A Competition More than About Winning: APAC Tennis

The Rams’ Varsity Team crossed the rim of the Chinese shores to arrive in Seoul, Korea, where the 2016 APAC Tennis competition was held at Seoul Foreign School. Five boys and five girls, the team fortunately did not have to send out an email to request for additional players this year. However, the team members were devastated with heartbreaking news before even leaving Guangzhou when they were informed that Coach Ping Wang would not be leading the team on the trip. Upon panic and disorder, beloved high school counselor Ms Julie Lindsay took the honor of chaperoning the ten tennis players on the trip to Seoul.

No different from last year, the Ram’s Varsity Tennis team was to take on five other competitive schools. Brent International School of Manila, Shanghai American School Puxi, Western Academy of Beijing, United Nations International School in Hanoi, and the respectable hosting school of Seoul Foreign School gathered in one city, one school to fight for the title of champions. The Rams’ first matches were packed with challenges, firstly facing off with the powerhouse of Seoul Foreign School. Luv – Eight.

Although defeated in all seven matches in total of the boys and girls’ team, the Rams never easily gave up. The team came back strong, eventually taking back the victory against schools and taking well deserved positions as both individual players and as a team.

Meanwhile, two particular boys, sophomores Boon Yang and Jason Wu, singles players brought up the attention of athletes from other schools. Boon Yang has only been on the team for a little more than a year, yet he became the top ranked tennis player in the school and took the role of first-singles player on the team. He leads as an athlete in terms of skills, while is one of the friendliest, if not the most, players on the team. Jason Wu, a doubles player from last year, became the second singles of the boys’ team. Despite the significant increase in competition between singles players, contrary to that of doubles players, he has improved greatly over the course of a year. His game fell short under the injury of his right shoulder, which prevented him from advancing in his matches and left him no choice but to forfeit his final games.

Another individual that stood out on the varsity team was Junior Grace Tang. She was one of the most committed and hardworking athletes of the team, and her efforts paid off at APAC. Although many other players were highly skillful and brought full effort to their game, Grace still managed to fight her way to a spot near the top 6 (out of 12), finishing in 7th. She also acknowledged and praised Senior Kiki Huang, stating, “[Kiki] has been one of the most hard working players on the team, and has been on the team for all four years.” Hopefully, girls’ team captain Kiki Huang will end her season with pride and satisfaction.

Although receiving medals or trophies in APAC is undeniably one of the greatest honors in high school years, sportsmanship is nonetheless valued greatly by both coaches and competitors. This year at the 2016 SFS Tennis APAC tournament, both boys and girls’ teams brought back the one and only sportsmanship award. AISG’s tennis team may have not won the overall competition in skill, but they definitely won the respect and honor of their opponents, which is the true meaning of competing.

[The AISG Rams Varsity Boys and Girls’ Tennis teams finished both with an overall standing of 6th place, some athletes brought up arguments that there were errors in the ranking process.]