WM: How do sports activities contribute to the education of AISB students?

SH: Being a part of a sport or activity helps students learn how to be responsible, how to manage their time, how to organize themselves, and they also learn how to cooperate. These skills are transferable from the classroom tothe sports field and vice versa.

WM: What is the most popular sport at AISB and why?

SH: That would depend on who you ask and at what time of the year you are asking. Purely by numbers of student sign-ups it would be soccer, but we also have a hard core group of students who love to play basketball.

WM: What are the current rankings of AISB in the CEESA tournaments?

SH: Our AISB teams are competitivein each of the CEESA tournaments that we participate in. We are also very good in Speech and Debate,medaling in debate for the past three years. Over the course of my time here we have brought home close to 70 1st, 2nd, 3rd place and sportsmanship trophies.

WM: Have any AISB students pursued sports careers?

SH: There is Baris Aktas (class of 2010) who is playing basketball in the Romanian 1st league, and we have several students who aspireto have a sports career after AISB, the most promising being David Georgiev, who plays basketball.

WM: Where do you see the AISB Athletics department in the next 5 years?

SH: As AISB plans to grow significantly, I would hope thatsports and activities would be a keyfactor in that growth. I would like
to see more students participate, investment into the upkeep or refurbishment of our facilities, and possibly technology becoming a part of our coach’s repertoire.
 

WM: How do you think the alumni’s recent involvement impacted the sports performance and motivation of AISB students?

SH: I believe current AISB studentshave enjoyed those alumni who have come back and coached. The students see it as connection to the past and to the success of the program during the alumni’s years. Also those alumni have been able share their experiences with those members of their teams, andupon reflection, the alumni now understand the significance of whattheir coaches were telling them all those years ago.

WM: What are other opportunities for the alumni to get involved?

SH: The alumni can always come out and lend a hand in cheering on the current players when we have tournaments here at AISB,
and maybe we could organize a showcase game between alumni andplayers at the end of each season. Iam always looking for good quality coaches to work with our students.

Read the entire WORLD Magazine Summer 2014 edition here.