
Written by Aryam Muthana (Grade 8)
Day 3 – Saturday 28th April
Today marked the final day of this unique and awesome competition. The children were again awake very early and after a healthy breakfast at the hotel, it was on the bus to our final tournament, soccer!
Competing in a strong field, I was so proud of the enthusiasm and skilful play from all our students. The chant of “lets go Grizzlies, lets go” was heard by everyone in Phnom Penh!! We finished 3rd in the soccer competition which was a great achievement, well done to all our athletes.
The final evening was a special end of tournament banquet, with a delicious buffet dinner for all the students and coaches. There were students from 21 different countries around the world competing in this tournament. At the banquet, all the students were talking, playing and making new friends, such is the power of sport.
I am a very proud Teacher and thank-you to our students for making it such a fantastic experience!
Written by Mr. Bowden
