In the spirit of sportsmanship

The American International School of Muscat welcomed 100 volleyball athletes, ranging from fourteen to nineteen-years-old, and twenty coaches last week. The annual event, sponsored by the South Asia Inter-School Association (SAISA), was held over three consecutive days in the two air-conditioned gyms at TAISM.

Ten schools from throughout the region were hosted by local families. Fifty-four matches were held over the weekend to qualify for the first three places. The overall event was organised by Muscat-based Athletic Director, Coach Kelly Lang assisted by Stefanie Britton. Ms Lang addressed the athletes during the opening ceremony on Thursday morning and extended a heartfelt welcome to the visitors to the host country and school. Two local boys led the assembled competitors in the SAISA pledge, which emphasises the true spirit of sportsmanship, the love of athletics and friendship.

All the boys interviewed praised the hospitality of their host families here in the Sultanate, and the cleanliness, beauty and friendliness of the country.

Most of the teams, consisting of 10 high school players, have been training since the start of this semester in August.

Heading the Event Management was Ms Tania and a group of hardworking student volunteers, including cheer supporters, Dori Pethes and Layan Dasan, while others helped with score-boarding, such as Duru Oktem and Kaylin McWilliams from the host school in Ghala. All one hundred boys were accommodated in thirty seven host families in the Muscat community — not just with fellow volleyball players — and the twenty coaches were shown hospitality by staff and teachers.

The games were energetic, fast and furious. There were some long volleys (to use a tennis term) where the ball stayed air-borne for minutes on end. It seems tough on the hands and fists, but no hand injuries were reported. However, two sets of crutches were spotted among the walking wounded. Jordanian outside hitter, Adam, from American Community School, Amman sprained his ankle in a match against Lahore American School while hitter, Edwardo from Bombay, tore a ligament in a match on Friday against the Muscat host school! Still, the medical services in the capital came out trumps and gave them first class orthopaedic treatment. In the final score the Bengal Tigers from American International School of Dhaka came first overall while the American International School of Muscat gained third place. So there must be some justice there. Other schools involved included two more from Pakistan — Karachi and Islamabad — the American International School Chennai, Overseas School of Colombo and the Lincoln School, Kathmandu.

Here is some history about the game before the end results: William G. Morgan invented the game of volleyball in 1895. He created it to be a balanced mix of basketball, baseball, handball and tennis. He was a YMCA Education Director in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Before the creation of the volley ball players used the soft inside bladder of basket balls. There is an ongoing debate about when the first volley ball was created. It was made by Spalding either in 1896 or 1900. On average a volleyball player will jump three hundred times in an average game (about an hour long) but the longest volleyball game on record lasted for seventy five hours in Kingston, N C The Bulgarian outside hitter, one of the world’s best players, Matey Kaziyski, currently owns the world record with the fastest spike ever recorded by a male according an article published in, ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport’’s weekly magazine, SportWeek. He hit the ball at 132 km per hour.

The purpose of SAISA is to promote and coordinate regional professional development activities, academic and cultural festivals, athletic tournaments and other events. It promotes the values of collaboration, creativity, sportsmanship and fair and ethical competition.

Ms. Lang complimented all the teams on their passion and sportsmanship adding, “SAISA Boys’ Volleyball 2019 was a glorious competition, in which all the teams strove together to improve in every aspect of the game. They improved their strategies, tactics, game sense and mental toughness while developing friendships with athletes from the visiting teams. Thank you to the support network here and to all the TAISM community for helping put on this amazing event.” The next SAISA fixture in Muscat will be Girls’ Soccer in February 2020.

PHOTOS BY Nicole Becx