KHAO YAI, NAKHON RATCHASSIMA – Fresh off a stunning upset in boys volleyball against New International School of Thailand (NIST) of the Bangkok International School Athletic Conference (BISAC), the żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ Seahawks continued to assert themselves as a major force to contend with in interscholastic sports even amongst Thailand’s largest international schools.

Not taking any breaks after their TISAC opener the day before, the U15 Boys and Girls took their first ever out-of-town road trip, participating in the 2010 St. Stephen’s Khao Yai Invitational Basketball Tournament, held in Nakhon Ratchassima from October 1st to 3rd. Featured in the tournament were BISAC powerhouses Harrow International School (Boys) and Thai-Chinese International School (TCIS), along with fellow BISAC members Traill International School and Shrewsbury (Girls). Also entering the tournament were St. Andrew’s International School – Sathorn Campus and, of course, the host school, St. Stephen’s International School – Khao Yai.

In what turned out to be yet another classic battle between David and Goliath, the U15 Boys Basketball Team fought its way to the championship game, facing the Lions from Harrow International School. Despite suffering an early blow-out loss to the Lions, 30-12, in pool play, the Seahawks were able beat TCIS by one point, and blow out Traill, St. Andrew’s and host St. Stephen’s Khao Yai, to earn the number two spot in the championship game.

Not willing to squander a chance to redeem themselves, the Seahawks started the final game strong, taking an early lead behind the aggressive shooting of freshmen Chayut “Van” Chayutti and Sitibhum “Tenn” Chaiwatnarathorn. However, the Lions clawed their way back into the game, eventually overtaking Wells to a 15-13 lead with just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter. But the Seahawks refused to give up. A last minute offensive surge propelled Wells ahead 17-15 as the clock ticked down to zero. However, much to the dismay of a prematurely celebrating Seahawk crowd, a shooting foul was called against Wells with no time left, allowing Harrow one last chance to tie up the game. And, in dramatic fashion, the Lions showed their mettle, sinking both free throws to knot up the score at 17-17, forcing the game into overtime.

In the 5-minute extra period, veteran captain Yueh Ting “Kevin” Han decided to take charge of his team, forcing two quick steals to put Wells up 20-17 after an easy layup and 1 of 2 foul shots. But the Lions weren’t finished, catching the Seahawks with a layup and foul shot of their own to tie it at 20-20 with two minutes left in OT. However, another aggressive drive to the basket put Wells up 22-20. With the clock ticking down, the Lions rushed, perhaps too hastily, down the court only to turn the ball over on an errant pass, hence giving the Seahawks a chance to put up an insurance shot to take a commanding 24-20 lead. And, despite being able to add another two points with just 10 seconds left to close the gap at 24-22, the exasperated Lions could only chase the ball in vain as Seahawks wisely played “keep-away” to run down the clock and claim the tournament crown. For their accomplishment, team members earned themselves gold medals, 1^st place certificates and a tournament championship plaque for the Wells trophy case.

The U15 Girls Team also was able to make a statement of its own, though not necessarily in as dramatic a fashion as the boys. Despite being vastly outnumbered and outsized by the BISAC behemoths, the Lady Seahawks hung tough but lost against TCIS, 16-13, and Shrewsbury, 24-19. Nonetheless, the Wells girls were able to earn victories against Traill, also from BISAC, and host school St. Stephen’s Khao Yai, to even their record at 2 wins and 2 losses, earning Wells a spot in the championship bracket.

Like the boys, the girls were given one final opportunity to show the crowd that they belonged among the elite schools. And show the crowd they did – at least at first.

The semi-final game was a rematch between the Lady Seahawks and the Lady Storm from Shrewsbury. Behind the quick hands of freshman captain and point guard Kanny Smith, and solid shooting by freshman center Marin Takahashi, Wells was able to build a commanding 8-2 lead in the first quarter. However, the aggressive full-court pressure from Shrewsbury eventually took its toll on the already short-staffed Lady Seahawks, allowing the Storm to surge ahead 18-14 by the final buzzer.

Wells’ girls did not, however, leave empty handed, as their appearance in the semi-final round earned them bronze medals and certificates for a 3^rd place finish.

CONGRATULATIONS SEAHAWKS!!!

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The Seahawk Sports fall season officially is underway with the basketball and volleyball teams playing their first matches of the year.

In basketball, żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ teams reasserted themselves as major contenders for the league championships with a very strong start, as four out of five teams scored wins against various TISAC opponents.

On Monday, the Senior Girls team traveled to Bangkok Prep to open their season. Despite the expectedly hostile crowd, the Lady Seahawks cruised to a 31-11 win riding on strong defense and balanced scoring led by freshman center Marin Takahashi with 10 points.

Across town, the Senior Boys faced St. Stephen’s in a much more evenly matched game. Going up against a significantly taller opponent, Wells was able to overcome sloppy shooting in the first half to pull away at the end and win 30-24, let by the scoring of junior point guard Tanapon “Boss” Phuripichet.

Also on Monday, the U11 co-ed team opened up their play against Bangkok Prep. Despite having several players who were participating in an organized basketball game for the first time, the youngest members of the Seahawk basketball program put up a good fight, but just couldn’t get the ball to fall in the basket, losing by a score of 22-6.

The U13 teams continued the action on Tuesday with both the U13 Boys and U13 Girls traveling to Charter International School. The host school put up little resistance as both teams came out ahead with lopsided victories – 24-5 for the boys, and 22-13 for the girls.

In its inaugural year as an official Seahawk sport, both JV Girls Volleyball and JV Boys Volleyball teams started off an ambitious schedule with games against three of the larger, well-established international schools from BISAC: Ruamrudee International School and Harrow International School for the girls, and New International School Thailand (NIST) for the boys.

On Tuesday, the JV Girls team played the first official sports match in the new coliseum, hosting the Lady Phoenix from Ruamrudee International School. With just barely three months of training, the much less experienced Lady Seahawks were expectedly nervous, succumbing to the visiting team 3-0. Thursday’s visit to Harrow International School started out with more of the same as Wells’ girls struggled to score for the first two games. However, a line-up change by Harrow gave Wells a chance to build up their confidence in a more evenly matched game, thus resulting in their first game win in the young program’s history. Finally, with the match on the line, the hosting Harrow team put in their big players to cruise to a final game victory to seal the match at 3 games to 1.

On the other side of the coin, the JV Boys Volleyball team made a big opening statement by taking on the much more experienced Falcons of NIST. Playing for their first time ever, the young Seahawks were noticeably nervous at first, dropping both games 1 & 2 by the score of 25-23 and 25-21. However, the overconfident Falcon squad played their bench in game 3, allowing Wells to gain just enough confidence to overcome their nervous start, and to beat the Falcons 26-24. In game 4, the Falcons began mixing up their team a bit, but to no avail as the Seahawks cruised to a 25-16 win, knotting up the match at two games each, and forcing a 15-point tie-breaker set. In that final game, the score see-sawed back and forth until a late surge gave NIST quadruple match-point at 14-10. However, not wanting to disappoint the large contingent of Seahawk supporters in the stands, the JV boys ran off six straight points behind the consistent-under-pressure serving of freshman setter Praat “Tan” Sukriket, stunning their hosts 16-14, to win the very first match for the Wells Volleyball Program.

Next week is light week in sports with a friendly basketball game versus BCIS and a couple of league basketball games versus Bangkok Prep. At the end of the week, the Under 15’Boys and Under 15 Girls, both TISAC defending champions, travel to Khao Yai to participate in the 12-team St. Stephen’s Invitational Basketball Tournament.

GO SEAHAWKS!!!

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Finn Dardarananda, grade 3, brought home his second boys singles title in as many years. Finn was flawless in pool play, blanking opponents from St. Andrew’s, St. Stephen’s, and Charter, to earn a spot in the championship rounds. In the semi-finals, host school Concordian couldn’t take advantage of their home court advantage, as Finn once again cruised 2-0. The final match was just a rematch against his pool’s runner-up finisher from St. Andrew’s, where Finn was able to cap of his perfect record with a 2-0 championship win.

Pawan and Darshan, both grade 4, paired off for the mixed doubles competition, where they also cruised to a perfect record with wins over familiar foes from St. Andrew’s, St. Stephen’s, and Charter. However, the championship round presented two new challengers, the first from Kessinee, who the mixed pair easily disposed of 2-0, followed by our British neighbors from Bangkok Prep in the championship game. Like Finn, Pawan and Darshan easily handled the challenge, beating the prepsters 2-0.

In the boys doubles, twins Yash and Shre, grade 4, nearly earned a trifecta for their school. After going undefeated in pool play, once again against St. Andy’s (2-1), St. Steph (2-0), and Charter (2-0), the brothers easily advanced to the final match by defeating Regents, 2-0. However, the host Dragons of Concordian wouldn’t be denied their lone title, as Yash and Shre dropped the championship game, 0-2, to settle for second place.

Also representing Wells were Nikara (girls singles), who advanced as far as the semi-final match, and Vivi and Hazina (girls doubles).

Go Seahawks!

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