For students, families, and staff at YCIS Shanghai Pudong’s Century Park Campus, Thursday night was an incredible beginning to the sports season for the school. The evening, which featured a first-ever CISSA Sports Night, celebrated all of the sports that the school participates in under the China International Schools Sports Association (CISSA) umbrella.

For Upper Primary students, CISSA offers nine inter-school sports programmes for students from participating international schools in Shanghai. Each sport runs for approximately seven weeks in length, and is co-ordinated between all of the schools to align schedules for fixtures. By rotating through the various sports, which include football, basketball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, floor hockey, cross country, track and field, and tennis, students are able to develop experience in a broad range of sports. 

In CISSA, the focus is on the players’ development rather than on quantitative outcomes of the fixtures, and the results are seen in the students’ skill development, personal growth, team collaboration, their development of knowledge and tactical awareness of the sports, and in the growth of their confidence through participating in the different sports.

In order to highlight the broad range of sports on offer at the school, at the beginning of the school year the Sports Department announced the CISSA Sports Night event to the community and it quickly garnered huge interest. Students were excited to try out the various sports and get a taste of what is to come over the course of the year.

There was a palpable energy on campus as the event kicked off, with upbeat music playing in the background as the students tried out different sports and activities and parents gathered on the sidelines to cheer on and enjoy watching their children participate in the games. The Ambassy Club was on hand to provide a range of delicious barbeque items which were perfect for a warm, late-summer afternoon, and a number of community partners shared more about their organisations with event attendees. From Five-Star Sports, who are partnering with YCIS Pudong to bring their professional coaches with NCAA experience to offer basketball on campus this year, to longtime YCIS partner, MultiSport, which offers a range of sports activities across the year at the school, to the Ambassy Club, which is the home of the YCIS Shanghai Pudong Swim Squad. The event also highlighted the school’s exclusive partnership with the Glasgow Rangers, which offers the Rangers Academy football programme at YCIS Shanghai Pudong, and has a UEFA-B licensed coach, Ross Fawcett, in residence at the school to train academy and school team football players. In addition, community-based fitness group, Fitfam, physiotherapy clinic, Up Clinic, and the Shanghai Elite Triathlon Club had stalls to meet with guests.

The event culminated in showcasing the new sports facilities at the campus, with the launch of the new state-of-the-art "fifth generation" double football pitches, which were complete with professional stadium lighting, and bleachers and seating for tournament spectators. The football pitches, which were installed this summer, are the same brand used on the training grounds of professional football clubs, and allow for safe and optimal play in all conditions.

After a series of training exercises on the pitches, three games took place, including the SISAC (Upper Secondary) Championship-winning girl’s football team playing a 7-on-7 match, the Rangers Academy U11 versus the YCIS U11 team, and finally the SISAC (Upper Secondary) boy’s team with some special alumni players versus the might of the staff team.

According to YCIS Shanghai Pudong Athletic Director, Matt Uffindall, “We are absolutely thrilled about the investment in our incredible new, professional sports facilities at the campus, and we are excited to back this up with the amazing year of sports opportunities we have planned for our students, provided by our coaches and partners. The incredible turnout at the Sports Night was fantastic, and showed how our well-rounded students embrace sports as one of the many things activities they take part in.”

After the highly successful launch, the pitches will soon be used not only for training by the Rangers Academy and YCIS Shanghai Pudong teams, but also for community leagues and competitive tournaments. With opportunities for YCIS Shanghai Pudong students to grow and develop athletically in the pool, on the courts, or on the pitches, it is certain to be another exciting year of sports at YCIS Shanghai Pudong.