By Lloyd Wilson, Marketing Communications at Berkeley International School Bangkok
How Thailand’s New International School Sports League is changing the Game…..
June 2017 saw the founding of a new sports league for international schools in Bangkok.
The importance of a well-rounded sports education is taken very seriously at Berkeley International School. That’s why we’re delighted to be a part of the new Asia International Schools Athletic Association. The AISAA league or ‘Asia International Schools Athletic Association’ features the current member schools:
Berkeley, Concordian, Ekamai, KIS, Mahidol & Wells
Below we’ll take a look at some of the exciting opportunities made possible by this new league.
AISAA began activities this school year 2017-18. The league believes in respect, good sportsmanship and fair play with the main goal being friendly competition between our member schools. Berkeley consider these values are essential for teamwork, leadership, and acquiring the skills to be able to function in group activities at any level later and in any job later on in life.
Other outside schools can also apply to become full time members of the league after the first season play is concluded. The prerequisite for a school to join AISAA is being able to field teams in both boys and girls sports to students of all ages. AISAA also tries to have schools competing at a local level cutting out long bus rides for students to and from league games and tournaments.
All outside schools are free to apply to join our AISAA Tournaments and we welcome new member schools to join, making the league even more diverse and colorful.
Current divisions are broken into the following grade groups:
Varsity, G10-U, G7-U, G5-U, G3-U
As the league matures and play becomes stronger this will then lead to AISAA International Tournaments and the opportunity for our student athletes to travel abroad for competition.
Schools already interested in entering AISAA Tournaments come from the following places- Logos (Cambodia), Ayeyarwaddy (Mandalay), MIS (Yangon), ISE (Rayong), Prem School (Chiang Mai), CMIS (Chiang Mai), ICS (Bangkok), SISKY (Khao Yai), Kobe Canadian Academy (Japan), CDNIS (Hong Kong), East West School (Phnom Penh)
The schedule for the league is broken into 3 seasons, giving students the opportunity to play several different sports in one school year. Have a look at the list below of what the AISAA has to offer for this school year.
Basketball, Football, and Volleyball will have a league and tournament schedule.
In Swimming there will be 2 Meets for each division, along with a friendly meet & Gala, and for Track and Field there will be 1 Meet for each division.
Badminton, Tennis & Table Tennis will offer 1 or 2 tournaments for each division.
Other AISAA Activities also include Music, dance & drama. There will be an AISAA Orchestra Performance, Battle of the Bands, and Dance off scheduled annually.
The league is already flourishing this school year and we hope it will continue to grow giving all competing students a daily dose of team play and practice and a wonderful set of memories for many years to come. Creating the finest athletes possible in the grat city of Bangkok. We are AISAA.
