Athletics Report

Will Moore

Athletics Director

The ISK Learning Aim, CREATE, has been central in our planning and implementation this year. The elements within this Aim, Innovate, Adapt and Generate Ideas, have helped guide students and coaches through this challenging time with ISK athletics.

Our adaptation to circumstances has allowed us to make the best of the restrictions we have all had to deal with. We moved away from our more formal seasons by offering many sports simultaneously, introducing a no-cut policy throughout the program, and encouraging student athletes to participate in multiple activities. This increase of opportunities allowed for access to much-needed physical activity, with close to 80% of Middle School and High School students signing up and committing to the program. Our coaches demonstrated their innovation by creating training sessions to maximize learning, fun and motivation while following our 4 W’s and maintaining a safe environment. Many coaches work across divisions and help to establish continuity with the student-athletes as they move through the athletics program.

The expansion of the required online child protection and safeguarding courses has been well received and educates coaches to become more familiar with identifying and responding to our student-athletes’ needs. All ISK coaches and coaching assistants have completed these courses.

The High School Lions’ Pride student body sought to generate ideas to support the community with initiatives such as mask painting, spirit week, and intramural competitions. The Stress Buster Friday initiative gathered momentum during our on-campus learning phase, with increasing numbers of students joining in and having fun with natural competition, including badminton, outdoor volleyball, mini golf, and ultimate frisbee. These events gave our Lions’ Pride group a much needed outlet to develop their leadership skills and perform service to our community. Although all ISSEA travel was suspended this year, many amazing opportunities and the long anticipated events were trimmed down and moved into opportunities to develop virtual ISSEAs. Our band and choir students attended a one-day convention, hosted by the International School of Tanganyika, where a well choreographed event showcased the talented musicians from around East and South African regions. Our swim team was also given the opportunity to enter times and compete virtually against other ISSEA schools; as always this team was hugely competitive and their high standards represented ISK with great results.

We were due to host the ISSEA Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) competition in person, however, we sought to adapt to the circumstances and hosted it online in April. With 6 schools taking part,

the 100 participants competed in math and science tests and quizzes. The engineering challenges consisted of much dried spaghetti, glue, and patience as towers and bridges were constructed and tested. A fun, competitive and spirited competition was enjoyed by all, especially as our ISK STEM team finished as champions in equal first place! Looking forward to future endeavors, the approval of a much anticipated all-weather running track will come as welcome news to our studentathletes. This facility will be a great addition to ISK’s athletics portfolio, in terms of students’ physical development, learning and competitiveness, and will allow us to host major track and field events, both locally and internationally, as we endeavor to continually showcase our fantastic facilities. The addition of an Administrative Assistant in the Athletics Department comes at a time when we expand our program into Elementary School. From next year, we will formalize coaching in a number of team sports for Grades 3, 4, and 5, and hope to give opportunities for local competition in football, basketball and track and field. This expansion will support the growth and development of our younger student-athletes as well as developing continuity and standards as our Lions move through the athletics program.

ISSEA STEM 2021

Will Moore

Athletics Director