A group of sixteen students in Grades 9, 10 and 11 recently attended an International Schools Athletics Competition in Geneva, Switzerland. We did not have a lot of time to train and prepare but from the moment that we caught the first train from Lyon Part Dieu (at 06:39 in the morning!), we were raring to go.
Students competed in a wide range of track and field events, from the high jump and the triple jump to the 100m sprint and the 3000m Cross County.
Tamas from Grade 9 summarized the experience as follows:
I don’t think I have ever woken up at 5 a.m. for any type of school trip, but I felt so energetic when I did. I was full of excitement and energy. Once we boarded the train, it was so enjoyable just to talk with some of my friends and play a few of Mr. Nash’s board games. We all had a nice time and made good use of the empty train carriage. Maybe the school should stick to using trains to go to destinations rather than buses; it’s much more fun and cool!
A lot of the events were running-based, which is normal since this was an “athletic” tournament. The players we were competing against had way more practice and resources than we did. It was pretty terrifying to see all the muscular runners, while to them, we were just apprentices. We, of course, tried our very best, and that is what counts.
It was all very official, with proper starting blocks and electronic timing (laser beams across the finish line!) and although ISL only won one medal, the students were very proud of their achievements and they are determined to train hard and enter future competitions.
Thank you to Mr Nash for organizing this opportunity for ISL students!
International School 
