- Athletics
- High School
A daily look at the Chiang Mai trip from coaches Mr. Haworth and Ms. Dunn.
Current Seisen Families can check out all of the photos in the Vidigami album.
Day 1
The Varsity Basketball team departed from Haneda airport early Tuesday morning, and after a full day of flying we finally arrived at our hotel here in Chiang Mai. After a delicious dinner here at our hotel restaurant we called it a day and woke up feeling refreshed for our first full day here in Thailand. Our tournament does not start until tomorrow morning, so today we will have the opportunity to visit a nearby elephant park as well as enjoy some other sights of Chiang Mai. For now, off to see the elephants!
Day 2
After a good night of sleep, an amazing buffet breakfast, and a few hours of study time we were picked up at our hotel for the one hour long drive to the Elephant Rescue Park. For most of us it was our first time to be standing so close to these gigantic and majestic elephants, some of whom would come right in front of us or pass right by us! We had another delicious lunch buffet provided for us by the park, and after watching the elephants walk back up the river back to their "beds" for the night we headed back to the hotel and began our preparations for the tournament starting today with a poolside team meeting, followed by some team bonding time.
Today we begin the annual Chiang Mai International School Invitational Basketball Tournament with two pool play games, the first one against KMIDS (King Mongkut International Demonstration School) followed by a game against SATIT (Chiang Mai University Demonstration School).
Day 3
We began the Chiang Mai International School Invitational Tournament with a narrow 29-27 win over KMIDS (King Mongkut International Demonstration School), but unfortunately faltered down the stretch in our second game against SATIT (Chiang Mai University Demonstration School) losing 28-34. We go into the second day of the tournament today with a 1-1 record and must win our two pool play games today to make it into the championship round tomorrow morning. We play CRICS (Chiang Rai International Christian School) followed by GIS (Grace International School)
Following our games yesterday we returned to the hotel to freshen up and made our way to the famous Chiang Mai night market for some dinner and shopping, and completed our day with an intense team meeting to prepare ourselves for the extremely important games that we will be playing today.
Day 4
We needed to win both of our final pool play games yesterday to make it into the semi-finals. We started off slow in our first game against CRICS (Chiang Mai International Christian School) and only led by 5 points at halftime, but we picked up our intensity in the second half and went on to win by a final score of 25-11. Next up was GIS (Grace International School), a team from local Chiang Mai who have won this tournament multiple times. We knew the work we had cut out for us, and it was a battle the whole game. We entered the fourth quarter down by 4 points (10-14) and used our full court defensive pressure to create turnovers which led to some quick buckets, going on a 14-0 run in the quarter to pull out the win by a final score of 22-17! We finished second in our pool (Pool B) and earned the right to play the first place team in Pool A, RST (Rugby School Thailand) in this morning's first semi-final game. A win against RST would put us in the championship game this afternoon against the winner of the other semi-final game, SATIT (Chiang Mai University Demonstration School) vs. ISSH (International School of the Sacred Heart).
Day 5
The final day of the annual Chiang Mai International School Invitational Basketball Tournament. This was the day that we had been waiting for and had worked so hard for. Semi-finals, 8am tip off, winner moves on to the championship game. Our opponent, RST (Rugby School Thailand) who exactly one year ago had beaten us on this very same court, same semi-final matchup, same 8am game time. We knew what we had to do to produce different results this time around, and it was a battle the entire way. We started the fourth quarter up by the slimmest of margins, one point, and with our patented pressure defense we held our opponent scoreless for the final 8 minutes to prevail 20-13. We had done it, we had earned our spot to represent Seisen in the championship game!
We used the time in between our semi-final win and the championship game to relax, get some much needed body care, eat lunch, and mentally prepare ourselves for the championship game against a team we had already played in the pool play round and lost to, SATIT (Chiang Mai International Demonstration School). This team had yet to lose a single game in the tournament, yet we knew what we needed to do to get by them- we had lost to them by only 6 points in pool play. Playing in front of a packed gymnasium, the championship game was neck and neck from start to finish, with either team's biggest lead being no more than 8 points. In the end it was our worthy opponent who were able to pull out the victory 28-34, the exact same score we had lost to them just two days earlier.
We came away with a second place finish, two all-tournament players (Pipi and Zafira), and most importantly wonderful and countless memories of our five days in Thailand together as a basketball team.
On a personal note, I can truly say that I will treasure this team and the time we had together here in Chiang Mai for the rest of my life. A huge thank you to all of you for your encouragement and support along the way!
Mr. Haworth