OIS Sports

The OIS sports teams have started off November with a bang. Both our varsity girls’ football and varsity boys volleyball have competed in two big tournaments at the start of November. Our teams came home with a first-place trophy and a second-place trophy, for the girls and boys respectively. Our school has certainly proved themselves and will continue proving that they are a competitor to watch out for.

Our girls traveled to Barcelona, Spain to compete in the football tournament hosted by the European international school of Barcelona. The team was a total of 11 players, the team, and their head coach Mr. Cheira, left Wednesday the 2nd of November and came home Sunday the 6th of November. The girls were hosted by families of the European International School of Barcelona. At the tournament there were 10 different teams from schools across Europe. The OIS team made it to the finals against the American School of Madrid where they came out victorious winning 1 to 0 after a goal from Rita Proença in the last few minutes of the game. I had the pleasure of speaking to the captain of the football team Luna Fiel who when asked about how they played said, “We played really well with each other, and I think that was why we were able to beat Madrid since they are a very strong team.” I also got the chance to speak to Mr. Cheira who accompanied the girls on the trip as head coach, he stated, “I was really proud of the development done by them. The progression has been amazing its not something that happens from one month to the other, it’s a long long process.” Not only is the team taking a trophy home, but they also take back an unforgettable experience. Luna Fiel said, “I enjoyed visiting Barcelona, it was very pretty.” The girls had the chance to look at some famous monuments and sculptures such as La Sagrada Familia, as well as others. The girls train every Wednesday after school.

Now onto the Varsity boys’ volleyball team. The Varsity team is coached by Ms. Monte after school on Thursdays and by Mr. Girard during lunch on Wednesdays. The team flew to Madrid the same days as the football team to compete in another tournament. The Varsity volleyball team consists of 9 players some of which are on club volleyball teams as well as the school volleyball team. Not unlike the girl’s varsity football, the varsity boys volleyball team was hosted by families of The American School of Madrid. The team played hard against 9 different school teams from all over Europe. The team got to the finals but after a nail-biting game against the French School of London, Lycee Français, lost the game. The French School of London specializes in volleyball, so they were a very strong team and difficult to play against. I had the chance to speak to the captain of the volleyball team Eduardo Empis who when asked about the how they played in the tournament said, “I think we played well. We got second place, can’t complain.” I also had the pleasure of speaking to Ms. Monte who said, “I think they played really well. They developed a lot during the tournament from one game to another. Our stronger players were always strong but our players that didn’t play for clubs and weren’t as strong adapted really well.” The team played 10 games over the course of the tournament. Everyone on the team became really good friends with a lot of the other teams as well. It was a very good chance to meet new people from different international schools around the world. Even though they came in second they still made OIS proud.

November has certainly been a flurry of excitement for all of OIS. Apart from these two tournaments there has been many other tournaments for the D3, D4, and D5 teams from many different sports. For example, the varsity boys football team had a big tournament in the beginning of November and during the middle of November there was a D3 basketball tournament. Overall, we are all super proud of these two teams showing an excellent performance. For the varsity girls football team there is a tournament the 8th – 10th of December we are all wishing them luck. For the volleyball varsity boys team, they have game coming up in 4 days, we all will be cheering them on.