Wellington boys and girls win 1st ACAMIS football tournament

18th-20th April saw Wellington College play host to the ACAMIS Football Blue Division 2019 Tournament, where our boys and girls teams both achieved victory after three days of doggedly determined defending, glorious goalscoring and no shortage of resilience, on and off the ball. As has been the case throughout the football season, our girls team was coached by Mr Shaw, while the boys were under the tutelage of Mr Palmer. For Wellington’s inaugural ACAMIS football tournament, the teams faced off against five schools drawn from across China and Mongolia:

• American School of Ulaanbaatar
• Canadian International School of Beijing
• Qingdao No. 1 International School
• Yew Chung International School (YCIS) Beijing
• Yew Chung International School (YCIS) Shanghai, Pudong

Mr Shaw: “It is always valuable for any sports team to compete against a wide pool of opposition, not least because it exposes the players to plenty of different tactics and styles of play. This is partly what made this such a great tournament; our teams were mostly up against complete strangers, whose play styles they had to adapt to and learn from. It was clear from the very start that our pupils were committed to learning whatever they could from each encounter so they could refine their game.”

The first two days were dedicated to the ‘pools’, which saw both the girls and boys win all of their fixtures without conceding a single goal. While their respective scoring ratios were impressive, there were some deceptively close fixtures during this stage of the tournament, often forcing the Wellingtonians to think and play creatively while keeping their discipline tight throughout.

Mr Palmer: “I was extremely proud of both our teams. This tournament clearly meant a lot to them and you could see it in the way they carried themselves in the pool games and then the playoffs. You couldn’t fault their attitude for a moment. Their preparations before each game, their sportsmanship, their respect for the game, it was all great to see.”

Throughout the tournament, the fixtures enjoyed growing crowds of spectators as the glorious weather (and possibly the lure of hotdogs and burgers!) brought plenty of parents, teachers and even whole classes of Wellington pupils out onto the field to watch some superb football and cheer on the participants. These crowds swelled for the semis and finals, which put the boys and girls through their paces but saw them both come out on top, in dramatic style for the girls team.

Mr Shaw: “We had a nail-biting final for sure! We went 1-0 up early on, but at the beginning of second half the girls conceded their first goal of the tournament. To their credit, heads didn’t go down, they simply turned on the skill again until they scored the winner in last minute, virtually from the last kick of the game. It was all very sports movie-like!”

Mr Palmer: “The boys definitely had to contend with some nerves during the final, and hats off to them for overcoming the pre-match jitters and playing their hearts out. I feel that their difficult season has tempered them and served them well, because they have learned so much from their losses as well as their victories. They deserved to win here and I’m thrilled that they did.”

After the finals, all of the teams gathering in the Performing Arts Centre for the awards ceremony, where there was a fantastic atmosphere of amiability and respect between the pupils for a tournament that was hard-fought and great fun. This represents a fundamental part of the sporting philosophy of Wellington: to instil in every pupil the idea that they should always play to win, while retaining a love of sport, a firm sense of fair play, and a healthy respect for their opposition. As the two coaches summarise perfectly in their closing comments, our pupils had no trouble displaying this attitude throughout the tournament.

Mr Palmer: “When teaching sport, it’s critical for us to show the pupils that while you don’t have to win, you have to want to win. I think this is one of our pupils’ great strengths; they understand the inherent value of playing to win while showing the mental fortitude to accept losses as and when they come. Again, I was very proud watching both our teams after they won this tournament. They were, very sporting, magnanimous and respectful to all their opposing teams. They should be extremely proud of their victory and of the way they handled themselves.”

Mr Shaw: “Learning how to lose with grace and dignity is essential for any athlete, especially when they’re young, but it’s equally valuable for them to learn how to win and show exactly the same attitude. Pupils need to repeatedly experience both elements to give them the proper perspective of what it means to be a truly great competitor, in sport as well as in life. Our pupils are definitely getting to grips with this vital lesson and it’s wonderful to see them take both wins and losses in their stride.

Now that Wellington is a fully established member of ACAMIS, expect to see further fixtures and reports of ACAMIS events in the near future. Congratulations again to our tournament winners!