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SPORTS STARS from a school in Bahrain have returned to the kingdom with a collection of medals after competing in an international competition for the first time.
The British School of Bahrain (BSB) sent a small squad of 14 young pupils to the UK to participate against 27 schools from 17 countries in the prestigious Council of British International Schools (COBIS) Secondary Games.
The Year 7 and Year 8 boys and girls competed in swimming, football and athletics in the event staged in the Yorkshire city of Sheffield. After three-days of competition, the youngsters returned victorious with two gold medals in swimming, silver and bronze in track and field, and secured a respectable ninth place overall.
The proud party that participated in the COBIS Secondary Games were Liam Marshall, Robert Arowojolu, Jena Al Mardi, Hugo Quintana, Selim El Sharkawi, Borislav Gonkov, Dolce Gaudio, Talal Kazerooni, Layla Hussein, Hoda Khalil, Rataj Amin, Ameena Toorani, Tayla Finch and Charlotte Rodney, accompanied by BSB PE teachers and coaches, Jenna Strain and Luke Radley.
The first day of the Games started with a battle in the pool at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre. Bahrain’s representatives got off to a brilliant start with Marshall securing two gold medals in the Boys 50m Butterfly and Boys 200m individual medley.
The 12-year-old, from Janabiyah, who secured an enthusiastic fan club of adoring fans from other schools during the Games, completed the butterfly in 31 seconds and 46 milliseconds and won the medley in two minutes and 46 seconds.
Marshall said: “It is a great feeling to win and very flattering when you are standing at the podium along with others from around the world.”
His parents Tracey, the director of the Swimming Academy in BSB, and David, the head of procurement in an aluminium manufacturing company, are both thrilled with his accomplishment although they were not surprised.
Marshall had hated swimming and was scared of getting in the water until he was six-years-old. His mum enrolled him in lessons after that and he really excelled in the sport after moving to Bahrain.
His love for swimming surfaced after BSB’s former coach Ivan Bunakov spotted his potential and placed him in the school’s A squad. When he was in Year 5, he was snapped up by the national swimming squad which competes under the name of the Bahrain Elite Team.
Marshall said: “I train four- to-five-times-a-week and have now competed all over the Middle East. I have won more than 10 medals with the team and used my experience to excel in these Games. It was a great competition.”
Marshall also made an impression on the second day of competition when he claimed silver in the Boys 1,500m race which was held at the Sheffield Hallam University City Athletics Stadium.
Marshall said: “I really enjoyed this race because it sort of reminded me of Olympic British distance runner Mo Farah because he always starts from the back and then he comes forward near the end and takes everyone over. That is basically how my race worked. I completed the race with a time of 05:09.86. It was a great day.”
Kazerooni also ran his heart out in the 100m against the top sprinters in this category and secured a bronze in 12 minutes and 96 seconds.
The 13-year-old from Saar said: “Honestly I am a bit disappointed coming in third because I had the second fastest time in the heats and truly believed I could have done better. It still feels great though and my dad, Hussain, and mum, Zeyna, are very proud.”
On the last day of the Games, the children all drove to the new FA affiliated site, St George’s Park Graves to compete in a five-a-side football tournament. A record 236 matches were played over the day.
The BSB girl’s squad came fourth overall in the tournament while the boys made it to the finals in tier three.
Rodney, 13, from Hamala, said: “I think for me one of the highlights of COBIS was the football as we girls went in without many expectations for ourselves but we worked really hard and managed to gain fourth place overall.”
Her friend Finch, 13, from Amwaj, added: “This experience was great for all of us boys and girls. We were friends to begin with but going to the UK has brought us all a lot closer and we made some new friends too.
“We also want to thank our coaches for all they have done for us.”
The group shared such an emotional experience that two classmates, El Sharkawi and Quintana, both 12, came up with a special word to represent the entire trip which they refer to as ‘buzzbe’.
El Sharkawi said: “Whenever we feel emotional or are talking about COBIS and the trip we yell ‘buzzbe’ and everyone that was with us will get it. We will always have ‘buzzbe’.”
Julie Anne Gilbert, head of the school, was delighted with the children’s success. She said: “We weren’t expecting to do as well as we did as we were going there for the experience. We didn’t know that we would get any medals or come in ninth out of 27 schools. It was a great achievement.
“We truly are so proud of them. We love the way they bonded as a team and their good sportsmanship throughout the competitions. It’s a great life skill to have - winning together and also losing together- because there were thrills and spills the whole way through.
“The competition was streamed live and so many parents and members of staff were watching it. My phone was going crazy with messages from teachers asking if I had seen what Talal did, for example, or the girls’ football. Being able to follow them through the experience was brilliant.”
