The Highlights Of The Winter Season:
Central Asian Basketball Classic: March 6-8 Almaty, Kazakhstan VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM (Mr. Arif) CABC 2nd Place The time is running so fast. Unfortunately the basketball season is over. I believe, that Varsity Girls team had a good time together by going through the serious battles on the court, having great social events, getting experience of phenomenal wins and test of some losses, making their way to 2 championship games and having amazing trip to CABC in Almaty. The CABC tournament was a great end of this season. We played good quality games against other international schools in our region. The girls played 6 games within 4 days and demonstrated many skills, team work and determination. We won 5 games but lost in the final game by 3 points. Despite this loss it was a great game and the whole TIS community is proud of you. By the end of the CABC tournament, the TIS Girls team was awarded “the best sportsmanship” award. Also 3 Owls (Maria, Evgeniya, Franny) were selected to play in the “All-stars” game and our captain Franny was chosen as “best defender” player as well as she received “best sportsmanship” award of the tournament. What a great end of the season! We have tried our best to build a team that would fight hard on the basketball court and also would simply enjoy the time being together. I was delighted to see the team progressing through the season and each of them becoming a better athlete. The girls’ commitment, effort and desire to do well is much appreciated. I would like to thank each of you and a whole team for being such a great team. We accomplished all of our individual and team goals that we set up at the beginning of the season, and I thank my team for that. I believe, that together we developed even greater desire and love to sport. I hope that many of girls will continue active sporting life in a future either representing the TIS community in a future or joining sporting teams in their new school, if they are planning to leave. I want my team to remember from this season, that it is crucial to have determination, passion and apply maximum effort when we play sports.  VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM (Mr. Andrey) CABC 2nd Place CABC this year was held in Almaty and our team had a great trip to Kazakhstan. We played 5 qualifying games and made play offs and finals during 4 days of CABC. First game day was very productive for the OWLS as we won games against Hope Academy (Bishkek) and BIS (Bishkek). In second day we faced the home team TSIS and unfortunately lost in that game but our OWLS didn’t give up and beat another team from Almaty – AIS in their second game of the day which let our OWLS make play offs. On the day of play offs our Boys were ready to show their best game and they really did! In the game against opponent we met in our first game Hope Academy, we won by 12 points. The smooth caring over into the next game against Astana International School which resulted another win and opened the road to the final. The OWLS were super excited in the final day and in spite of home court advantage and full gym of Tien Shan fans our Boys had shown outstanding basketball. We lost by 10 points but the team was still proud of their efforts despite this loss. At the end of the Tournament our captain Eric got “Best Defender Award” and together with Nikita Komachkov were chosen to play in “All Star” team. I would like to thank all members of my team for such an AMAZING season! Thank you Eric, Nikita, Macalester, Samuel, Kristian, Daewook, Dong Hun, Otabek, Temur, Daler and Yun Jae!  |
TIS Boys & Girls Football League Championship VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL TEAM (Mr. Arif) TIS LEAGUE 2nd Place What a great basketball we saw that Saturday. The Owls played against the team that beat us in the group stage. So our girls studied the oppositions carefully and prepare a few surprises for them. It was a great battle and both teams played point-to-point game all the 1st half. However in the 3rd quarter the Owls took a led by 8 points and moved the game under full control. We dominated in the last quarter and proceed to the Final. Championship game: The gym was fully packed with supporters of both teams and atmosphere was great to demonstrate the best basketball. The Owls started very by playing great defense and scoring some easy fast breaks. We took a led by 8 points in the 1st half. The 2nd half started good for the opposition and they started well with a 3 pointer. We fought back but school # 178 was more aggressive in offence. The last 2 minutes was a thriller on the court. The school 178 tied the game with 54 seconds on the clock. We took a time-out and had a great chance to score… but no luck. With 24 seconds reminding the opposition scoring another basket. Within only 24 seconds the Owls had 4 chances to score but we used all our luck for that day. The final score of 25 – to- 27 would sent the school 178 to tears of happiness and us of tears of disappointment. However there are no point to be disappointed Girls! Thank you for your effort and passion VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM (Mr. Andrey) TIS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS Weekend of outstanding basketball from our OWLS! The boys faced a well-known opponent from Yoshlik BB club and used their organized offensive strategy with different kinds of plays and rotations against opponent’s active zone defense. A lot of good shots were made by the completion of different combinations. Defense is one of the greatest tools to make easy offense and the OWLS demonstrated fabulous defensive play by using pressure man to man defense. It was very important to win, so we made semi-finals. The boys won a very close game to reach their goal to play in TIS league finals! Next day became the biggest FINAL. All fans audience could feel the players suspense before the match. Fast extension of the beginning let opposition score 3 fast breaks in a row and lead by 6 points till the end of 1st quarter. Captain Eric made the right decision to keep ball moving on the perimeter and move the defense before our team can start play rotations. Thanks to aggressive lay-ups of our wing players Samuel and Fazrin we scored 6 points in next 3 attacks. We had an advantage by 4 points at the of 1st half. However the 3rd quarter we started well again and the aggressiveness of our defense helped us to stop the opposition from driving to the basket. In the 4th quarter of the game the OWLS demonstrated phenomenal passion and desire to pull off the Championship and with amazing support of our fans won the most important game of the league and became CHAMPIONS! TIS community is proud of our Boys’ team : Eric (Captain), Nikita, Macalester, Samuel, Fazrin, Daler, Otabek, Temur, Dong Hun, Daewook, Kristian, Yunjae. I am very thankful to all members of my team for their commitment and great improvement throughout the season. Thank you OWLS!!!  JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL BLUE TEAM (Mr.Sione, Mrs.Yvette) TIS LEAGUE 4th Place JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALL WHITE TEAM (Mrs. Svetlana, Mrs. Yvette) TIS LEAGUE 3rd Place The 3rd place game in the league playoffs saw White team vs. Blue team going head-to-head for the bronze medal. It was a tough game with both teams well-prepared to play their best on the court. White team was able to control the game with their zone defense and quick scores at the basket. Blue team was frustrated much of the game with missed scoring opportunities and lack of communication on the court. In the final minutes, Blue team came to life and nearly caught up to White. However, it just wasn’t enough and White team proudly enjoyed victory. Congratulations to White team for a hard fought win and a fun season. Despite the tough loss, Blue team can hold their heads up high – they also had a great season and showed great improvement as a team.
JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM (Mr. Nick, Mr. David, Mr. Seth) TIS LEAGUE 2nd Place On Saturday the boys played a physical game against School 151. It was a tough contest in which we were down by six points deep in the second quarter. Luckily we kept our composure and were able to effectively set up our press to force opposition turn overs. We scrambled hard on defense and shut down the opposition’s key players. Our fitness enabled us to run out the game strongly and we eventually won by six points. Sunday Championship Final We started the game strongly on Sunday, with scores level at quarter time. We edged ahead in the second quarter by two points at one stage, but then our opposition flicked a switch and we weren’t able to keep up with them. We said before the game that we had to get back on defense, but unfortunately we couldn’t do so quickly enough. School 86 showed us how important it is to make lay-ups and easy baskets. In the important third quarter, we made one basket out of fourteen attempts. If we had of made a few more of our easy attempts, it would have been a different ballgame. However, that is the beauty of sport. We can now reflect on what we did well and what we can improve on. The three coaches are extremely proud of the boys for the improvement they showed in a short season, and what they achieved in the finals. We have two exhibition games left in which we can have some fun and enjoy each other’s’ company. Thanks for all of your support during the basketball league!  |
Middle School Basketball Tournament This year we had Gr 6-8 basketball team led by professional basketball coach Mr. Batir and TIS basketball coach Mr. Arif. Our young OWLS performed very well in a few exhibition matches against local teams. Let’s keep basketball dynasty at TIS! Players: Alex, Saleh, Ramz, Bekhruz, Bonghyun, Subin, William, Rintaro, Pablo, Taehyuk, Devon, Waladi, Rhyan, Zane, Dzikry.  |
