Tournaments are always an opportunity for growth. Pack a lot of games into a short period of time and it’s inevitable that players walk away from the weekend stronger than when they began. This weekend was no different. Travelling overseas to Bangkok for this tournament meant that the girls volleyball team was able to play unfamiliar, high calibre teams. This was excellent preparation for the upcoming Division I SEASAC tournament where the girls will be vying for a spot in the following years tournament.

Although the Dragons’ girls volleyball team was hindered with a lack of depth on the bench this weekend, they played with determination and demonstrated a lot of character. With only two substitutes, the athletes were sometimes thrown into situations that they had to make the best of. The weekend was off to a challenging start with two losses on Friday. A win on Saturday morning placed the girls third in their pool. They played for a spot in the consolation finals, and won their way to 3-0 on Saturday, placing fifth overall.The IVC U16 competition was an exciting and great learning experience for both the players and the coaches. Every team was playing with full of spirit and energy from the start till the end. UWCSEA East girls showed great resilience, attitude and passion for the game. With a strong team spirit and teamwork, they won 2 out of 3 games in the group stage and was qualified for the semi-finals. Whilst facing a strong team, the girls never backed down or lost their game spirit, they fought hard with every single point and they strived to achieve as much as they can.

Though we lost in the semis, this experience enabled the girls to grow a lot during the game, every player managed to step-up in their own performance throughout the game and that’s an amazing feat. In the finals, the girls finished 4th in the IVC U16 competition as played their hardest and both teams displayed an exciting and nail-biting game with a final set score of 1:2.