"Jiayou! Jiayou!..." (加油) The cheers of students standing on the sidelines rang through the gymnasium of Tsinghua Middle School during the culminating event of ABC’s fall TALENT basketball program: the interschool basketball tournament. On November 26, 2011, after eight weeks of instruction in basketball techniques, skills and drills, students from four migrant schools came together to engage in some friendly competition. This event brought together youth of varying backgrounds from across the city to cultivate a spirit of service, meaningful action, cooperation and collaboration.
Tsinghua Middle International School students and ex-pat Girl Scouts troops contributed to making the event a fulfilling one for all. The Girl Scouts played games with teams that were off the court. ABC DREAM program students kept game scores and coached teams to approach winning with grace and losing with positivity. Tsinghua students assisted in logistics and cheerleading, and hosted lunch where all participants had the opportunity to share a meal together. Each of the seven teams representing the schools played hard to exercise their teamwork and basketball skills through three rounds of fierce competition, but the “Eagles,” from Peng Ying School prevailed to claim the championship trophy. The winning school received books with audio voice recordings from the attending Girl Scouts troops who specially prepared these awards.
One spectator observed how well students worked as a team and used good sportsmanship throughout the event. Also on the sidelines was Mr. Jerome Bacchson from the Lacoste Foundation who delivered encouraging remarks for the students in attendance, recognizing how each of the teams played with passion and enjoyed themselves during the tournament.
-Thanks so much!