Simply, a stunning performance from our Nexus Swim Team over the last three days at the FINA World Swimming Cup 2018 (OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore). Huge personal best times were set by all swimmers and a number of National and National Age-Records were broken. However, to make things even more remarkable, we were the only School/Club who had an individual swimmer qualify for a Final! Carmen (Y10) made TWO Finals in the 100m & 200m backstroke competing against Olympic Champions and World Record holders such as Katinka Hosszu (HUN), Emily Seebohm (AUS), Kira Toussaint (NED) and other big names in world swimming. Carmen’s current performance has her ranked #1 in the 100m Backstroke for girls born in 2004 in the World.

Our other major success was our Mixed 4x50 Freestyle Relay Final – Carmen (Y10), Paloma (Y11), Mathieu (Y13) and Jack (Y10) finished in 7^th position and beat our lovely friends from UWC East Campus! Next year we will aim improve on what we have achieved this year.

As you can imagine, the stress-levels were huge amongst swimmers and coaching staff, and you can get a taste of this from watching the ‘World Cup Finals’ races using the links below. The weekend was an unbelievable experience for all swimmers, coaches, teammates, families, friends and the Nexus community who were there to support!

LINKS BELOW TO VIEW THE FINALS

Carmen 100 Backstroke Final - Link

NEXUS TEAM 4x50 Mixed Freestyle Relay Final – Link

Mr Ivan Bunakov - Director of Aquatics

START OF ACSIS SEASON TWO

ACSIS Season 2 has started with some fantastic team and individual performances across our Nexus sporting facilities. Below is a photo summary of what has been happening around Nexus.

SINGAPORE WET SEASON - TEAMS, PLEASE BRING A CHANGE OF CLOTHES TO TRAINING SESSIONS & FIXTURES

Currently, we are in the middle of the Singapore wet season and you may have experienced the substantial amounts of rain on our grass sports fields. This, combined with enthusiastic trainings sessions, results in very muddy children!

We would like all players in our Football teams to please bring a change of clothes to put on after trainings and fixtures. We have received feedback from our bus provider that learners are getting on the bus with dirty football gear and leaving samples on the bus when getting off.

Parents and guardians, please remind your children to have a spare set of clothes (in a plastic bag) to change into after training sessions or matches.

Thank you very much for your cooperation and support.

Mr Bevan Moriarty - Director of Sport

Last weekend, our Nexus U15 Football team flew to Phuket, Thailand for the 17th Annual British Int. School of Phuket Soccer 7’s Tournament. The tournament boasts 1500+ competitors, 145 teams, 41 International School across 10 countries.

On day one of fixtures, our Nexus U15 Boys Football Team got their first ever international win against host school, British International of Phuket, 2-0! In a fabulous day of Football, Nexus fought hard in the other two matches of the day, narrowly losing to Dulwich Shanghai (1-0) and UWC Dover (3-1). The boys went to the knockout stage with their heads held high!

Day two was even more exciting with a stunning win over Dulwich College Singapore. Nexus moved through to the quarter finals of the Cup after eliminating Dulwich College Singapore in a penalty shootout! Having finished the match at 1-1, we headed straight into penalties in the designated ‘penalty area’! Dulwich was up first, and a cool Seth saved an absolute bullet diving to his right! Up first for Nexus was Andreas and he stepped up to the spot and calmly slotted his penalty with a clinical strike. Dulwich scored from their second penalty. Javier was up next and drilled his penalty home! Dulwich sprayed their third penalty wide, and that was all it took, folks! Final score 3-2 to Nexus.

We finished the tournament with a brilliant 5th place overall. Hosts, The British Int. School of Phuket (BISP), defeated us in the quarter final and went on to claim the Cup. Two other teams from our original pool finished in 2nd and 4th place - a fantastic experience for our ten players against tough opposition. The clear highlight was the elimination win over our neighbours, Dulwich College Singapore (Dulwich went on to win the Plate final). We are all looking forward to next year where we will expand and take additional teams.

Thank you to all participants for making the 2018 BISP Soccer 7’s a truly memorable tournament. Next year’s tournament is planned for 2 & 23 November 2019, registration information will be sent out early in the new year.

Mr Bevan Moriarty - Director of Sport

A brilliant start to the ACSIS U14 Girls Division 1 Volleyball season for Nexus. We were hosted by our good friends, UWC Dover, in the first game of the season for both teams. Nexus served tough and showed great ball control throughout the match, and that proved the difference between the two teams. Nexus sneaking home in straight sets, 2-0 (25-17, 25-21). Thank you UWC Dover for a great match, we love the friendship our school communities share.

Mr Bevan Moriarty - Director of Sport

Two Big games to kick off the season

VS. TANGLIN TRUST SCHOOL

The U19 boys season kicked off with a bang this week with the lads on the court twice. Our first game was on Monday against a young Tanglin Trust team. The boys have been working hard in training and were keen to hit the court for 'the real thing'. The Viper press was put into action and we enjoyed some good success right off the tip and scored some quick turnover points to take the lead which we never relinquished.

We were able to balance our attack and all players logged some quality court time with a few of our newer players hitting the floor for the first time in a Nexus uniform. The final score was a very comfortable 50-20 win for the Vipers. Robin led all scorers and was a constant threat, even though the hoop seemed to have a lid on it for him in the first half. Both Holger and Franky showed their experience with solid play at both ends of the court. Niraj was a spark off the bench and played amazing defence within the press.

It was a satisfying way to start the season but this was a game we would expect to win due to the fact that Tanglin were a younger, less experienced outfit.

VS. UNITED WORLD COLLEGE - DOVER CAMPUS

Wednesday saw the lads make the long journey to UWC Dover for a big match up between teams that are looking to make an early season statement and position themselves for a run to the gold. Nexus was suffering from a bit of a victory hangover and came out flat in the first quarter - finding themselves down 18-6 at the end of the period. However a switch on defence changed the momentum and by the interval we were down 26-20.

Half time did us no favours as the boys came out flat again which resulted in UWC getting some easy baskets and pushing their lead to 11 points heading into the 4th quarter. However, this is an experienced Vipers team and they were determined to come back. Strong work by Robin, saw him repeatedly driving to the basket and scoring while also drawing many fouls. Holger chipped in some lovely short shots from his favourite base line area (what we love to call The H Zone). With 30 seconds to go in the game we were down by a single point.

After some fouls by our team, which were committed in an effort to get the ball back, we had 10 seconds to play and were only down by 2. The flow of the game certainly indicated that Nexus was going to at least get a shot at a tying basket. However, a fumbled inbound pass and a smart play by UWC saw the ball go back to the Dover team and the game ended 50 to 47 in favour of UWC Phoenix.

Robin was a force who dropped 30 points for the Vipers. There was some solid play shown by Franky and Alexi received his baptism by fire in the U19 league against some very big and strong boys. It was a tough loss, as the lads certainly felt like they let one slip away. Alas, we have to reflect on what we did well and what we will fix for the next time we enter into a challenging game. The boys will be back on the court twice next week against Chatsworth and SJI looking to get some big W's.

Mr Bruce Home - U19 Boys Basketball Coach

Vipers 33 - Tanglin 18

The boys had a super start to the season and got rolling with a convincing win against a weaker Tanglin Trust team. Although missing two players due to illness, the boys came out firing and full of energy - executing the Viper press to great success. Due to the solid effort, everyone was able to log some court time and develop their game confidence.

Hugo was solid in both bringing up the rock for the team as well as being the lead in our Viper press. The recipient of many Hugo passes was Mikey who played extremely well and led all scorers in the game. Lee turned in a solid performance, throwing his weight around while intimidating our opponents.

Many of our newcomers also did a fine job when called upon to enter the game. Gary, Yaz, Xavier, Koyo and Sam worked well and showed good promise for the balance of the season. The boys will be looking forward to the return of both Jamie and Seth next week to bolster the line up and offer us even more options on both ends of the court.

A fantastic start for sure - the boys will have next week off but will finish the semester with two games in the last week before the break. Big games again versus UWC Dover and the Canadian School (who have both had early season success).

Mr Bruce Home - U16 Boys Basketball Coach

Our team started the season with two games last week; the first against AIS and the second was SJI. Our Nexus team includes players from last year, new players to netball and also players returning to the game. We started every quarter strongly, with all players driving and persevering to find space. Our opposing teams were equally as determined, breaking away at different times to score a run of goals. Jessica Cholmeley dominated our defence with many intercepts and Maisie Fairfoull anchored our attack by being a key player to help bring the ball from the mid-court into the shooting circle. Final scores in favour of our opposition were AIS 21-13 and SJI 31-16. We look forward to improving on these results, with more time together as a team and a focus on fitness and flow through the court.

Mrs Sonya Thompson - 14&U Girls Netball Coach

On a very wet Friday afternoon, the Nexus Invitational Swim Meet Wave 2 was held in our pool last Friday. It was an exciting meet with over 350 swimmers aged 7 to 19 years, representing UWCSEA Dover, UWCSEA East, Australian International School, Dover Court and Nexus International School in various sprinting events. All teams put sensational efforts into participating in the races and the crowd cheered wildly throughout in support of their school teams. The Nexus Parent Group provided sumptuous bangers, snacks and refreshments, much to the delight of the swimmers and parents.

Many thanks to our Nexus Staff, HPE Department and parents who volunteered to be marshals and timekeepers. A huge thanks goes out to all swimmers and coaches for attending this fun-filled meet.

Mr Ivan Bunakov and Ms Larisa Mogutova - Nexus Swimming Coaches