Skip to main content

Beaches, Bags, & Bronze

By Anonymous
Yi Yao Tan

Six boys position themselves on court, waiting for the whistle. Sweat dripping. Crowds cheering. This is it. Boom!! A finishing blow by Albert Jeong (12), as he settles the score 15-12 once and for all. Dalat is in the semis.

With a season full of ups and downs, some wins and many losses, Dalat’s varsity boys volleyball finally lifted their heads and saw victory in a 2-1 playoff upset of the original third seed, Faith Academy. Having lost to Faith in round-robin earlier in the week, the team was undeterred; with meticulous planning and strategizing, the Eagles gained their foothold to shut down their dangerous competitors. In the semis, Dalat fought valiantly, however, losing to the defending champions YISS in a hard fought 1-3 loss resulting in a bronze medal for Dalat.

A week earlier, the team had arrived fresh on the island of Guam after more than a day of traveling, ready to take on their opponents. The first few days before the tournament, however, were calm and filled with hours of beach time, exploring, shopping, and snorkeling.

“The best part about snorkeling is being able to refresh your mind in the nice, cold water, and in the end, you forget about your homework,” said Karl Chan (12).

Guam is not only known for its beaches but is filled with malls and outlets full of American goods and tourists looking for souvenirs to bring back. Almost every day, the boys had dinner and spent hours after games walking around malls looking for something “special” to bring back.

The tournament, ACSC Boys Volleyball, began with an opening ceremony on a Tuesday evening. There were many new faces, along with quite a few old ones of experienced players. For the next four days, six teams, Dalat, Faith Academy, Saint Paul Christian School, SPCS JV, International Community School of Hong Kong, and Yongsan International School of Seoul, competed to prove themselves as the best ACSC volleyball team.
The intense competition not only grew the individual players and different teams but also the relationships between players of different teams, as they also worked together in community service: teaching local children and mixed around scrimmaging on empty courts.

At the end of the week, the Dalat boys volleyball team returned with well-deserved medals, memories, shopping bags, and many new friendships.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DINGBAT DALAT STUDENT SPENDS PRECIOUS TIME CONJURING UP SELF-REFERENTIAL SENIOR SCRIBBLE RATHER THAN GATHERING LEGITIMATE WORK

By Anonymous
Yusoof Monawvil PENANG, MA - As the deadline drew near and the stars aligned in the night sky above the majestic waters of the Strait of Malacca, one particular Dalat student—Yusoof Monawvil (12), despite a plethora of school events to select and report on—opted instead to spend a remarkably well-wasted 24 minutes staring at a blank Google Docs page, fruitlessly drawing up and shooting down brainstormed ideas.  In a moment of sheer and undeniable epiphany, Monawvil deemed it only fitting to self-referentially satirize his own ingrained incompetence and dingbattery. Commenting on the flash of insight, Monawvil quoted himself, saying: “It all just kinda made sense. I went on DISCourse to look at the little rubric thing Ms. Grad and Mr. Hieber posted, and I checked if I was following all of the guidelines... And I technically am/was; [N]ot like there’s any specific direktive [sic] prohibiting self-quoting.”  In a turn of events, Monawvil did come to find his self-quoting en...
6 comments
Read more

"Spikeball, Swimming, and Sickness: The Remnants of Senior Sneak" by Ee Rynn Ong

By
“Guys, I think we’re here,” said Jonathan Ooi (12) as he peeked out of the lorry to catch the first glimpse of our Senior Sneak location. This year’s Senior Sneak was held in Nomad Adventure, Gopeng, and the organizers planned many activities for the Class of 2026, ranging from traditional games like congkak and batu seremban to adrenaline-pumping ropes courses and whitewater rafting. These scheduled activities proved to be some of the best highlights of the trip, but top of that, the seniors were also given some daily free time to chat, explore, and relax. Josh Stevens (12) had come prepared for this with two spikeball nets, which immediately attracted attention from people eager to spend time in the outdoor sun. The next five days saw spikeball veterans and newcomers alike, spending their precious one and a half hours daily around the unassuming circular net, smashing the yellow ball in hopes of a victory.  Caleb Evans (12) was one of the newbies to spikeball, learning how the g...
Post a Comment
Read more

“I Miss Her” by Nikhil Pillay

By
While most people had a fun week for mid-semester break, whether it was spent with family, or with friends on impact trips, no one had a more emotionally confusing week than Judson Kenneth Robert Nosker (12).  In the light of recent events, Judson, despite all odds, had gotten in a relationship with one of his classmates, and as the break started, he had started to spend a lot of time with her. While with her, he started to experience a new level of joy and completeness that he had never felt before. In the words of Judson Nosker, “The first half of the break was good, but the rest of it was horrible.”  The reason for such a quote and the roller coaster of emotion was because half way through the break, disaster had struck. Judson’s girlfriend had gone on a trip with her family to Thailand, leaving Judson all alone. For the rest of the week, Judson was in a state of longing for her presence.  His friends have reported numerous occasions when Judson would be sitting with t...
Post a Comment
Read more