On April 26th, Canadian international schools from five different countries gathered at CIS Phnom Penh for the first annual Canadian International Schools Classic—a sports tournament featuring basketball, floor hockey and futsal!

The International School of Macao, the British Columbia International School of Bangkok, CIS Guangzhou, Sunway International School Kuala Lumpur as well as Phnom Penh’s own CIS (Canadian International School) competed against each other over the course of three days from Thursday to Saturday.

in On Thursday, the five schools competed in floor hockey from 2PM-6PM. In the end, the British Columbia International School faced-off against the Canadian International School of Phnom Penh in the floor hockey final and were triumphant after a hard-fought match from the CIS Phnom Penh students.

Friday’s sport, basketball, had teams playing against each other throughout the day while the entire CIS Phnom Penh school cheered on teams at the end of the day during the final. Visiting teams were able to experience more of Phnom Penh on a Mekong River cruise in the  evening.

Saturday consisted of futsal (soccer) matches and a cultural workshop / performance from Cambodian Living Arts, followed by a banquet and awards ceremony in the evening, recognizing everyone’s hard work and success.

In the end, our CIS team finished second in the floor hockey tournament, third in basketball and second in soccer with one of our very own female athletes receiving the ‘Most Athletic Player’ award of the tournament.

While we are extremely proud of all of the athleticism represented over the weekend, Zak Garofolo, one of our coaches who organized the event noted, “It was an incredible opportunity for students to learn about each other’s cultures. By the end of the tournament Buddhist students from Cambodia were trying Halal food, while students from Guangzhou, China were conversing with other Chinese students from Malaysia, and students from Thailand were learning that the customary Khmer greeting (Sampeah) is similar to the Thai greeting (Wai).”

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all teams, coaches and referees who were involved in the weekend’s tournament; especially those who travelled to Cambodia for this great event! The second annual Canadian International Schools Classic tournament is already scheduled to take place next year in Macau from April 25th-27th.

We look forward to seeing the tournament, friendships and camaraderie from the many Canadian international schools grow for years to come!