Click here for link to Gulfnews celebratory article.

On the weekend of 13th March 2008, a party of 28 children and 4 staff from Dubai English Speaking School travelled to Doha to take part in the annual BSME Junior Games.

 

The competition is between 12 schools from various countries in the Middle East. Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are all represented. Dubai was represented by 2 separate teams from DESS and Horizon. The level of competition is extremely high with teams training extensively over the previous 6 months. A contributory factor to the DESS teams progress was the extensive competitive sporting programme arranged by all British Schools in Dubai. This played a significant part by exposing the team to high level competition in the preceding months.

Over a 2 day period, children took part in 5 sports; Swimming, Netball, Football, Athletics and Basketball.

On the first day, the competition took place in the pool with many events ranging from individual races at 25metres up to 100m and relays up to 4 x 50 metres. Results were very close up to the final relays, where DESS dominated, winning repeatedly throughout. 8 DESS school swimming records were broken and Lydia Rzeplinska broke the BSME record for 25 freestyle in a time of 15.25 seconds. After a recount of the initial scores, where a miscalculation had been spotted, DESS Dubai took first place.

 

Later that day the boys went into a Football tournament and the girls into Netball. In the Football the boys came 2nd in their pool and went on to the playoffs, narrowly losing their first game. With increased skill and determination, the boys worked confidently to beat Doha College in the next round with an excellent goal from Jamie Blakely. The final position for football was third.

In Netball the girls played extremely well, with improved performances from a number of players including Fan Yu and Hannah Marchon. They came first in their pool going on to beat Horizon in the Semi Final. In the final, they went on to play St Christophers, last years BSME winners. The girls were not intimidated by this and worked supremely to emerge as winners with a score of 4 – 2. Final position for Netball – first.

Results at the end of day 1 – DESS Dubai in first place, closely pursued by DESS Doha.

 

On the 2nd day Athletics took the centre stage. After the first days results, the children were fired up to continue with confidence and commitment. Right from the first event it became clear that the boys and girls of DESS were on fire. One after another they produced excellent performances gaining many first places in individual events. Ed Lewis, who performed excellently in the recent Dubai College Athletics, won the 60metres in 8.7 seconds and 75 metres races in 10.9 seconds, both with a blistering pace. In the High Jump he won with a height of 1.35 metres – a new BSME record. As we went on to the relays, great expectations were held of the children. As the crowd watched with awe, DESS won all 4 relays by a big margin. Again many DESS school records were wiped off the sheet.Final position in Athletics, first with an excellent lead of 40 points.

In the afternoon, the final tournament was mixed basketball. The team had trained hard, putting in many hours after school and at weekends. We were in a very strong pool with DESS Doha and St Christopher’s, the only 2 schools to have won the BSME Games in previous years. DESS finished 3rd in the pool, ahead of St Christopher’s and went on to the final 2 games of the tournament. The team had to win at least 1 of these to succeed to first position overall. The next game against Doha College resulted in a 6-2 defeat which gave added pressure to the team. As they had all through the tournament, the DESS players shifted up a gear and produced an excellent performance against British International School Cairo to win 6-2. Final position 7th which, though slightly disappointing, was 5 positions higher than last year.

Final results for DESS:

Individual sports : Swimming 1st, Netball 1st, Athletics 1st, Football 3rd, Basketball 7th

Overall position – 1st.

DESS deservedly won the overall trophy plus a cash prize of 10,000 AED. This will be used to buy sports equipment which can be used by all children in the school.

On their return home to Dubai airport, there was a massive reception from the parents to welcome home their children. Balloons, poppers, chocolates and banners all formed part of the reception.

 

This great achievement was a tribute to the coaching staff at DESS as well as to the encouragement of the parents. However, the ultimate accolade must go to the children who, on the day, moved their performances forward to a point they had never been to. Well done DESS, well done children!

Final statistics:

    1. First overall
    2. Three individual 1st place, one 3rd place trophy
    3. An improvement of 3 places overall from 2007
    4. A total improvement of 13 places in individual sports from 2007\
    5. First school to win three first place trophies
    6. First school in Dubai to win overall trophy
    7. 2 BSME records broken
    8. 9 school swimming records broken
    9. At least 2 school athletics records broken
    10. First place in 8 athletics and swimming relays

Page updated 27th March 2008