Junior Girls
This year, St Christopher’s hosted two Junior Girls Volleyball festivals for the South League. Winning both festivals and the South League, meant we qualified for the final at RVIS. During the thrilling tournament, all games went to the third set creating a tense atmosphere. Losing only one of our three games by two points meant that the tournament came down to points difference, resulting in St Christopher’s being placed in second place. The season was outstanding with great participation levels from the girls at every opportunity, fantastic sportsmanship and outstanding standards of performances by the students. A great season all round, well done on your success.
Junior Boys (Under 13) – League and Tournament Winners
This year, we had over fifty boys from Year 7 and 8 turn up for Volleyball Club, which made selection very difficult. We were fortunate to enter two teams in the league and tournament. The standard achieved by the players was extremely high. There were two league festivals held at St Christopher’s School resulting in St Chris 1 and St Chris 2 qualifying for the Champion Tournament finals an excellent achievement. The four teams that played in the finals and the finishing positions were:
Champion Tournament Finals
- St Chris 1
- St Chris 2
- Al Raja
- Modern Knowledge
With a round robin tournament taking place, St Christopher’s 1 finished first and St Christopher’s 2 finished second. Well done to all boys.
The Volleyball season was a great season for St Christopher’s Girls Intermediate Team. This year, we did not have any specific single matches against individual schools, but we played ‘festivals’ of Volleyball as the League was split into North and South Bahrain. We played in the South Bahrain League and in both festivals, we were Runners-Up to Bayan School, on both occasions losing narrowly in the third set. This meant we qualified for the Finals Tournament where we came third overall, losing only to Bayan School and Bahrain School. We trained hard throughout the season and worked our hardest with great and extra help from Mrs Hobday. It was a very enjoyable season and we should be proud of our achievements. ~ Elena AlSharif / Chloe O’ Shoughnessy
Intermediate Boys
This year, the Intermediate Boys Volleyball practices saw a vast number of boys contending to be chosen for the squad. The top 12 (a tough choice indeed) were chosen to form a resilient and successful team. A different format from previous years saw St Christopher’s competing in two South League Festivals, which included Bayan, IKNS, BSB and ourselves. Captained by Bradley Altman, the squad played some very close and exciting games, however, their dedication in their practice sessions paid off, allowing them to win both Festivals. They won every game and only conceded one set to IKNS. In the Final Tournament, St Christopher’s played against MKS (from the North League) and IKNS. Two nail biting games of 3 sets each displayed an array of powerful serving, skillful shots and some fabulous agility. St Christopher’s fought through these tough games to become the well-deserving Tournament Champions and well done to Jordan Baker for Player of the Tournament. Congratulations to the entire squad for their dedication this season. Photo shows from top left to right: Anas Ramadan, Rayyan Ali, Adam Shamma, Sava Jankovic, Usman Zafar, Mustafa Zafar, Seb Timmers, George Axtell, Bradley Altman, Ollie Bloodworth and Jordan Baker. Shah Farooqi is not pictured here. Mrs Subbiani and Mr Tayler.
Senior Girls
The Senior Girls Volleyball team consists of Keilan Kabalaoui (captain), Kirsten Lee, Cayla Harris, Carmen Carritt, Chloe Atkinson, Razan AlMusawi, Kianna Legg, Kiannna Mongelos, Raiya Thomure, Cecile Blankcom and Thea Toutoungy. We trained for 8 weeks including a match for both Senior Boys and Senior Girls during half term. This was in preparation for our league matches and tournaments that were yet to come. This year contained a new structure where schools were divided into leagues in the north and south of the island; St Christopher’s was placed in South league. We adapted and built a strong relationship as a team throughout every match and dominated the South league competing against a multitude of different schools. These schools were: Bayan, IKNS , RVIS and BSB. The match against RVIS was our toughest one with equally as good opponents but we succeeded in beating them. As a reward, we all went to Elevation Burger where we enjoyed a team meal. When it came to the mixing of the North and South league, we made it to the Final, beating all the opponents on the way, but we were sadly defeated by The Bahrain school, only losing shy of a few points in the second set. It has been an exquisite year and we have all thoroughly enjoyed it, thanking our coach Mrs Hobday and all the team members for their exceptionally hard work and dedication. ~ Keilan Kabalaoui (Capt)
Senior Boys
After two weeks of trials and two further weeks of training, a crack team, brimming with confidence was sent to IKNS to begin the 2015 Senior Boys Volleyball season. Very quickly the difference between training and match play became apparent, as we began nervously. In fact, we very nearly lost the first set as tension crept in and serves started hitting the net. However, win we did and the second set proceeded more smoothly, enabling us to defeat them in straight sets. Despite some excellent training sessions, the second match against Bayan proceeded in a similar fashion. We struggled to win against a far inferior team! Finally, the nerves got too much for us and we succumbed to a very disappointing defeat to our arch rivals the British School. However, this was the catalyst for improved performances and we demolished Riffa Views International School to win the overall Southern League. This enabled us to qualify for the top grade end of season tournament to see who would be crowned overall champions. Bahrain School beat Riffa Views comfortably and then we had a very shaky, but well deserved three set victory over Modern Knowledge School. This meant it was Bahrain School versus St Christopher’s School in the overall final. Despite playing our highest quality Volleyball of the year, Bahrain School were just too talented and consistent to allow us into the match. It was played at a very high level but with great sportsmanship throughout. Bahrain deserved their victory and we finished with a very good match, leaving everybody satisfied. A big thank you should go out to all the players for their attitude and commitment to training. Ahmet Rizk and Salman Al Wardi lead with charisma and passion. We will be sad to say farewell to our Year 13 students but with many Year 11s and 12s in the team the future looks bright.
