Korean International Schools Activities Conference, also known as KISAC, is a sports event that encourages students to play sports against other international schools in Korea. KISAC provides different sports each season for school members to participate in. For the final event of sports season 3, which is the third season of sports that include soccer, badminton, golf and track and field, the KISAC badminton tournament was held at North London Collegiate School Jeju (NLCS) and Korea International School(KIS) on April 29th. Usually, 4 to 5 schools attend KISAC, but due to cancelation of other schools, only NLCS and KIS participated in the boys team, and NLCS, BHA and KIS in the girls team.
KISAC tournament championship match
Because KISAC tournaments are the biggest events for all athletes who attend international schools, players had prepared for them since the start of the season. Players had gone through tough after school practices that not only involved playing badminton but also building up stamina and learning new skills. Students practiced twice a week from 4.30pm to 6pm. In these practices, players ran 8 laps around the gym for warm up and stretched their bodies to prevent injuries. Then they started playing practice matches. Several students were asked to speak about their personal training and how they felt about the tournament.
Interview with Mike (Doubles match third place)
There were some opportunities for players to practice other than after school training such as open gym, where students practice or work out during their free time. Mike, who came in third place in doubles stated, “I practiced for two hours every day, and studied steps, grip and rotations to prepare for the tournament.” Hyunsung, the singles champion said that “Even though I had important AP exams coming up, I spent an hour every day to practice for the meet.”
Although it seems like players had no problem preparing for the tournament, there were some challenges they faced and had to overcome. As mentioned earlier, some older players had important exams like AP or SAT tests. When asked about some challenges, Joel who came second in singles answered, “During the practice, I injured my back, so I had a hard time practicing. Actually, I couldn’t recover fully on the tournament day, so it gave me hard time on the tournament day as well.” Mike, Joel’s doubles partner added on to this. “On top of that, we were so nervous that we couldn’t play our best when we had to play against well-known players.” “Then how did you overcome those challenges?” Joel answered, “We encouraged and communicated constantly during the match and I think this really helped.”
All the players prepared and worked hard for the tournament. They had some ups and downs, but they overcame those challenges by encouraging each other. Their hard work paid off, and brought back good results. However, KISAC tournament isn’t just about the results. It is about learning and showing good sportsmanship, as well as having fun.
