That Day We Played Basketball

Last weekend 22 athletes traveled to sister school Tianjin International School for the LifePlus Basketball Tournament. All six LifePlus schools in China brought teams to compete over two days, facing off in a round-robin style tournament on Friday followed by knockout games on Saturday.  

On Friday, both International School of Qingdao's teams performed well on the court, playing some intense games. The girl's first game went into double overtime against WYIS, ending eventually in a tie. The boys team was also evenly matched against WYIS in the first half, but came back with energy and excitement in the third quarter, showing tactical strength against the Buffaloes and winning the match. 

In their matches against Chengdu Pandas, both teams won, with G10 Dana B being hailed as a "coast-to-coast" player by announcer Josh Keegan. Facing the Tianjin Eagles later in the day, both teams played tough games and lost to the Eagles. The Qingdao Dolphins fought hard but were ultimately outmatched by the strong TIS teams.  

Friday evening finished off against the Yantai Sharks. The ISQ athletes were clearly tired but as announcer Ryan Witt said of the players, their efforts were a "true testament of team work, investment of hard work and commitment to the game." The boy's game against the Sharks was one of the most exciting of the weekend, going to triple overtime before the boy's found the win. Friday's games placed the girl's as third seed and boy's second for the knockout on Saturday 

Excitement was palpable as games opened on Saturday. With fans of each team watching the well-organized livestream, the ISQ ladies opened the morning against Chengdu Pandas with a high defensive presence. In the semi-final against Wuhan Buffalos, the Qingdao Dolphin ladies controlled the game holding a comfortable lead throughout. The boy's gave it their all in the semi-final against the Wuxi Wildcats, tied at the half but settling into the game in the third quarter and finding victory. 

Qingdao Dolphins and Tianjin Eagles faced off in both the girl's and boy's final matches, with each player leaving everything on the court. While the girl's put more effort into the championship game than any game before, they walked away from the tournament with a second place trophy, losing the final to Tianjin Eagles. The boy's held the Tianjin Eagles to a tie game at the end of the first quarter, but were unable to keep their edge over the strong Tianjin Eagles team.  

The Qingdao Dolphins took home two second place trophies and coaches commented that they were pleased to see so much character demonstrated on and off the court. Student-athletes have good reason to celebrate the season while looking forward to future tournament events with other LifePlus schools!