Time to Put on Our Game Faces!

On September 11th, both teams came home with 1st place during the highly anticipated volleyball invitational exchange took place.

Last school year, the school administration canceled athletic tournaments such as GISAC, APAC, and Tri-cities. Making this tournament the first major sports exchange since then.

The girls’ tournament took place here in the science park, home of the Rams. Whereas the boys had to travel to UISG’s campus for the tournament. Earlier that week, the boys were able to play a game against a local school, FLS (Foreign Language School).

Sports and athletics are an important part of high school life, allowing the students to show their passion for their sport of choice and display their skills to their peers. It also allows school spirit to be boosted by other students supporting their school team.

It isn’t unknown that these actions of unity were taken away by the pandemic that ravaged the world, COVID-19, which caused our everyday life to change, including how our sports tournaments are run. One massive change being how spectators are not allowed to attend and watch the game. This includes parents, siblings, classmates, and team managers.

“It really hurts to see that our bleachers are empty when we’re playing a game, because what’s the point of playing when literally no one is there to cheer you on?”, said Max N., a junior in AISG.

Fortunately, thanks to our Athletics Director, Mr. Kydd’s, careful planning, the girls’ and boys’ volleyball teams were fortunate enough to participate in the GISAC tournament that featured five other schools, “When I heard that we were going to play against multiple schools I was literally over the moon since it’s been years since we were able to show off our school teams,” said Christine L., a freshman at AISG.

School life has changed these past two years, hand sanitizer bottles are stationed at every corner you turn, and strict protocols that all members of staff and students must follow. Every morning, when students are first arriving at school, faculty members must check their temperatures to ensure that they aren’t running a fever, a prominent symptom of COVID-19.

This volleyball tournament is one of the first of many that will follow this school year and will not be the last with COVID-19 regulations. It also gave other sports players some hope that future school sports may resume, and that international competitions such as APAC may come back from its nearly 2-year hiatus.