What happened to Pep Rallies?
There will not be pep rallies held during class-time hours this year. However, the Tuesday following SAISA there will be awards assemblies where students will receive their certificates in front of the entire HS. In future seasons an optional pep rally will take place after school on the Friday before teams leave. Middle School and Elementary School students as well as parents will be invited. This will allow for not having a special pep rally schedule, recognition in front of peers, not forcing students to attend a pep rally if they don't want to, and hopefully encouraging higher attendance at the local game that follows the pep rally. With the timing of DI, fall break and then the VLD last week those plans went out the window for the first season, but watch for a pep rally-like event on February 14th (Valentine's theme?) and perhaps April 17th (pep rally and then the HS play?).
ASIAC Season 1
The boys and girls ASIAC Soccer teams competed in New Delhi at the ASIAC Soccer tournament last week. Both the boys and girls came in 5th and 6th place. While I'm sure the teams were disappointed in their overall placement there is some very interesting data out of the overall team standings. AES's teams came in 1st and 2nd for bot boys and girls. ASB's teams came in 3rd and 4th for both their boys and girls teams. What makes this particularly interesting is that this is the first year for ASIAC where all schools have agreed to split their teams equally and not have an A team and a B team. So, in theory, either of the teams from our school could win a head-to-head match. And as the results played out, each school did quite well with the composition of the teams. This can be quite difficult when a school might have an outstanding goalkeeper or a fast striker. But the Athletic Directors, Principals and most coaches felt that splitting teams this way is the best, developmentally, for our middle school students.
Hoodies!
I have a closet full of hoodies. Or, more accurately, my son that is in college does. The hoodies are hung up in his closet here where they will likely not ever get much use with him half way around the world. I heard from other parents in the past few years that were a little frustrated by buying a hoodie for every team that their child made or sometimes even just tried out for. With t-shirts offered for each event it seems that we've been creating a bit of excess clothing -- and items that are hard to give away when a student's name is on it. Also, some students never make a team or don't even try out. So in conjunction with last year's student Varsity Athletic Council we have launched the ability to order a universal, but custom hooded sweatshirt. If you order one there is a choice between pull-over or zip, black or navy blue, a custom text on the back and choice of number and the option to have RAPTORS down one sleeve. All hoodies will have a raptor logo on the chest. Orders will be placed periodically. The first order was made for 300 of them! Unfortunately, this made the order take longer than we had hoped, but we've made a few slight upgrades to the hoodies, including having the school logo on one shoulder and the raptors logo will now be embroidered. If you missed the first order and want to be on the second order, just complete this form. The cost of the hoodies is 1,200 INR for each.
ASIAC Season 2
Season 2 of ASIAC sports is basketball and table tennis. Practices have begun, but it isn't too late to join! Come to the gym at 6:30 AM on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays. The main gym is basketball and the rec gym (the glass-walled gym) is the venue for table tennis. The tournament this year is in Delhi on the first weekend of December.
SAISA Season 1
This week the SAISA Volleyball and Swimming teams will be competing. Boys Volleyball will be in Oman, Girls Volleyball in Oman, and Swimming in Nepal. Check out the SAISA League website for links to the schedule and live streaming for each.
SAISA Season 2
Watch the student bulletins for information about SAISA season 2 sports. The seasons have changed from previous years. Season 2 will be Boys Basketball, Girls Soccer and Track & Field. Most SAISA sports are open only to high school students, but track is open to those that will be 10 years or older on the first day of the meet, which this year is on February 20, 2020. These sports may have a soft-start the week of October 21st, but will expect everyone interested to be at practices beginning October 28th.
