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![]() The Sabers middle school girls basketball team wrapped up its 2014 campaign by placing 3rd at the Western Japan Activities Association (WJAA) championship tournament on Saturday, March 1, 2014. The Sabers ran into a strong Hokkaido Huskies team in the semifinals, but bounced back to play their best game of the short season in the consolation game, dousing the Flames of Kyoto International University Academy. Masami Nagasaka was named the team's tournament MVP. Congratulations, Coach Entwistle and Coach Mecklem and to the entire Sabers team. (Pictured right: Sabers MS girls basketball B team)
![]() Congratulations to Coach McGill and Coach Stone and all of the MS boys soccer players on their two (2) WJAA championships this past Saturday, March 1. Both the A team and B team won their respective divisions, both handily beating Canadian Academy in the finals. For the A team Sabers, this marks the 4th consecutive league championship. What's the Japanese word for "dynasty"? (王朝)
The SOIS Sabers high school girls varsity basketball team finished in 3rd place in the Association of International Schools in Asia (AISA) tournament held January 24-25, 2014, at Korea International School (KIS) in Seoul. The Sabers won both games on the first day of the tournament, putting them in the semifinals on day two. The Sabers lost to a talented Yokohama International School team, thus putting SOIS in the consolation game, where the Sabers handily defeated Seoul International School.
The Sabers played the tournament shorthanded, with only seven players, and were missing star power forward Rina Dybovskaya. This certainly limited the team's chances, but the remaining SOIS "magnificent seven" showed typical Sabers fighting spirit to capture 3rd place. Senior veterans Hiroko Wanibuchi and Kana Asai were named to the AISA all-tournament team. Congratulations to the Sabers girls basketball team on a fine tournament and season. Special thanks to head coach Munetaka Sagara and assistant coach Takako Hirai, both first-year high school basketball coaches, for leading the team so well throughout the season. ![]() After finishing the first day of the 2014 AISA boys basketball tournament at Seoul International School (SIS) with one win and one loss, the SOIS Sabers faced an uphill battle of three games on day two. In the first game, the Sabers rested their starters en route to a comfortable victory over Kent Korea International School. This win set up a semifinal encounter with the heavy tournament favorites, the host SIS Tigers. After falling behind by 10 points at the end of the third quarter, the Sabers battled back to within 1 point in the final minute, only to fall short at the end, losing 47-42. Considering that SIS went on to win the championship game by over 30 points, this close semifinal game was considered by many to be the highlight game of the tournament. The Tigers coaches commented that their team, undefeated on the season (and only one loss last year), had not been challenged this closely all year. In the consolation game, the Sabers ran out of steam and fell short to the Korea International School Phoenix, thus finishing in 4th place. Senior captains Kai Stewart and Shaw Iyama were named to the AISA all-tournament team. Congratulations to the Sabers boys basketball team on a fine tournament and season. Special thanks to Coach Michael Routh for leading the team in his first year as Sabers head coach. Let the off-season training for next year begin. Go Sabers! ![]() The Sabers boys and girls basketball teams are playing in the season-ending AISA tournaments in Seoul, South Korea, Friday and Saturday, January 24-25, 2014. The girls are playing at Korea International School (KIS), hoping to repeat as AISA champs. The boys are playing at Seoul International School (SIS), also hoping to keep and take home the championship traveling plaque (pictured left). The boys finished the first day with one win and one loss. The Sabers ran into a tough KIS Phoenix team in the tournament's first game, losing 43-21. After this disappointing start, the Sabers regrouped to defeat the tougher-than-expected Asia Pacific International School Greenhawks 38-24. This second victory saw the Sabers play some strong overall basketball, finishing day one on a positive note. Their 1 and 1 opening day record means the Sabers need to defeat Korea Kent Foreign School Saturday morning for a chance to play tournament favorite SIS in the semifinals. The last time SOIS needed to play an 8:30 AM Saturday AISA game to reach the semifinals - at KIS in 2012 - the Sabers went on to capture the championship. Let's hope history repeats. Go Sabers! Players can now sign up for HS Girls Soccer by going to THIS LINK. There are dates for the WJAA, AISA tournaments, and information about games in Tokyo and at SOIS over the Spring break.
![]() On Wednesday, December 11, 2013, the Sabers boys varsity basketball team defeated long-time friendly rivals the Fossils, 48-44, on the Sabers court. The Sabers took a commanding 32-12 lead into halftime before the Fossils (pictured left), led by the dominating play of Coach Routh, outscored the varsity 16-0 in the 3rd quarter to close the gap to 4 points. The Fossils continued to outscore the Sabers in the 4th quarter, tying the game with a few minutes to play. The Sabers then put on their vaunted Aussie trap and were able to get some key steals late in the game to seal the victory. History Each December since 1995, the Sabers boys basketball varsity team has played an exhibition game against a collection of teachers, staff, parents, graduates, and other members of the greater SOIS community. This older group of players are infamously known as the Fossils. For about the first 10 years or so of this friendly rivalry, the Fossils, believe it or not, easily won all games. This Golden Age of Fossils basketball featured many young and skillful SOIS teachers such as Steve Bonnette (former band teacher), Brian Combes (former humanities teacher and DP coordinator), Josh Berg (former English teacher), Mark Pekin (former AD), Marvin Zulauf (former science teacher), Gary Rust (former business manager) and Jim Schell (former business manager), among many others. These early Fossils squads also included a young John Searle and a springy Stephen Lewis. Even Coach Heimer and Coach Ray used to be younger. By about the year 2005, though, many Fossils greats had moved on and the rest got old. The Sabers varsity . notched its very first win over the Fossils around this time and has never looked back, dominating the old guys year to year. Wednesday's game was the tightest in recent memory. Heimer, Ray, Routh and Mecklem are not getting any younger and the Sabers are not getting any older, but that doesn't stop the Fossils from believing "maybe next year." 2013 Fossils: Mr. Routh, Mr. Mecklem, Mr. Ray, Mr. Heimer, Mr. Yamamoto (parent), Toshinori Matsuo (graduate), Naoto Takahashi (graduate), Makoto Honda (graduate), Takumi Honda (brother), and another Honda brother. ![]() Friday and Saturday, December 6 and 7, 2013: Excellent weekend for Sabers teams competing in WJAA championship tournaments... MS girls soccer: At Canadian Academy in Kobe: A team - champions. B team - champions. C team - 2nd place. Clearly the Sabers are the class of WJAA MS girls soccer. Congratulations to Coach Frater and Coach Namba and the 40+ Sabers MS girls soccer players. (Next up for MS girls - basketball starting in January.) MS boys basketball: At Marist Brothers International School in Kobe: Make that 2 years in a row as WJAA champions as the young Sabers cagers handily repeated as champions, defeating most opponents by the 30-point mercy rule. Well done, Coach Ray and Coach Mitsuhashi. (Next up for MS boys - soccer starting in January.) HS girls basketball: At Canadian Academy in Kobe: The Sabers girls won 1 game on Friday, avenging an early season loss by beating a strong EJ King (Sasebo) team, to put them in Saturday's semifinals. But two losses on the second day left the Sabers in 4th place in the 6-team tournament. Still, a strong effort from the Sabers and coaches Sagara and Hirai. HS boys basketball: Hosted by SOIS in the Sabers gym: On Friday, the Sabers boys (pictured above left) lost to EJ King by 6 points, a marked improvement over a 25-point defeat earlier in the season. The Sabers then dispatched AISA rivals Yokohama International School to advance to the semifinals, where the Sabers defeated tournament favorites MC Perry (Iwakuni). This put the Sabers into the finals, a rematch against EJ King, where the Sabers fell short, figuratively and literally, to the much taller and stronger Cobras. Regardless, it was a great tournament for the Sabers - congratulations to first-year head coach Michael Routh and assistant coach Heimer. WJAA all-tournament team members for the Sabers were seniors Shaw Iyama, Coe Lee, and Kai Stewart. Click to see tournament results. ![]() Marcus Capers, starting point guard for Osaka's professional basketball team, Evessa, visited the Sabers gym to give some basketball pointers, pose for some photos, and model an official Sabers athletics t-shirt. Evessa later tweeted a photo of Capers sporting the Sabers colors. https://twitter.com/osakaevessa/status/400549606099922945/photo/1 |
AuthorCoach Heimer, SOIS AD Archives
June 2022
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