Join us at the 25th Anniversary of IASAS! By Michelle Brunoehler, Booster Club President
T
his year the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) celebrates its 25th anniversary. April 19th to 21st will find Singapore American School hosting all the third season IASAS tournaments, welcoming over 420 athletes and 100 coaches from all the six IASAS schools for tournaments in badminton, softball and track and field. This is the only time in IASAS history that one school has hosted all the games in a season! This momentous occasion marks the evolution of a program of athletic competition, fine arts exchange and forensics that have grown to be a major influence in the lives of hundreds of high school students spread across six different countries and international schools. Established in1982 by Singapore American School (SAS), International School of Bangkok (ISB), Jakarta International School (JIS) and International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL), the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools (IASAS) was organized to facilitate student athletic competition in a league format. The International School of Manila (ISM) joined the league in 1985 and Taipei American School (TAS) followed in 1986. Student athletes in the high school strive for the opportunity to be selected to participate in the IASAS tournament each year in one of ten different sports. The first season sports are: cross country, soccer and volleyball. The second sports season is the largest and, because of the holidays, spans the longest time period; the second season sports are basketball, rugby/touch rugby, swimming and tennis. Cheerleading is also a second season sport but not an IASAS event. The third season consists of badminton, softball, and track and field. There are girls and boys teams for all IASAS sports. A few facts about third season sports teams: • Varsity Badminton is one of the most difficult teams to make given the large number of students who try out for the team and the limited 12 player roster. • The PE/Health Department Chairs, Chuck Shriner and Gordon Cyr have been coaching the girls and boys badminton teams for seven years. • Returning IASAS badminton players are: for the boys’ team - Wilson Hasan (captain), Marcus Bech, Dan Tsukuda, Brian Riady, Jack Pitfield and Ivan Pesik, for the girls team – Neha Sethi and Winnie Tan (captain). • The girls’ softball coaches are Stacey Jensen, Jim Ruhter and Mark Swarstad. • Returning IASAS girls softball players are: Keri Dixon (co-captain), Sophie Greene, Michelle Lee, Gaby Linnard, Barb Lodwick (co-captain), Gaby Loscalzo, Alex Shaulis and Vanessa Peck. • The nine returning IASAS boys softball players are: Clay Crawford (cocaptain), Ian Gillis, Jeff Kreutter, Russel Kreutter, Brandon McArthur (co-captain), Daichi Moriyama, Sandy Morris, Mitch Samson and Adam Schwarz (co-captain). • The boys’ softball team will be going for its third consecutive gold medal! • The boys’ softball coaches are Will Norris and Kent Knipmeyer. Will has coached softball for six years at SAS, while Kent is new to the SAS program; he brings experience from his previous school. • SAS has been dominant in track and field for many years; the girls’ teams have won gold from 1997 to 2006 and the boys’ teams from 1998-2006.
SAS NewsFlash – March 2007