The American International School of Bucharest will be hosting the JV Girls CEESA Basketball tournament this Friday, March 9th to Saturday, March 10th.

This year, the AISB JV Girls have spent roughly 48 hours over the course of two months training, in addition to matches and small tournaments. The team has faced both success and challenges throughout the season that continue to help them improve. Due to their great improvement and home support, the Vampire girls are predicted to win this weekend, or at least win a spot on the podium.

 

Teams

AISB will be competing against six other teams, including nearby British School and our Middle School Vampire girls, as well as three teams from other international schools: The Prague Falcons, The Warsaw Warriors, and The Budapest Blazers. The Middle School Vampire girls were originally meant to travel to Baku, Azerbaijan; however, because their tournament was cancelled, they will now be playing alongside the High School JV girls.

Coach Sota says, “Our greatest contest will be Vampires Middle School. Don’t laugh when I say that because it will be a mental game of home court teams.”

The Red Division CEESA Schools (Prague, Budapest, and Warsaw) will also be tough adversaries, due to their great sports programs and the fact that they are always contenders in any sport.

Captain of the AISB’s JV team, Pauline says, “I think the teams will bring a lot of competition to CEESA, but if the teams aren’t the same strength as they were last year I think we have a good chance.”

At the end of the day, the thriving team will be the ones who keep their turnovers low and shoot a high free-throw percentage as a team. If we can do those two things, we will be contenders!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L21qb3AvDk

Lukas P., Ioana S., Harper C., and Venla P. created this video for the upcoming CEESA tournament.

 

Matches

The Vampire JV Girls have played three official matches against other International Schools within our local community this season. The teams include BSB, ISB, and Cambridge. “Each game was a different tale of basketball and each game had something for us to learn and grow as a team,” says Sota.

The Vampire JV team had their best half against Cambridge when the players really wanted to show the coaches that they deserved places in the starting line-ups. That ambition led to some really terrific basketball moments. Against BSB, they played their most organized defensive game, allowing very few points to be scored by their opponents.

When asked about the match against BSB, Sota says: “This match I would say introduced discipline and communication in our team.”

As for the game conceded to ISB, the Vampires learned to rise from the ashes and play hard. Even if the game was lost on the scoreboard at the end, they walked out winning in effort and attitude. “I think this moment was a mentality changer for us as we now realize that when we play with heart, we are not easily beatable,” Sota reflects.

 

Preparation

The Vampire JV Girls have trained for many hours each week, over the course of two months to prepare for CEESA. Despite some minor and major injuries, they have greatly improved individually and as a team. Personal talent and individual abilities make the team a lot stronger too. They have had games that have helped build their team strength and extra practices to continue their training and hard work.

“We have improved our team game for sure,” says Sota. “We move the ball better, we look for each other on transition opportunities on offense, we close spaces better in the 2-3 zone on defense and we are creating scoring opportunities.”

 

Overview

As students, friends, family, and teachers within our community, it is our duty to come and support the JV Vampire Girls. Mixed with fun, nerves, and emotions of playing for the Vampire nation, the players now have the correct amount of knowledge as well as the skills. They have grown and come together as a team and people trying to achieve a common goal. They are not going into CEESA setting any performance expectations for themselves, but rather to play, celebrate, and learn basketball. The JV team is ready and so are the girls who will wear the green jerseys and make great memories as a team!

“I think we’re ready for CEESA,” says Pauline. “Everyone seems to be excited and we’ve been working very hard throughout the season, which will definitely pay off!”

 

CEESA Schedule