Primary School Sport: New options for the new half-term

Time to get even more children involved in our Sports Programme with new sports for term 2. Plus with 2 major International Tournaments edging closer, are you ready...

I hope all the children are enjoying their new sports whether it be gymnastics, dance, tennis or touch rugby. One of the many things we have tried to do this year is add an even greater variety of sports to our programme. One of these sports is touch rugby. Some children are currently having lessons on touch rugby and are really enjoying learning new skills. We are trying to develop this as a new Primary sport and we have over 40 spaces available to train in Term 2, every Thursday after school. With this in mind, we plan on entering tournaments and playing friendly games with other schools in the near future.

Girls sport, especially in the younger ages, is at an all time high. We have close to 20 girls playing basketball each week and over 20 girls from Years 2 - 4 playing football. This is  amazing and due to the number of girls we currently have playing football we have decided to hire another pitch at Soccer Pro on Tuesdays and split the girls with another coach to support Mr Stuart. This will enable us to add even more girls to the growing STA girls’ football teams. It is also great that all these girls will get their third chance to represent STA on 18 November at the HIS Cup.

Term 2 Sports

There are some new developments for Term 2 ECA sport. We are always trying to offer even more sporting opportunities for our children and hopefully our new Sports Programme for Term 2 will not disappoint.

Monday:

Rock Climbing will continue at the Racquet Club, Thonglor

Tuesday:

Open badminton will continue (2 slots: 2.45 - 3.45 p.m. and then 3.45  - 4.45 p.m.) - Sports Hall

Due to the large number of U9 girls who want to play football, the STA Girls’ football @ Soccer Pro will be split into a Flames and Blaze teams with another BSS coach to work alongside Mr Stuart.

Wednesday:

STA Badminton/open badminton (more badminton for our children and a chance for children who want to play more and also for children playing for STA in Term 2 competitions) - Pridi Soi 41 - 2.45 - 4.15 p.m.

An email will be sent to invite children to be part of the STA badminton going over to Pridi Soi 41.

Cricket and striking games on the field - 2.45 - 3.45 p.m.

Athletics @ track TBC - 2.45-4.15pm

Thursday:

Touch Rugby @ Arsenal Pridi Soi 21, 3.00 - 4.00 p.m. (We now have 2 teachers to coach Touch Rugby so we can offer this  to Years 3-6, 40 plus places available).

Football News : BISP Football 7s

We have a couple of big weekends of football coming up with firstly, the Harrow Cup on 18 November. This will be a real test for our teams ahead of their trip to Phuket. For the Harrow tournament we have 5 Primary teams taking part which includes two U9 girls teams representing STA. We have so many younger girls wanting to play football which is fantastic.

Then we have the BISP Football tournament from 22 - 25 November, which is one of our favourite trips of the year. The competition is strong with most of the strongest schools’ football teams participating in the event. We always compete well and in recent years, especially in the Primary, have come close to winning. Last year our style of play and the way our teams play such brilliant football,  was noticed by lots of parents and coaches.

This year we again stay at the Novotel on Surin Beach. It’s a great location for the children to combine a competitive 2-day football tournament with spending time at the beach and hotel pool. On the first night there is a Italian buffet, second night a Thai buffet and final night a BBQ/ice cream and cinema night. I am sure the 30 Primary children going to Phuket on 22 November are really excited about the trip.

It will be great to see you there if you are coming to Phuket to watch your child/children. We very much enjoy how our parents make it feel like a real STA family trip and the coaches really appreciate your support. Please feel free to be involved in the trip and make this an excellent experience for the children. At no point on this trip do you take your child away from us without permission from the coach. It is important we know where all the children are at all times.

Please feel free to pop in on the Saturday night when the children will be enjoying a BBQ and having a cinema night at the hotel.

On the day (Thursday 22 November):

With Loi Krathong on the 22nd, please can children come in in their Loi Krathong outfits and then change into their tour tops and travel clothes at break time. They should put their bags in the breakout area of the Sports Hall when they arrive in the morning and go straight to class as normal. After break time (10.20 a.m.) they should come to the Hall and sit in their teams. We will then leave at 10.45 a.m. and head to High School on shuttle buses from where we will change to the bigger buses to travel to the airport.

We will email to let you know we have arrived safely in Phuket.

Medical Forms:

Your child will receive a paper copy of their medical form to take home (Tuesday). Please fill it in and return it to the School Office by 16 November.

Medicine:

Please put any medicine in a clear plastic bag with clear instructions and hand it over to the coach in charge of your child beforehand or in the Sports Hall (22 November) before we leave.

Passport or Thai ID Cards:

Please can all children hand in their Passports or Thai ID's to Mr Bob/K.Seung in the PE Department by Tuesday 20 November.

Electrical Devices:

We will allow mobile phones to be brought on the trip BUT all phones will be handed over to the teacher in charge of your son/daughter in the Sports Hall before we leave. There are no IPADS, IPODS, MP3 players allowed on the trip.

The kit list is below.

NAE Games

We are edging ever closer  to our trip to Cambodia with only a few weeks to go. Please make sure that you have all the kit ready for Games. Basketball tops, tour tops and PE tops should all have been handed over for printing (where applicable).

Due to the time-frame and the hectic schedules of our children, could the children please do their best to be at the following training sessions:

Friday 16 November @ Soccer Pro 2.45-4.15pm

• Wed 21 November  3-4pm on the field
• Wed 28 November 3-4pm on the field
   

Also, every break time (10-10.20am) until the Games we have batting practice in the Sports Hall. These small sessions could make all the difference when it comes to tournament day.

NEW STYLE TOUR Tops are now available and FREE. Yes no charge. Please can your child try one on and leave it in the shop for printing. We will give you notice when they return.

Parent Reminder

One of things that our coaches/teachers love from our STA parents is your constant support throughout the year of sport. There are many new children in our STA sports teams this year and we hope you have enjoyed seeing your children represent STA. With a busy period of sport coming up can I please remind parents that the only voice our children should be hearing is from the coach. Please encourage and enjoy the games but do not coach. Also, we are so happy at how respectful our parents are to the referees and officials. Please refrain from shouting at them no matter how frustrated you are at the decision made. We look forward to seeing you all over the busy period ahead.

Basketball

Our girls played their final TISAC Game last week winning in convincing fashion. This group of girls have shown some great progress and they should look forward to the up-coming NAE Games in Cambodia.

Our boys have one more game left next week, which is a title decider. Best of the luck to the team selected.

Swimming

Our Primary swimmers put in an amazing effort at the ISB Swimfest at the weekend. STA were 5th out of 21 teams with our 8 & under girls winning their age group. Overall, it was a really excellent team effort from everyone involved including our STA parents. We look forward to seeing you all again next Saturday at our very own STA Swim Champs. Well done young Marlins!

Tennis

Well done to all the children who competed in the Tennis Festival @ BPS on Saturday morning. The children showed a great attitude when representing STA, had loads of fun and produced some great tennis. Mr Adam and Coach Pair have been delighted with our young tennis players as they look to gain more experience with the U10 and U9 tournaments coming up in November.

Gymnastics

Our young gymnasts are hard at work with Sunday morning practice at the Thai Canadian Gymnastics Center, with Miss Bogi. Their first competition of the year is on 24 November @ the NIST Falcons Competition. Our gymnastics programme continues to grow as we look to give more children the opportunity to compete in these major competitions.

Dates for your diary

We have some major sports competitions coming up this term. Please keep the following in your diary.

• 14 November TISAC Dance Competition

• 15 November U11 Boys TISAC Basketball @ Charter, 12.15pm leave

• 17 November - Marlins Swim Champs

• 18 November - U11/U9 Harrow Cup: Girls U9 Flames and Blaze, U9 Boys Flames, U11 Flames Boys and Girls

• 22-25 November - BISP Soccer 7s: U9 Boys, U9 Girls, U11 Boys.

• 30 November - 3 December - NAE Games

• 1 December - Gymnastics Bambi Games

• 8 December - Gymnastics Junior ISB

Here is a small selection of fun videos from last year for you to enjoy and remember what a fantastic year of sport we had:

• Primary School Week in Review video.

• KS2 Dance Performance video.

• NAE Games video.

• FOBISIA Primary Games video.

If you any questions about Primary Sport you can either email Mr Damon (damon.se@standrews.ac.th) our Head of Primary PE or book an appointment to speak to him about the opportunities your child’s/children’s will have at STA.