IASAS, the Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asia Schools, is in its 44th year of existence and is one of the most highly regarded athletics/activities conferences in the world. IASAS events are amongst the highlights of the school year for the student-participants from the six member schools and are important parts of the co-curricular offerings at each school. One note of interest for ISB alumni from the ‘60s and ‘70s: IASAS is an organization that came from the Bangkok-Singapore Games that began in the 1961-62 school year.
Recently IASAS completed its first season of sports (Soccer, Volleyball and Cross Country) in mid-October and in early November the first events of Cultural Convention – Art/Film as well as IASAS Model United Nations.
IASAS Soccer took place in Manila at ISM and the ISB teams performed particularly well. The boys team was a competitive side that nearly made the final, but ended up in fourth place losing the bronze medal match to the host team. The brave ISB Lady Panthers soccer team endured a heartbreaking loss to Singapore in their opening match, and then proceeded to tie one game and win three consecutive matches to earn their spot in the final. Pitted against the SAS Eagles, the Panthers scored a goal in the second half to take a 1-0 lead, held off their rivals with a spectacular save made by goalie Sofya Ose, then scored the deciding goal in the final minute of play to take a well-deserved 2-0 victory to win the gold medal. This marked the eighth time that the ISB girls have been victorious in IASAS Soccer. It should be noted that ISB all tournament honorees were Josh McRobbie and Chinnapong Kulmanchwong for the boys, and Alina Decker, Malaya Vaughan, Maggie Wood, Maya Winkel and Raegun Smith of the ‘golden’ girls. Chinnapong, Maya and Lana Harter also received IASAS four-year participation patches.
The IASAS Cross Country and Volleyball event was hosted by Jakarta Intercultural School. The ISB girls team went in very confident that they would be successful, and their races on Friday (the 5km run) and Saturday (the 3km team time trial) proved this to be true. They finished first in both events and took the overall gold medal rather easily, the first ISB girls victory in cross country since 2002. The young boys team was not as successful and used this season as a stepping stone to improved results in the coming year. Congratulations to all of the Panther runners, will special accolades to 5km race winner Lily McHenry, individual bronze medalist Yongen Zhou, and all-tournament harrier Ottilie Orchard who finished sixth in the individual event. Also earning recognition was senior Zach Hall who participated in his fourth consecutive IASAS Cross Country event.
IASAS Volleyball was especially noteworthy as both the ISB boys and girls teams battled their way to the championship matches. The boys were pitted against a very fine JIS Dragons home team, and while they played valiantly, the lost in straight sets and ended up earning a very fine silver medal. The girls’ division was quite evenly matched, but the Lady Panthers 4-1 record placed them first in the round robin portion of the schedule. Then on Saturday, the ISB girls were not to be denied as they won both their semi-final and final matches 3-0, not losing a single set and earning a well-deserved gold medal. All-tournament players were Deeno Thamakaison and Kyaan Dharamsey for the boys and Kayla Stephenson, Anais Postel-Vinay and Jasmine Blumenthal for the girls. For Jasmine this was her fourth consecutive IASAS Volleyball tournament which earned her a four-year participation patch.
The IASAS Art/Film convention was hosted by Singapore American School. Sixteen artists and filmmakers from each IASAS school proudly displayed their talents and took part in memorable workshops over the course of the three-day event. The eight ISB artists brought 25 pieces of artwork from ISB to SAS and they helped the other art delegates set-up the IASAS Art Show, while the eight ISB filmmakers brought six student-made films with them for viewing during the convention. While there are no awards presented for the artwork and films, the real student learning for this event always takes place during the oral and written critiques that are shared with the artists and filmmakers. These critiques come from the students themselves as well as the guest artists and filmmakers that took part in the event, making the comments very valuable to these talented IASAS students.
IASAS Model United Nations 2025 took place at the International School of Kuala Lumpur. Over 200 student-delegates from 16 different schools took part in the conference. Model United Nations has been part of the conference for 38 years, and this year a number of ISB delegates were recognized for their extraordinary contributions. These would include ASEAN committee best speaker Neil Colaco, DISEC committee best delegate Smith Thamakaison, SEPCOL committee best speaker CC Yudon, and General Assembly most diplomatic Charlie Doherty.
We naturally congratulate all of our ISB student participants for their success in these first semester IASAS conventions, but we would be remiss if we did not congratulate all the coaches, advisors, and parents for their outstanding work and support throughout the season and during the IASAS events. Additionally, the work put in by our incredible Athletics team (Chris Mott, Kelley McKenna and their entire support crew) and the Activities/Arts team (Anthony Giles & company) for all of the hard work they put in each and every day. These outstanding educators give our ISB students the opportunity to reach their potential in all of the co-curricular offerings at ISB, and, win, lose, or draw, it is amazing to watch our students work hard and perform to the very best of their abilities. Yes, it is particularly satisfying when this hard work results in medals and recognition, but the hours of work put in by our Athletics and Activities/Arts teams must be recognized and appreciated.
Well done, Panthers!!
- Alumni
- Athletics
- IASAS