http://sabers.senri.ed.jp/ms-volleyball.html
​
SOIS hosted the WJAA middle school boys volleyball tournament May 11-12, 2018, in the Sabers gym. For the third year in a row, both the Sabers A and B teams won championships in their divisions, completing an unprecedented "triple double" title run dating back to 2016. The A team, under the leadership of Coach Sugishita, kept its composure after an opening match upset loss to win 5 straight matches for the title. The B team's championship was its 5th in a row under the helm of B team coach Michael Routh.

Sabers high school players Neo Yokoyama, Goshi Tanaka, and Leon Gonno were volunteer assistant coaches and helped greatly. Special thanks to the 4 Sabers managers for their vital work all season and during the tournament as scorekeepers: Marina Ninomiya, Janet Jones, Arisa Yoshikoshi, and Asuka Hong.

​It was a fun, competitive tournament full of parity. Both A and B divisions ended pool play with 3-way ties for 2nd place, sets of 3 teams with identical 2-2 records. Determination of who advanced to the finals came down to the final points of the final matches of pool play. Both championship matches went 3 sets - fun to watch.

Congratulations to Coach Sugishita, his first year as coach of the A team, and to Coach Routh. For Coach Routh, this was the 5th straight championship for his "Killer Bs" B team, a perfect ending to his legendary Sabers coaching career before he moves on to China.

Thank you to all players and coaches and managers and SSC members.

Four high school Sabers teams will compete at major events away from school this weekend, April 13-14, 2018.

• Swimming: AISA swim meet at Korea International School. (Coach Kano, Coach Bertman)
• Soccer, girls: AISA tournament at Yokohama International School. (Coach Frater, Coach Kono, chaperone Deklinski)
• Soccer, boys: AISA tournament at Seoul International School. (Coach Entwistle, chaperone Routh)
• Softball: Tournament at Nagoya International School. (Coach Hirai, Coach Hikosaka)

SWIMMING LIVE STREAM: Watch the AISA swim meet live on your computer starting Friday, 9:45 AM.
https://sites.google.com/a/kis.or.kr/athletics/
AISA swim meet race order, Friday: morning, afternoon (click to open pdf documents)

BOYS SOCCER (SIS) LIVE STREAM: https://livestream.com/sis 
​
​Good luck to all teams. Go Sabers!

Welcome, all new students and teachers, to SOIS and to the Sabers athletics program.
And welcome back, everyone else, from the spring break.

Several reminders as we start the new spring trimester:

• Middle school seasons: girls softball (Coach Ogawa), boys volleyball (Coach Sugishita, Coach Routh), table tennis (Coach Matsushima). 
• First MS practices: softball and volleyball, Thursday, April 5. Table tennis, Tuesday, April 10.
• First MS games: Saturday, April 7, softball @CA, volleyball @SOIS.
• New SIS grade 7 students: no practices or games this week; please wait until Tuesday, April 10.
• HS table tennis: Friday, April 6, first practice, gym, upper level. (Coach Takahashi)
• HS badminton: WJAA tournament @CA, Friday and Saturday, April 6-7. Players miss periods 5-6-7 on Friday. (Coach Hasegawa, Coach Ishiuchi-Ray)
• HS softball: tournament @CA, Saturday, April 7. (Coach Hirai, Coach Hikosaka)
• HS soccer: Saturday, April 7, girls @Sanda, boys futsal @SOIS.
• AISA, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, April 12-13-14: girls soccer @Yokohama, boys soccer @Seoul, swimming @Seoul. (Coaches Frater, Kono, Entwistle, Bertman, Kano. Chaperones Routh, Deklinski)
• HS softball: Friday-Saturday, April 13-14, tournament @Nagoya.
• HS baseball season begins after AISA soccer. (Coach Sagara, Coach Algie)

Remember, lots of info can be found on the Sabers website: http://sabers.senri.ed.jp/. 
Thank you, everyone. Go Sabers!

The high school boys and girls soccer teams played in Western Japan Athletic Association tournaments March 9-10, 2018. The girls, led by Coach Frater and Coach Kono, traveled to MC Perry High School on the US Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni where they finished the 2-day tournament undefeated in 4 matches and 2018 WJAA champions. The boys, led by the one and only Coach Entwistle, played at Canadian Academy on Rokko Island in Kobe, winning 4 matches and losing 1 - unfortunately the sole loss came in the championship match, so the Sabers eleven finished a respectable second. 

The girls team played for the first time on a US military base, spending the night in the large MC Perry school building and playing on a new, large field there. The Sabers made use of the big space, outscoring their 4 opponents 14-3, led by a veteran group of seniors: Keanna Ikeda, Suono Fujii, Hana Ikeda, Airu Mukaiyama, Haruna Tomiguchi, Elena Benfield, and Ami Eldridge. 

Special thanks to chaperones Yamashiro-sensei and Ito-sensei for accompanying the team and ensuring their safety.
Click here for photos and more details about the girls championship.

The boys soccer team coasted through round-robin play undefeated, but ran into a fired up and strong CA Falcons team in the final, conceding 2 goals in the final 3 minutes to lose 2-0 and finish as runners up. The Sabers were led by a strong contingent of SIS seniors playing in their final Sabers match: Tommy Ban, Hijiri Kamigawa, Daichi Tomi, and leading scorer Hiroto Inui. Leo Sakamoto, Evan Tsubaki, and Sola Lutringer are OIS seniors who played in their final WJAA event, but will play in the AISA tournament next month. 

Click here for photos of the Sabers boys soccer team.
Next up for the soccer teams: AISA tournaments, the girls in Yokohama and the boys in Seoul. Good luck, Sabers teams.

Good luck to the Sabers high school girls and boys basketball players and coaches as they travel to South Korea for their season-ending AISA tournaments. The teams travel to Korea on Thursday, Feb. 1, and return on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018.
And good luck, too, to SOIS math students and student council leaders as they participate in the AISA math mania competition and leadership conference held at SOIS this Friday and Saturday. Thank you to the math teachers and student council advisors for their help in running these events and to the homestay families for hosting 20 visiting students from Seoul.
Click on links below for game schedule and live streaming sites.
 
Girls basketball at Busan International Foreign School

• Game schedule: Sabers play at 13:30 and 16:30 on Friday.
• Live stream
• Coach Sagara, Coach Okamoto, Chaperone Hirai

 
Boys basketball at Seoul International School

• Game schedule: Sabers play at 9:00 and 15:00 on Friday.
• Live stream
• Coach Heimer, Coach Routh

 
AISA math mania competition and leadership conference here at SOIS

• Event webpage​
• Math coaches: Mr. Bertman, Takahashi-sensei
• Leadership directors: Mitsuhashi-sensei, Mr. Welburn, Mr. Sheriff

SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS, LINKS, AND VIDEO OF THRILLING GAME ENDING

The Sabers high school boys and girls junior varsity basketball teams wrapped up the 2018 season with first and second place finishes at their respective WJAA tournaments, January 13, 2018. The boys, playing at Canadian Academy in Kobe, held off the host Falcons in the last 30 seconds for a thrilling championship victory, winning 39-37. The girls, having traveled to Yokohama International School, lost to the host Dragons in the finals, 38-22.
 
The Sabers girls, led by Coach Okamoto and Coach Hirai, finished first in their pool to advance to the semifinals, where they dispatched the Canadian Academy Falcons, 41-22, before falling to a strong Yokohama team in the finals. All scores and game video can be viewed on the tournament website and YouTube page.

The Sabers boys, after narrowing losing their first-day opening game in the final minute to the host CA Falcons, were faced with the difficult task of having to win 4 games in a row to take the WJAA title. Three of those games came on the second day of the tournament with a depleted 8-player squad and little rest between games. On day 2, the Sabers first defeated the YIS Dragons 57-46 and then came from behind to beat the Hokkaido Huskies 53-40, setting up a rematch against the well-rested Falcons in the championship game in front of partisan home crowd.
 
In the final, the Sabers, facing fatigue, cramps, and injury, chose to forego their full-court press and fast-paced offense. The Falcons, fortunately for the Sabers, were content to slow down the game. The game was a back-and-forth affair with the Sabers up at halftime, 18-14, and the Falcons ahead 25-24 after 3 quarters. With 3 minutes left, the Sabers had a 6-point lead and seemed in control. But with 35 seconds left, CA tied the game at 37. On their ensuing possession, the Sabers, who struggled with rebounding throughout the game, came up with 2 crucial offensive rebounds to set up a Takayoshi Nakagawa midrange jumper that found nothing but net to put SOIS up 39-37 with 18 seconds left. The Sabers then made one last half-court defensive stand and CA’s last-second off-balance shot fell short.

Middle school Sabers sports
セイバーズの中等部（MS）のスポーツチームの情報
10月17日（火）TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17: Sabers Sign-Up (15:45, room 210); first practice
セイバーズの中等部（MS）のスポーツチームの練習は、毎週、火曜日と木曜日の15:45–17:45 PMです。
Sabers MS sports teams practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, after school, 15:45–17:45 PM.
 
すべての中学生が、セイバーズのスポーツチームに参加してくれることを期待しています。
All MS students are encouraged to join a Sabers team.
 
Schedule: http://sabers.senri.ed.jp/season-schedule.html
 
現在のMSのスポーツ / Current MS sports

• running トライアスロン, ランニング
• girls soccer女子サッカー
• boys basketball 男子バスケットボール
• swimming女子男子水泳

 
Don’t forget the SABERS SIGN UP  セイバーズ・サインアップ

• 一年に一回、シーズンが始まる前にセイバーズ・チームに参加することを希望する生徒は、セイバーズ・アスレティクス・ウェブサイトからオンラインでサインアップをしなければいけません。(sabers.senri.ed.jp - Forms).
• Once a year, prior to the start of a season, all students wanting to join a Sabers team must sign up online on the Sabers athletics website (sabers.senri.ed.jp - Forms). 

The Sabers middle school baseball teams and girls volleyball teams competed in WJAA end-of-season championship tournaments this past weekend, October 13-14, 2017.

The baseball teams, led by Coach Yamada and Coach Ogawa, played at Canadian Academy in Kobe and won both the A and B divisions. The A team defeated host CA in the finals, 4-1. A team MVP was SIS 8th grader Mao Higuchi and B team MVP was SIS 8th grader Yuku Miyamoto.

The girls volleyball teams, led by Coach Yamamoto and Coach Udy, played at Marist Brothers International School in Kobe. The A team finished a strong 3rd in its division, and the B team did well to finish runner-up in its division. A team MVP was SIS 8th grader Ayumi Oka and B team MVP was OIS 7th grader Nanako Kashiwagi.

​Congratulations, all Sabers players and coaches.