JEDDAH — The highlight of the second annual sports day at the American International School of Jeddah (AISJ) last week was a soccer match. Even though the team playing against AISJ was the Ittihad junior select team, to Mark English, the superintendent of the school, it was more than just a game.
“It’s about getting our school exposed to and involved in the community. Sure, it is about sport but it is also about getting the kids involved,” he enthused.
Extrovert and energetic, English is keen to create a community around the school.
“This is one way of getting people involved,” he said. “It’s hard to get parents to do things. But when you have events like this, and the kids come, a big sports team comes, then the parents come and they want to do something for the school.”
To judge by the voluble crowd of supporters at the several sports events taking place during the day, whatever the final score in the soccer match, the result for the school was a win.
The school is entirely self-financed. Operating under license from the Ministry of Education, the school is governed by a six-member Board of Trustees. Although many sponsors contribute to many aspects of the school, finance is always a central matter of concern. Indeed, the proceeds from the ticket sales of the sports day were to go toward the building of a swimming pool for the school.
Alim Siddiqi, vice president of the Parent-Teacher Association, pointed out that the sports day was an opportunity to reinforce some positive values in the school.
“We are using the opportunity to reinforce the messages of ‘No’ to smoking, drugs and alcohol and ‘Yes’ to a clean environment,” he said. “What better way than to bring the whole community together at a major sports event for the school?”
“When I took over I was disappointed in the position of sports,” English confided. “Sports build other things — character, teamwork and responsibility — all those kinds of things that kids need to know.” He is actively trying to get kids involved in not just soccer and basket ball but tennis, badminton, bowling, “any activity where they are out running and doing something.”
The school even has a fledgling interest in seven-a-side rugby.
“There is a lot of interest in that,” he said. “Although most of our teachers are from America, we do have some from Australia, South Africa and New Zealand — so those are our coaches.”
Over the last year, the school roll has grown from 650 to about 800 students and has a waiting list of entrants from other schools.
English exudes confidence for the future. “This goes in cycles — we’re coming up and it’s our turn,” he said.
Commenting on the international nature of the school, he said 47 nationalities make up the school roll, but about half of the students — some 350 or so — were US passport holders.
“It’s truly an international school but we have an American curriculum and it is American system oriented,” he said.
The curriculum is similar to that of US public, college-preparatory schools. Instruction is in English. French, Arabic and Spanish are taught as foreign languages, and Arabic is offered as a first language to Arabic speakers. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and the European Council of International Schools accredit the school.
“I think the reason parents want their kids to come here is that they want to send their kids to Western schools, primarily American schools,” he said. “A lot of our graduates go to the UK, Canada, Australia and, of course, the US.”
The graduating diploma is Advanced Placement. “That’s a big draw. Most of our students are not in AP — that is very rigorous college level curriculum. I would say 20 percent are enrolled in that,” he explained.
English said there was great interest among Saudis about the school and in enrolling their children. “We have 55 to 60 Saudi students currently. Unfortunately we have had to turn away many Saudis because they do not have the permission of the authorities. There is though a desire among Saudis to come here.”
Whatever the national or international flag, the match against Ittihad juniors brought out the very qualities English espouses for the school. However, the score, as they say, did not reflect the quality of the game.
AISJ kept Ittihad at bay with extremely positive play for most of the first half and were not the least intimidated by their reputation or evident skills. Hard and determined tackling stopped many of Ittihad’s moves building and it took a remarkable acrobatic scissor kick from 10 meters out by Basim Al-Montashari that appeared out of nowhere to break the deadlock. He went on to confirm his potential with two more well-placed goals. The final score was, according to match officials, 9-0 to Ittihad. From the ferocity of the AISJ defense, it was unexpected and most of the goals were sniped from distance or the result of opportunist pounces on a loose ball. As AISJ were the first to admit, however: You get it, a goal is a goal.
What really mattered though was the crowd’s enormous enthusiasm during the match. Hundreds of people, dozens of nationalities and cultures all for the duration of a football match, a real and vibrant community.
