Friday 9 December 2016

U16 boys Volleyball

On Saturday, the third of December, the under sixteen boys played volleyball against Lechwe and Simba schools here at Amano.  The first game we played was against Lechwe and we started out alright.  Our play was a bit sloppy, but we still managed to get a good lead of about 6 points.  But we gave the serve away and allowed them to catch up and only managed to win that set by a few points.  In the second set we played pretty terribly and gave it away completely.  We lost that set something like 15 to 9.  The third set was much better but still a bit sloppy.  There were lots of times when we were just volleying the ball over the net rather than spiking properly.  We got better towards the end though and managed to win that set as well, meaning that we won the game two sets to one.

Amano v Lechwe - Jackson attacking

Jackson, Samuel and Mthunzi blocking

   Our other game which was against Simba started out quite badly.  Our communication was poor, half of our passes were hopeless, and some of us still didn’t seem to be able to smash so we lost that set quite quickly [9 - 15].  The next set was the complete opposite of the first one.  We talked more, our passes were more accurate and we got in some good hits and so we won that set by a big gap, I’ve forgotten exactly how big [15 - 7].  The third set started out with us gaining a lead of 5 to 0.  But then we gave the serve away and before long we were losing 7 to 5. Still, we managed to win the serve back and play some good volleyball
and win that set by a few points, which means we also won that match two sets to one.  I’d like to commend a few of the players for good performance.  Eun Taec was doing some excellent blocking. Yarel was doing some very good serving and recoveries, and Mthunzi, it seems, learned to spike quite well just over the course of the morning.  I’d like to thank Mr Grove for umpiring the games, the team for playing well and doing their best, and everyone who was there to support us and cheer us on.  I’d also like to thank Mr Grove for selecting me as a captain.  It was a great privilege to represent the school in that way.

Report by Jackson Reed


"It was good to see this team do well. Two older players formed the U19 team which competed well at the U19 tournament but narrowly missed victories so it is good to see that age for age they were very competitive and won the day! A team well led by Jackson and great work from Samuel who consistently gave some great sets and support to his captain. Excellent work boys." - Mr Grove

Monday 24 October 2016

The Wood Workshop

The following are paragraphs and thoughts lifted from reports Grades 6 & 7 wrote following an educational visit.   Mrs Kirk

On Wednesday 28th September 2016 at around 8:15am grades 6+7 were invited to the Amano workshop. We all set off on our little adventure that took about 5 minutes to get to. When we arrived we greeted the carpenters: Mr Kelvin and Mr David.


Mr. David and Mr. Kelvin showed us everything they used to make their woodwork look so perfect, like the joiner, bevel machine, sander, planer and the circular saw. There were all types of beautiful woodwork furniture that they had already made like a bed and many chairs, but they were working on a luxurious door.

Everywhere you walked there was wood and sawdust. They showed us how they get rid of it, it’s really cool, there is a pipe that’s sucks it out and drops it outside.

It was really noisy because of all the machines. That is why they used ear plugs. It also had a strong wood and dust smell.

Despite the loud noise it was really interesting.


When we were done with our tour we were allowed to get off-cuts (scrap) and keep them. Some got big pieces of wood and halved them to share with others – I shared mine with Keysha. Others even sanded theirs to make them smooth, I was one of them.

After picking, all the G 6+7s were at a machine; some are sanding their off cuts to try to make it smooth, some use the bevel machine to make the edges smooth, others use the circular saw to cut the off cuts into thinner pieces and a few are by the planer to trim the off cuts.

But I had some other plans for my wood. I was going to carve my name out of it and decorate it and do different types of creative things like picture frames and many more things. I really liked it and I hope we can come back again.


The two men were very kind because even though they had work to do they still cut and sanded wood for us. 

We all had great fun, but sadly it couldn’t last forever. Eventually we had to go back to class, taking the bits and pieces we got as souvenirs to remember this life learning experience, I know that whenever I look at my pieces of wood I will remember today. We all hope to go back there again.  

It was over all too soon, but we had a good time and by the end most of us were inspired to become carpenters.

Monday 3 October 2016

U19B Volleyball and Basketball

On Friday the 23rd of September the U19 teams went to Chengelo to play basketball and volleyball.

On Friday a little while after we arrived we played our first volleyball game against Lechwe. We were very slow to start and lost the first set too quickly and despite a strong push in the second set we lost 2 sets to 0. Our second game was against Ndola Trust and although we think the refereeing was questionable we played our hardest and lost 2-1. [The boys did extremely well mentally in this game as they had to win three set points to win the second set as the referee kept changing his mind and reserving the point after having awarded the point to Amano! The third set also went down to the wire. SG] Our third game was against Nsansa and after our game against Ndola we were rather disheartened and lost the first set too easily. During the second set we really tried but we could not get the game back and we lost 2-0. Our results meant that we played the 7th place game which was against Simba. We won the second set after losing the first but we slept in the last set and lost it. So we came out 8th overall.

Philip attacking from deep

The next day we played our Basketball games. Our first game was against Simba and after good first half we were tied 4-4.  The second half was a close contest and Simba barely beat us 13-10. Our second game was Lechwe and we were out to win, but we let them get into our heads and I especially played horribly and we lost 28-6. We would have played the 5th place game but our opponents Ndola trust forfeited the game so we won by default.

Amano countering with Ilunga

Overall the trip was not as bad as those score lines suggest, especially since we had a much smaller team than last year. We also probably played our best volleyball during the competition. I want to thank the team for trying their hardest despite the tough score lines. I also want to thank Mr Grove and Mr Jarrett for coaching and supporting us.

ISAZ Girls Provincial Basketball

On Saturday the 23rd September we went to Chengelo School to compete in the ISAZ provincial basketball games. We played four games, which were round robin games, so that meant we didn’t play in pools but round-robin scheduling arranges to have all teams play each other, with the winner emerging from the total points gained.

So we played Lechwe, Chengelo, Ndola Trust, and Mpelembe.

Our first game was against Lechwe, where we played well and beat them 14-12, because of good team work and a good attitude. Our second game was against Ndola Trust and this was our first time playing them this year and we did not let them beat us and they had a good team but we beat them 10-8. Our second last game was against Chengelo, our rivals, and this year I can say we played really well compared to the last year. We put in our best effort and although we lost that game 9-13 we had played exceptionally well as a team and made some beautiful baskets. Our last and final game was against Mpelembe ,this game was tough and we under estimated them. and this time they came fired up and ready to beat us ,so at the end of the match we were equalised and so we had 3 minutes extra time and we managed to score 2 more goals and then we won that game 8-6.

Amano (white) v Chengelo: Josiah warding off another attack

All I can say that this was a great basketball season and we emerged at second place out of 5 schools. We had a lot of fun, great sportsmanship amazing layups ,fabulous foul shots and beautiful defence line. Our women of the match were Natalya Yoro, Kathleen Kaufman, Fernulla Milner and Rosemary Nawakwi. Big thanks to the team for all the effort and applying all we learnt into the game, sportsmanship and for their great spirit of fighting till the end and to Mr Jarrett for coaching us and Mr Grove, Miss Simone and the boys for supporting and cheering us up and God for the safe trip, good health and his love and mercy.

Monday 26 September 2016

Girls ISAZ Basketball

On Saturday the 17th September, 2016 ,we the Amano girls basketball team, went to Lechwe School to compete in the ISAZ basketball tournament of the Zone 1. We only played two games instead of three because Kalulushi did not bring a girls basketball team. Our first game was against Lechwe, we played well as a team, had fun and enjoyed our time playing the game and also did our best ,so we won that game 11-7.

Amano (white) v Mpelembe: Kathleen's jump shooting

Our second and last game was against Mpelembe. We really played extremely well and did a lot better in that game because we applied all the tactics taught to us by Mr Jarrett and the best thing was we did not give up and we also won that game 17-6. We pushed through both games and did exceptional well. A big thanks to the team, for not giving up but pushing and fighting till the end. We really improved and played well compared to the previous week and we turned our weaknesses into strengths. Some examples of these are that we had amazing lay ups, fabulous foul shots, great defence and a good sportsmanship portrayed on the day, our only weakness was not looking up before we passed, when dribbling and shooting. The woman of the match on the day was Josiah Muteb. Many thanks and appreciation to Mr Jarrett for coaching us and not giving up on us, Mr Grove and Mrs Grove, Mr and Mrs Kirk for supporting us, encouraging us to do better and helping us to learn from our mistakes but a big 'thanks' to our God for the lovely day, the games and the good health he gave to us. 

Report by Natasha Chiombe

Tuesday 20 September 2016

U19 Boys Volleyball

On Saturday 10th September 2016, we went to Lechwe to play volleyball but it was a friendly. We played games up to 25 points and it was a best of three sets competition.
The first we played was very good because we were communicating well and we were well organised, so we won that set 25-17.
The second set was another story, we lost focus and we didn’t communicate as well, we also gave away easy points so we lost that set 25-19.
We then went to the third set which decided who won the volleyball match but the team had switched off and we stopped communicating and we became disorganised and so we lost that set 25-20.
Overall, we came out second out of two schools! I would like to thank the new members of the team: Jackson, Mthunzi, Mwansa, Musonda, Samuel and Philip for working hard and I would also like to thank the old member of the team, Ilunga.

Mthunzi against old boy Jean

I would like to thank Mr Grove for putting the team together and I would like to thank God for making it a good and successful day. Thank you very much.

Report by Cholwe Muleya

Monday 19 September 2016

U19 Boys Basketball

On Saturday the 10th of September the U19 boys went to Lechwe to play Basketball. Since only Lechwe and ourselves were there, we played 1 slightly longer game. We played 4 quarters of 8 minutes. The first quarter was ok and Cholwe scored our first basket of the new season and by the end of the half we were losing 4-2. We continued to play well in the second quarter but we found ourselves losing 6-4. In the 3rd quarter we made a few sloppy mistakes and we were losing 12-6. But during the last quarter we really fought back, but we could not overturn their lead so we lost the game 14-8. Our baskets were scored by Cholwe, Jackson and Ilunga. Despite our loss I was not too disappointed with the result as it is a completely different team to last year. I want to thank Mr Grove for taking us and the whole team for trying their hardest despite the end result.

Amano v Lechwe
 
Report by Samuel Kirk

U19 Girls Basketball

Amano Christian School U19 girls basketball team went to play zone 1 games at Lechwe. The tournament was hosted by Mpelembe. We were supposed to play multiple games but most schools were absent due to various reasons. We then had a friendly and this meant we had only one game against Lechwe, so  this game was split into 4 quarters because it was our only game. We played well in the first two quarters and were in the lead and also scored many goals .We had a good team and a few new players , the Lechwe team had a whole new team so we didn’t know how good they were but we pushed through. We had many opportunities  on the goal but most of them were bouncing back and we were not ready for rebounds .we were in the last minutes and Lechwe had caught up to us and scored their winning goal in the last few minutes and won the game 18-16. I could see that the team was tired but I won’t use that as an excuse ,but I can say although they were exhausted but they were still pursuing and they had a lot of fun.


I was really happy that everyone in the team tried their best and contributed something to  the team. There was only one new player who was Rosemary Namakwi and she scored two baskets and Diana Shakwelele was recognised as the woman of the match.

We faced some challenges as a team and these are the ones that stood out :
·         We had team work but we believe it could have been better and stronger .
·         Our defence needs to become stronger and better.
·         We should practice on our layups ,3 pointers and foul shots
·         Communication  
·         Always being alert and looking up before passing the ball
·         Trying and willing to play in new and different positions
·         Defending the ball when dribbling and looking up

Our strengths were:
·         Getting the ball from the other team
·         Having fun
·         Pursing even when exhausted
·         Not giving up

A big thanks to Mr Kirk, Mr Walker and all those who came to support us, to Mr & Mrs Grove and Mr Jarrett for coaching us, advising us and for just being there for us, but mostly a big thanks to our GOD, for making this day possible and for being with us throughout the day .

Thursday 4 August 2016

Under the stars

On the last weekend of term [2], the dorm boys and a few others, camped out under the stars. Sunday afternoon was spent making the cooking stoves from a 3kg fruit tin, packing essentials and preparing for a cold night out by collecting firewood and bringing enough bedding to keep warm.

There were lots of new boys this year venturing out into the unknown, some excited, others omewhat cautious having finally built up the courage to give it a try, all I am sure had heard the stories of previous year's outings and many wandering if they would be the next legend following on from Mwansa and his rock incident. What would Mr Grove have us do this year?

We were delighted to have the company of Mr Boatman this year, who came all the way from Kitwe on his motorbike to share with us his expertise in camping, the night sky and his experiences as a Bible smuggler in the old Eastern Soviet Bloc countries. As our special guest we allowed him a night in his tent.

First activity of the night was "Monster Trucks". The challenge was to roll a set of four tyres about four kilometres, through the night, along the bush tracks. 2 teams of 8 set off into the dark to find their 'truck' and begin rolling. Unfortunately the first team hit a tree at full speed and split their truck in two! This gave them a great advantage with less weight and improved mobility. They finished in 40 minutes even though they were the weaker team. They worked better together and had more drive. The others floundered about at the first river crossing  with no-one wanting to get wet till Mthunzi and Justin just got on with it. Though last by a long way, 1 hour, they were easily heard chanting their way through the bush keeping up their spirits.

"Monster trucks" Sniper team

Next came the longest game of capture the flag I've ever known. I think an hour and a half, ending in a half victory for Mark's team. They did at least get their opponent's flag, even if it never quite got back to base. For Mark, Ilunga and Philip stealth was the key. They were almost unseen the whole time, slowly but surely... the Ferguson way. Justin, Daniel, Tarisai, Yarel, Xavier and Mthunzi decided quite the opposite approach would work, and indeed it met with much success. The 'Snipers' hid till an unsuspecting Musonda would approach. Just when Musonda was thinking he was against one opponent the whole team arose in ambush blinding him with light from all directions. He turned to flee, but in which direction should he go? His decision took him straight into three small rocks! The next legend was to be formed by none other than Mwansa's twin brother! Then distinctive moans of pain reached my ears at the camp fire and upon arrival the now famous excuse of "they were over dazzling me" was uttered in defence of his calamity. Many of Mark's team succumbed to this tactic and all seemed to be going well as Peter presided over a full prison. Their flag also had another deterrent, 'mpashi' or the red biting ant. A significant area of ground was covered by these guys and they enjoyed covering Cholwe and Dalitso from head to toe, amazingly in that order. Somehow these guys get to where it hurts before you know it, but then it's too late! A strip down at the camp fire is in order! Anyway the Snipers approached their opponent's flag but here their success dried up. They spent 30mins walking in a pack around the flag yet never thinking to check up the anthill. In the meantime Mark had finally located the Sniper's flag and was on his secretive way back when time was called.

With the night fading fast we moved onto a short game modeled on a Bible smuggling theme. Everyone was to find their way to the car from the river without being spotted by Mr Boatman or Mr Grove, in 20 minutes. Nothing too dramatic occurred and a number we able to make it through the net. The aged duo were able to detect quite a number though, 10, I think.

Following the games we had Mr Boatman recalled his days as a smuggler and presented the dangers and thrills of getting a silent photocopying machine into Russia. A graphic reminder of the price Christians pay when they do what they believe God has called them to do in places where Christians and the Bible are hated or feared. He read Scriptures from Romans and Acts where we are taught to honour our rulers and yet where Peter defies the rulers upon his release. We are to obey the higher calling of God and honour him. Perhaps 1 Peter 2 v 17 would sum up the thoughts well - "Honour all men, love the brotherhood, FEAR GOD and honour the emperor". What wonderful freedom we are given in Zambia.

Mr Boatman then gave a short show on the stars with his notebook and green star gazing lazer beam. It is incredible to see light that emitted from a star at the time of Joshua and Samuel! The constancy of the cosmos that we can navigate from it and the depth of mystery hidden there. God's creation is truely amazing when we think about it.

After a pretty rough nights sleep, having endured Peter's lion impressions and Mwansa periodically waking everyone up because he was cold, we got going a 6am to start our hobo stoves. Breakfast was bread, bacon, eggs, sausages and beans, all to be fried on the stoves. It is slow going and patience is required. Mr Boatman demonstrated how to start fires with homemade charcloth or Elephant dung (not homemade but still a local product) and a magnesium stick. This proved difficult for some and so cotton wool which is somewhat more explosive was resorted to. So finally Yarel and co could start cooking. Most stoves worked with good efficiency and proved a success. It's a great activity to show the boys what can be done with everyday things around us.

"Charcloth and striker"

Justin doing a great job as chef

I think the boys enjoyed their time and it is a great way to break up the monotony of boarding life. My thanks to Mr Boatman for his interest in the boys and bringing a wealth of experience to us to learn from.

Report by Mr Grove

Monday 25 July 2016

U16 Boys Hockey

On Saturday the 16th of July, Amano took an U-16 boys team to Chengelo to play hockey. We were supposed to play three games but because of our late arrival we only played two.

Amano's Players

Our first game was against Simba. Our heads weren’t in that game and we were a bit too laid back in our defensive formation. Simba pounced on the opportunity to score four goals where as we only managed to score one goal. Our striker, Yarel, scored an easy looking goal.

Amano v Simba

Our next game was against Chengelo who beat us last time 6-0. So we had some room for improvement. The Chengelo team had a good attacking unit who managed to get four goals past our goalkeeper. But by the second half adjustments were made in both our attacking and defending units and we managed to avoid conceding further goals.

Overall I was very pleased with my team’s efforts and I’d like to commend Philip on his defensive performance, Mwansa on his attacking performance and everyone else because they all had their moments of great skill.

Report by Kurt Fernandes

U19 Girls ISAZ Hockey

On the 16th of July, we took a U19 girls team to play hockey. We had an early start for a hockey tournament at Chengelo School. We were a smaller team because we lost two substitute players due to sickness. That actually showed the endurance fitness levels in the team.
 
Our first game was against Simba girls’ team. We had a strong attack and a stronger defence. They could not penetrate through the defence structure. The attack was also pretty good; we had many possible shots on goal. Diana scored the first goal in the first half of the game, straight after that Natalya scored another goal, followed up by that, Diana scored another goal. We finished the game well, and were off to a good start


The second game was against the home team, Chengelo. We were so determined to not lose against them. We picked up our game, strengthened our defence and attack. Our attack wasn’t as strong as our defence but we didn’t let them beat us. We couldn’t get any goals during the game and ended that game, a draw 0-0.

Our final game was against Trident College Girls. They were sharp and fast. They took advantage of our area of weaknesses and, unfortunately we let in two easy goals. In the second half, we strengthened our attack and cleaned up our defence. Natalya managed a clean and fast goal. We were managing to catch up, but it was the end of the game and we lost it 2-1. It was a very close game.


Janki regaining the attack against Trident
  
Overall the team ranked second place out of four schools. It was the last hockey tournament of the season and it was a good end to it. All the girls pushed through to the last minute of the final game. Every single girl who participated played contributed immensely to the end result. Without the effort and hard work put in during the games and during the training sessions, it wouldn’t have been a successful outcome

I was very impressed and delighted with the effort and hard work put in by the girls. It was my last tournament where I would get to represent the school, and I am very thankful for the opportunity to work with and lead a wonderful girls’ team. 

Report by Janki Desai (hockey captain)

U19 Boys Hockey

On Saturday the 16th July U19 boys went to Chengelo to play hockey. Three other schools were present on the day and these were Trident, Simba and Chengelo. Our first game was against Trident and it started off really well; we took the lead in the first few minutes of the game with a goal by Daniel Weiandt. As the game progressed the team became a bit disorganised and gave away 3 goals by the end of the second half, in the end we lost that game 3-1. 


Our second game was against Simba and the team was willing to put all their effort into this game. In the first few minutes of the game Simba scored the first goal to give them the lead. Later on in the first half Daniel equalised to make the score 1-1 and then another goal by Daniel Weiandt assisted by Cholwe Muleya gave us the victory in that game as we won it 2-1.The defensive play in that game was really good from the back players who showed a great amount of effort and hard work.

Our third and final game was against Chengelo School and most of the boys were tired in that game but we were willing to play to their best. The game started intensely as both teams were fighting to get the first goal and at half time the score was still 0-0. Cholwe and Daniel had a few shots on target but still didn’t manage to get the ball into the back of the goal. Later on in the second half Chengelo school managed to score 2 goals against us but still continued to put in countless effort and played with a very good attitude. The game ended 2-0 but I think we played our best in that game and I would like to thank the team for the effort they put on that day, and for everyone else who made the trip possible, and most of all I’d like to thank God for safe travels on the day and no serious injuries.

Report by Tarisai Lufunda

Friday 3 June 2016

Athletics Qualifiers - Girls

On the 28th May 2016, the northern region’s qualifier rounds of athletics were hosted by Mpelembe School. There were 7 schools competing from the region: Simba School, Mpelembe, the hosting school, Lechwe School, Kalulushi Trust School, Chengelo School, Trident College and Amano Christian School. It was a long day packed with many different track and field events. Amano had three sets of girls’ teams to participate in all age groups. There were the under 14 girls that consisted of five girls, under 16 girls and under 19 girls that consisted of 4 girls each.


A few of the girls were new to the team and to the sport so it was a new experience for them. The majority of the girls that were participating qualified in the events they were assigned to do. A lot of effort and hard work was put in all the races, throws, and jumps done, which earned us the points that contributed to the final Amano team’s score. Many different talents were showcased and many others were revealed through the long day.

With all the effort put in by each member of the team, the Amano athletics team earned 516 points and came 4th out of 7 schools. [Chengelo 650pts ; Mpelembe 554pts; Trident 531pts ; Lechwe 482pts; Simba 334pts and Kalulushi 319pts.]
Even though it was a long event, what made it memorable and a day packed with enjoyable moments, was having a good time in competitive sport.


I would just like to say a big thank you to the girls that put in the immense effort. I’d also like to thank Mr Grove for organising and putting together the entire event.

Reported by: Janki Desai (athletics captain)


Regional Athletic Meet - Boys

On Saturday the 28th of May we traveled to Mpelembe Secondary School for this year’s 2016 athletic qualifiers. We started off early and arrived there on time, most of the schools had already arrived. It was a sizzling morning and you could feel the excitement and adrenaline running through the air. We had three age groups, under 19s, under 16s and under 14s, all divided into girls and boys groups. Due to the number of schools there this year we only had 1 heat in races, rather than two like last year. For the first event we had the boys 1500m which comprised all the age groups of boys racing together. For that event Amano came out first followed by Chengelo, Mpelembe and Lechwe. For the under 16 boys first was Mpelembe followed by Amano then Simba and Chengelo. For under14s Amano came out 4th with Chengelo 1st. The second track event was 200m, for under19s Amano came first after a thrilling race [by James]. In under 16's Amano came out 4th with Chengelo in first place. Sadly in under 14's after a valiant try by Xavier he failed to qualify because slipped just at the end. This was then followed by 400m, for under 19s and Amano came out 1st [Fungai], for under 16's sadly even after a 'burn out' run Mwansa he was still enable to qualify. For under 14's, sadly just by a few inches, Amano lost its place in qualifiers. Then the next track event was the 100m, which was exceptional, for under 19's, 16's and U14's sadly failed to qualify. Then for the last individual run 800m in under 19's Amano came out first, but for the under 16's and 14's we failed to qualify.

Then went on to the relays: 4 x 100m Amano came out 5th but, due to 1 school above dropping out, we went up to qualify. For 4 by 400 after a thrilling race Amano came out 3rd. [The U16's also qualified in the 4 x 100, to the national ISAZ event, due to a late withdrawal of a team]

When it comes to the field Amano also performed well, as it came out second in the U19's long jump [Paul], second for U19s triple jump [James] and 4th for under 16's [Kurt]. We then came out 1st in under 16s high jump [Jackson] and 4th in under 14s [Xavier], then for U19 discus we came out 4th [Daniel]. In the shot put we came out 4th [Fungai] for under 19s, under 16s [Musonda] and 14s [Xavier].

Overall I believe it was a brilliant event which showed both talent and hard work. It was great to see that a lot of effort had been put in by both staff and students. I also believed that everybody tried their best and sadly for those that failed to qualify, I wish them better next time. Thank you.

Overall I would like to thank Mr Grove jr, the fellow staff and pupils for organising and helping and to God for making sure that everything went well.

Report by: Fungai Chanda


Some pictures of the event by Mr Pflaum







Friday 27 May 2016

U16 Boys Hockey

On Saturday the 21st of May the Amano U16 boys went to Simba School to play hockey. There were three U16 teams. Amano, Chengelo and Simba.
Our first game was against Simba. During the first half we were sleeping and Simba scored 2 early goals. That meant that at half time we were losing 2-0. During the second half we woke up and got a goal early in the half from Musonda, but we were not able to score another and we lost 2-1.

Kurt hassling Chengelo and Damon in support

Our second game was against the Chengelo. They also started strong and caught us while we were napping and again by half time we were 2-0 down. At half time we decided that we should go and try to win this game by attacking as much as possible. However our risks did not pay off and so we conceded 3 more goals and we ended up losing 5-0.

Captain Samuel dribbling Chengelo

I want to thank Mr Grove for taking us and the team for playing so well despite not winning. My man of the tournament was Kurt Fernandes who played the full 20 minutes for both games and played outstandingly well.

Report by: Samuel Kirk

U19 Girls Hockey

On 21st May, Simba hosted a friendly hockey tournament for under 19 girls. We had a fairly new team consisting of 10 players. They all had different abilities and skills to contribute to the games.
Our first game was against Lechwe girls and we went on with a lot of confidence. From the beginning of the game, we had begun to take shots at the goal and eventually Diana scored in the first half! We tightened up our defence but the formation of the team wasn’t working as planned and changes were necessary. Shoshanna, the goalkeeper saved many shots coming her way. The defence slacked off and Lechwe managed to score a goal in the last three minutes. We drew that game 1-1.

Hailey worked hard for her first outing

The second game was against Simba, the home team. The game was off at a good start, and strikers Natalya and Diana took many shots on goal. Eventually Diana scored and we were now in the lead with 1 goal. Defence became stronger and we didn’t let any goals in. we won that game 1-0.
The third game was against Chengelo girls. We had different approach to that game and we had a lot of shots on goal. We had a good attack and even better defence. What made it even better was that we didn’t let any goals in; Shoshanna did an amazing job with saving the shots. Diana and Natalya both had a shot at goal and scored. We ended that game 2-0.

Natalya scoring against Chengelo

Overall we came 1st out of 4 hockey teams. The effort put in by the girls led them to win the under 19 girls tournament. Great thanks to the girls for the great performance and Mr Grove and Mr Kirk for coaching and advice.

Reported by: Janki Desai (girl's hockey captain)

Friday 20 May 2016

Under 13 Mixed Doubles Badminton

On Saturday the 14th of May, a badminton tournament was held at Amano. [Simba and Lechwe schools sent teams to compete against.]

The under 13’s team was; seed A Joseph and Natalie, seed B Stacey and Akshata and seed C Nathan Z. and Laura. Simba School and Lechwe School brought 3 seeds each so we played 6 games each to 11 points.

Joseph and Natalie as Seed A

Natalie and I won 4 out of 6 games, Stacey and Akshata won 3 out of 6 and Nathan Z. and Laura won 1 out of 6. For the seed A category Natalie and I came 1st. For seed B category Stacey and Akshata came 2nd.

Stacey and Akshata as Seed B

For seed C category Nathan and Laura came 3rd. I think we did well and we fought hard. I would like to thank the team and Mr. Grove for all the hard work they put in.

Nathan and Laura as Seed C

Reported by Under 13 team captain, Joseph Kirk

U19 Boys Badminton

On Saturday we had badminton here at Amano and Lechwe and Simba both brought people for us to play against.  For the under 19 boys doubles Group A was Daniel and I and Group B was Samuel and Nisarg.  Daniel and I won one match and lost the other so we came second out of the Group A’s.
Samuel and Nisarg won both of their matches so they came first out of the Group B’s.

Jackson  (seed 2)

Daniel  (seed 1)

Nisarg  (seed 4)

 For singles, Daniel was seed one, I was seed two, Samuel was seed three, and Nisarg was seed four. Daniel won one and lost one so he came second, I won both matches so I came first, Samuel won both of his matches so he came first and Nisarg lost his one game so he came second.

On the whole I think we played fairly well seeing as we hardly ever play badminton and from what I saw, we played pretty well in the pairs we were put in.  I wanna thank Mr Grove for putting the whole thing together, I want to thank the players for the effort they put in, and I want to thank everyone one else who contributed to the day.  I think we all enjoyed ourselves.

Report by Jackson Reed

U19 Girls Badminton Tournament

On Saturday 14th May 2016, Amano Christian School hosted an under 13’s and under 19’s badminton tournament. The girls had two doubles teams which were designated team C and team D and four singles seeds, as follows seed 5, seed 6, seed 7 and seed 8.

Simba was the only school that we had an opportunity to play against on that day. On our doubles matches the first game was a friendly and Amano C played against Simba D, Amano C won 21-19. The following were official games, Amano D played against Simba D and Amano won 21-14. The final doubles game was Amano C vs. Simba C which Simba won 21-20.

Shoshanna and Diana as seed 1 and  2

In our singles game Amano seed 5 played Simba seed 5 and Simba won 21-14, Amano seed 6 played against Simba seed 6 which we won 21-14, Amano seed 7 vs. Simba seed 7 Amano won this game 21-13 and the last singles game was Amano seed 8 vs. Simba seed 8 and Simba won 21-14.
Over all we played two doubles games (won one and lost one) and four singles games (won two and lost two). I think as a whole we played fairly well as teams and not so bad in our singles.
It was fun to have been able to apply what we had learned in our P.E. lessons in an actual tournament, as well as pick up a few new skills and rules for our singles games. I definitely think we could have played more games but it was just unfortunate that Lechwe only brought one and a half of their girls’ team so we didn’t get to play with them as we had hoped to; I do have to say that it was good to see that Natasha was able to complete their half team.

Ysabelle and Josiah as seed 3 and 4

It really was great fun and this showed in the way we “illegally” played friendly games with other girls from our visiting school when a court was open. I think it was a good effort from Josiah as she did quite well on her singles match even though she managed to hit a shuttle into one of the hall support beams!

In the future it would be good to more practice on how to play singles as we did find it a bit more challenging in the beginning but wasn’t as bad as some of us had thought.
I would just really like to thank Mr Grove for arranging the whole event, to those who contributed to it, the kitchen for the snacks (the Simba girls really liked the cake) and for the team and all their effort.


Reported by: Ysabelle Cariaga

Friday 8 April 2016

Visit to a light aircraft

Grades 2 and 3 visited the hanger at Kasompe airstrip. Here are some of their comments about the plane.

The plane has a compass and a radio. The pilot has a radio to communicate with the person. The propeller helps the plane to fly.
The plane has a green light. The fuel tank is on the wing. The propeller turns so that the plane can go fast.
On the front of the plane is a landing light.
Before the plane takes off they check in the fuel tank. The plane has a curved wing and a curved roof. The pilot uses a radio to talk to person before he lands the plane.
The plane has got a curved wing. The plane has got wheels. The plane has got windows so the pilot can see.
When the plane flies the flaps help it take off.
Before they take off they check the air hole and pull the red tape. The propeller blades are curved, not flat. The controls on the plane help the plane to fly.
The fuel is in the wings. I like to sit on the seat. I like to go in the plane because it was fun. When they start off they have to check the fuel. When they are landing they have to switch on the red and green lights. I like it when they are landing.
There is something called a hold and the hold can carry luggage. Where the pilot sits is called the cockpit and there is another seat for another pilot that is called the co-pilot. The two pilots have a radio they use it for communicating with other pilots.






ISAZ U13's Girls Netball

Musa and Mwata defending
The girls had been waiting all term for this event so it was a great disappointment to arrive and find only one other school to play against, Lechwe who were hosting, and no referee! Nevertheless we made the best of it by making a four quarter game of 7 minutes. Nsansa had also brought 3 girls so Lechwe formed a second team with them using their extra players.




Natalie and Mwayi shooting



Amano set to playing Lechwe A with Mr Grove and Mrs Roos as referees! It wasn't easy as three of the girls in Lechwe's team were from the U19 squad! Not that they were over age but far more experienced and all of their team players were tall. Mwayi did a great job in defence along with Musa, Michaela and Keysha. Mwata found the game challenging as she accidentally gave away lots of free passes but it was all good learning. Netball is quick but it must be played cleanly! Whilst Lechwe scored quite freely at first, getting 6 in the first quarter, we were struggling to get the ball to our shooter, Natalie, and goal attack Caitlin. Their big defenders meant that we only had a few shots in the whole game.




Musa, Keysha, Mwata and Mwaya working hard in defence
 Coach was hoping at half time for some changes but Lechwe were out to win. We made changes and did better. The girls had a good attitude and didn't give up. We persisted and at last Mwayi, now playing as goal attack was able to score. Stacey, Mwaya and Kunda as captain worked hard in their central positions. The game finished with a scoreline of 12 - 2 due to a much better performance in the second half. It was good for the girls to get a game at a higher intensity as training times are shared with gr 4-5!


 Our second game was against Nsansa's 3 girls and Lechwe's 4 subs. This was physically, much more even a contest, if not a little bit the other way! Amano scored 6 to Lechwe/Nsansa's 0. The Nsansa girls were learning the game and so were weaker but Amano girls worked hard too. Stacey did well in centre getting the ball up court much more successfully. Natalie took over in the second half so it was all change at the top with Mwayi and Caitlin and Mwaya in attack.
 Mr Grove changed the position of the girls quite a bit so that they could experience different playing responsibilities. Moving on the catch, general marking and playing to our strengths were all areas of the game that showed up as needing much more practice. The final passes into the circle were often weak and lacking in imagination, so they became predictable.
 They did very well and a made a good day out of a disappointing start.
Well done team.

Report by Mr Grove

ISAZ U13’s Boys Football

This year the term 1 football tournament was held at Lechwe School. But unfortunately only 3 teams came, Amano, Lechwe and Nsansa. We had a team that had a good chance of winning because most of us were in our last year of being under 13. We had 3 new people in this year’s team, Chandalala Kondolo, Graham Walker and Nate Walker. The first game was Amano vs Lechwe refereed by former Amano student Jean Candy. We started the game very well as a team but unfortunately Lechwe scored to make it 1-0. We fought back and Chandalala scored 2 minutes after they scored in the second half. This was good because we were still learning what our best positions were in the team. The game ended 1-1.

Captain Joseph playing against Nsansa

Taonga attacking Nsansa's goal

The next game was Lechwe vs Nsansa which finished Lechwe 2 - 1 Nsansa. So we needed to win by 2 goals. We started very well and we now knew our main positions. Taonga Muwowo scored to make it 1-0 to us. We were awarded a penalty, but unfortunately Chandala missed. We kept playing well in defence and attack and Taonga Muwowo scored again to make it 2-0.
We ended up winning the tournament by 1pt on goal difference. This is the first time we have won in a few years. I would like to thank the team for all their hard work and especially our coach Mr Jacob Rath for all the work he put in to the tactics that helped us win.   

Report by Joseph Kirk

Tuesday 15 March 2016

FQM Rugby 7's

This week Saturday Amano's 7s rugby team traveled all the way to Simba for this year's First Quantum 7's Tournament. We arrived pretty early to run some drills, went through the opening introductions and then our games began. We started our first game against the government schools' first place FQM winners Temweni and they were really physical and based most of their attack on going straight into contact; but even though they were bigger than us, we used our wingers to burn them out on the wing, which led us to win the first game 24-0. Our second game was against Masaiti, who were a lot less physical, but had a tendency to go for a lot of high tackles, but thankfully not a lot of the boys were injured and we managed to win that game 12-0. Our third game again was against another government school called Kansenshi, whom we had faced before [last year]. So we already knew their way of play and because of that we were able to take hold of the game without any troubles and win the game 29-0.

Daniel contributed well at scrum half - 1 try and 7 conversions

Mark winning another line out against Temweni

Then for our fourth game we went against fellow ISAZ school Simba, who we had played several times. Even though they were physical as usual, we had mastered their way of play and won that game 24-0. We then thought we were progressing into the final, yet in reality it was to the semi against Chengelo whom we were yet to beat in rugby. We began that game tired, we stumbled a couple of times and Chengelo almost capitalised on the mistakes, but during half time we had a strong and motivational talk from Mr Grove and went back into the second half strong and managed to win that game 12-0. For the finals we went against the reigning champ’s Trident, which seemed to have had a tougher morning than us. Even though we were an inexperienced team we had managed to get to the finals and this really motivated us most that we could win the cup. We started the game with our substitutes on because most of the main players were badly sore.

That was a bad idea as within opening minutes Trident came storming down the line in a violent action and scored the first try. They then scored a second one quickly before we went on to bring all the main players. The game settled down a bit, but not by much because Trident were used to playing a more furious rugby and the boys were not so they took advantage. They went in with everything they deemed usual against us and hurt us then when half time came Mr Grove gave us a heavy-duty motivational speech. Which sent us into the second half stronger than ever, our organisation and teamwork improved phenomenally. We then managed to score a try and conversion which got us back in the race, but after a fumble on the try line we were left to defend a scrum. We managed to win the scrum and had strong runners ready to burn out Trident, but then after one fumble from one of our players Trident hit us strong, we managed to hold but with one foul call from the ref the Trident team scored another try and won that game 17-6.

James on a foray through Chengelo

Fungai striving for his try against Chengelo

 This made us finish second overall. I believe personally that the boys gave it all they had and even though we had a crushing defeat they gave it their best. I personally would like to thank the whole team because this was for most players the first time being part of anything this physical and for them to come out second is phenomenal. I would also like to thank James, Paul, Mwansa, Musonda, Tarisai, Luyando, Daniel, Mark and Cholwe for been the best team I could ask for. Also not to forget Mr Grove for holding us strong and for the motivational speeches and most importantly God, for allowing a bunch of newbies to come from zero and come out second in our biggest school boy rugby tournament. This not only shocked me but also people around as we had the smallest and most inexperienced team but still came second.  

A hard fought and well deserved second place

Tournament Scores:
James McBride 30pts
Paul McBride 20pts
Musonda Mwansa 15pts
Mwansa Mwansa 12pts
Daniel Weiandt 12pts
Theo Kabwe 5pts
Fungai Chanda 5pts



Report by Fungai Chanda