The academic year is barely two months old but it’s already proving to be a busy one for sports students at the Collegiate American School in Dubai.
As well as participating in the Junior Emirates Athletic Conference, Sony Football League and Dubai Affiliated School Sport Association, special focus this year has been placed upon the unique Innoventures Education League (IVEI).
As an American curriculum school, CAS places emphasis on American sports such as volleyball, basketball and softball.
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The volleyball season is nearly finished and the highlight for the CAS SandCats was winning a silver medal in the Under-14 girls’ Invitational tournament last weekend.
However, attention is not just limited to these activities and they find themselves competitive across a wide variety of sports.
At the Hamdan Sports Complex Invitational swimming gala, CAS competed alongside other American schools from UAE and Qatar and picked up a bronze medal in the U-12 boys’ relay.
This year the number of SandCats sports teams has doubled. More than 50 per cent of the students are involved in a sports team, which is a great achievement and generates a fun school spirit.
“We are aiming at high participation for student athletes as the American philosophy places a huge emphasis on sports, so we value the concept that a healthy body equals a healthy mind,” said the school’s athletic director, Jessie de Vries.
“Athletics contributes greatly to our extracurricular activities. I believe sports and physical education allow students to develop res-ponsibility and confidence.”
CAS is one of four IVEI schools in the UAE along with Dubai International Academy, Raffles World Academy and Raffles International School.
At least once a month an IVEI tournament will take place at one of the four schools.
So far there has been a football tournament for the primary students and a netball tournament for primary and secondary students.
Next on the IVEI calendar is the secondary swimming competition.