Five years ago MBIS joined with 3 other international schools from around India to form a competitive sports league called ISACI – International Schools Activities Conference: India. As part of this league MBIS committed to participating in Boys and Girls Basketball, Football and Swimming; Boys Cricket and Girls Volleyball; and more recently, Boys and Girls Middle School Sports Festival which covers both Football and Basketball. MBIS are committed to hosting 2 tournaments each year, this year hosting Boys Basketball and the Middle School sports Festival. As of next school year ISACI will also include a choral festival for secondary students.
ISACI however, is not just about competition. Our MBIS Eagles are student-athletes. They are able to juggle academics with training. They show agility and flexibility by working around schedules and having work completed, often prior to tournaments. Student-athletes must show good time management skills which also assists them in the classroom and with homework. It is often seen, that the more things a student takes part in, the more organised they need to, and do, become.
Athletes need to learn to overcome adversity; this could be injury, losing a match or race, or coming from 10 points down. This then translates to the classroom and life in general. This resilience becomes an important part of their thinking and general way of life. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” Student-athletes are able to push through, show commitment and are often more open minded to different approaches. Couple this with the fact that exercise decreases stress and our Eagles are able to perform under more stressful situations such as exams.
So with season 1 ISACI completed, our student-athletes move on to Season 2 and tryouts for MSSF and Boys Cricket and Girls Volleyball are not far away. As the smallest school in ISACI, MBIS has a fiercely competitive reputation and with our commitment and high intensity trainings, we are now showing results and winning Championships. But better than on the scoreboard, our athletes are growing as leaders, are showing commitment, resilience, loyalty and a high degree of sportsmanship!
Goooo Eagles!
MBIS Athletic Director
Boys Basketball by Aryan Chowdhury: Captain
After four years of ISACI at MBIS, it’s truly difficult to express in words how honored I am to have been a part of the best community at this school. In this community, the coaches facilitate the learning of technical skills and strategies needed on the court, Mrs. Jodi consistently organizes tournaments to the highest standard making each ISACI memorable, yet at the end of the day, basketball is a team sport and it is this team spirit which brings out the best in all of us. Sure, I started off on the bench in MYP4. I stayed on the bench in MYP5. The year after, I finally made it to the starting team as co-captain and point guard after two years of training and practice. Therefore, ISACI has shown me the value of patience and determination. With these qualities, sportsmanship and morals followed suit. Earlier, I would find it easier to become angry, express discontent in loss, and celebrate in front of opponents. As the years passed, however, I started n
oticing that players from other teams who had lost would come up and congratulate my team and even praise me on my individual performance. Reflecting on these encounters, it showed me that winning or losing a tournament would not matter in the long run but modesty and sportsmanlike character would stay with a person for life. This is the beauty of friendly competition and also why ISACI has been nothing short of an unforgettable experience with unforgettable teammates. I am confident that bringing home two gold medals as a team and creating MBIS history along the way only added to this experience.
Girls Football by Beatrice Maurilli
This year our team’s journey was quite a rollercoaster, both in the months of preparation and during the tournament. We struggled to reach the minimum of eleven players, and even at our final number of thirteen, half of the team was new. However, the benefits of a smaller group were that we bonded more effectively, and given that there was no conspicuous disparity in skill level amongst us, we each had to contribute equally to the team.
Our strength as one and commitment was evident in our performance during ISACI. For those of us who were present last season, getting third place was an improvement, although I would not say it was our biggest achievement.
Our biggest achievement, personally, were the results we obtained against the schools who came first and second; conceding only one goal to both combined. This was solid proof of our growth, and we were not far from being in the finals. Overall, the competition was relatively even, and amongst all of the other schools we undoubtedly proved ourselves as tough opponents.
I was extremely proud of the 2018 Girls’ ISACI Football team, and it is one which I will miss leaving behind next year. All the best for the 2019 season!