The structural realignment in the activities and athletics offerings within CEESA has allowed ISB to host many more and varied activities than previously, under the color coded league structure. ISB is a fantastic place to visit, our community is welcoming and we have been proud to have hosted Math Counts, Knowledge Bowl, soccer, basketball and volleyball over the past two years, with middle school choir coming in the winter of 2020.
The winter season in CEESA is especially busy, with sports and multiple activities on offer to a wide range of age groups. ISB hosted the middle school Math Counts and the high school Division One Girls Basketball tournament. The Math Counts event is a great opportunity to bring the small and big CEESA schools together and we were able to welcome guests from Bucharest, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Tirana, Tblisi and Podgerica. This is the first time for a while that Math Counts has been held in Belgrade and for some of the schools, the first time we had been able to host them. Students came for two days of mathematical challenge and cultural immersion, along with the excitement of meeting new people and making new friends. QSI Tblisi were able to take the team award, with AIS Bucharest in second and QSI Sarajevo in third. The top individual awards were also split between those schools, but scoring was close and the countdown round on Saturday hotly contested.
The second CEESA event we hosted in winter was the high school girls Division One Basketball tournament. ISB hosted the boys event a year ago and were the defending champions of both the boys and girls Division One tournaments. This year’s teams were very different from a year ago, as with international schools, the teams tend to see peaks and troughs based on the student athletes available each year. The high school girls tournament was three days of competition, camaraderie, injuries and effort. The AAS Moscow Penguins came out undefeated over the three days and took the title against a strong PSI Kiev team. QSI Kiev International School took the third place trophy, defeating Sofia by a couple of points. Belgrade would finish fifth after a win in their final game of the tournament vs AIS Budapest, who were depleted by injuries.
This has been a fantastic winter season, we enjoy meeting new teams, and we are very much looking forward to the spring. Belgrade will host the high school math competition, another event that hasn’t been at ISB for a long time. We hope to see you at an ISB sponsored CEESA event very soon.
Written by David Horner, Athletics & Activities Director, International School of Belgrade
