I.S.A.Z Rugby 7 aside Tournament

On February the 14th we went to Simba for 7 aside rugby. It was the ISAZ inaugural 7’s tournament, making it the first of its kind. In total there were 6 teams present Amano, Lechwe, Mpelembe, Chengelo as well as Simba A and B.
We all played 3 games in total, the first two determining which final you qualified for. These were the cup final, plate final and bowl final. Our first game was against Mpelembe, but because we were not really organised we lost that game by a penalty try and conversion. The score was 6-0. Our second game was against Simba B; we managed to bring order back to the team and won that game 20-0. This allowed us to qualify for the shield final, which was 3rd place. We played Simba A and it was an intense game. Fortunately we managed to beat them 10-6 which was the first time we have beaten them in contact rugby.
Overall Amano came 3rd, Chengelo 2nd and Mpelembe 1st. I believe the team did really well for their first 7’s tournament. This was also Mark, James and Musonda’s first tournament and they played exceptionally well. I would like to commend Edwin for his effort during the tournament.

Report by Ethan Milner

Msanivute in line out action

Andy in control at Scrum Half

New boys James and Mark playing Loose Head and Hooker

Well deserved trophy

U19 Netball

On  Saturday, 31st January, we went to Lechwe to play four netball games against four different schools.
The scores at the end of the day were:
Lechwe vs Amano
     10     -     9  
Amano vs Trident
     6     -     4
Amano vs  Mpelembe
     8     -     7
Amano vs Kalulushi
     18     -     8

Overall, Amano came out 1st with nine points.
Seeing that we had two new girls on the team, Eunice Pondrun and Josiah Muteb, I personally think they played well.
We had a few struggles during the game, such as getting into space when our team had the ball, and giving good passes, so we will need to work on that. To sort things out we got together to talk things through and we improved as the games progressed.
As well as having our struggles, we also had our good moments as well. It was great to hear the team encourage each other all the way through; whether they were on or off the court. Our shooting was good even though our opponents were usually bigger and faster than us.
Lastly, I just want to thank the team for all their hard work and effort they put into the games on Saturday and hope that we can continue with the good work.
Report by N. Yoro

U19 Football ISAZ Zone One

U19 Boys Football 11's
On Saturday the 31st of January the boys U-19 football team traveled to Lechwe for a Zone 1 tournament that consisted of five teams including Amano. Our first game was against the hosts Lechwe; we started off really well, taking the lead and keeping it up to half time. But unfortunately we gave away a silly goal and drew that game 1-1. Our next game was against Trident; we played really well and worked really hard as a team and ended up with a well-deserved 0-0 draw. Next we played Mpelembe; who went on to come first in the tournament, it was a really close game and we had quite a few chances but we gave away a silly penalty and lost that game 1-0. Lastly we played Kalulushi Trust; we were on the front foot for most of the game but didn’t manage to break through, so we drew 0-0.
At the end of the day we ended up coming fourth, but I think we played really well as a team. We have a lot of room for improvement too, so it was a good eye opener.
By Edwin Dingwall.


U19 Girls Football 7’s
We went to play football at Lechwe on the 31st January. There were four schools, namely Mpelembe, Lechwe, Trident and Kalulushi. We were supposed to play four games but Kalulushi did not bring their football team, so we played three games instead. Our first game was against Lechwe and we started off well but eventually got tired because we just came back from playing netball. Lechwe scored a goal in the first half and we were upset, so we pushed to the best of our ability to keep the defence strong and the game ended 1-0.
 Then we played Trident and within a minute Diana scored a goal. We kept on playing and got tired but we did not let Trident score a goal so we won the game 1-0.
Then our last game was against Mpelembe, we started off well, but they eventually scored a goal, so we gave up and they scored another goal in the second half because we were tired. Overall we did well even though we did not have enough practice.
Lechwe 1 – 0 Amano
Trident 0 – 1 Amano
Mpelembe 0 – 1 Amano

We had 3 new girls on the team, namely Eunice Pondrun, Janki Desai and Josiah Muteb and they played well even though it was there first time to play on the team against different schools.
We had some difficulties with passing, calling out to the person we were going to pass to, moving into space and trying to dribble the ball past a defender.
The player of the day was Diana Shakwelele even though she was tired she still kept on playing and she was one of the loudest on the pitch.
We should work hard on communication, calling and passing to a person, encouraging each other, scoring goals, controlling the ball and team work.
The team did well overall.

Report by N. Chiombe

Football Qualifiers - Zone 1

We went to play football at Mpelembe [on 7th February]. The teams that came were Trident, Lechwe, Kalulushi and Mpelembe. We were five teams altogether  and played four games each. Our first game was against Kalulushi. We were asleep in the first half of the game and Kalulushi managed to score 2 goals. In second half we managed to play as a team and scored 3 goals.

We won that game 2-3. Afterwards we played Mpelembe, which was our toughest match and we lost 1-0. The next game

was against Trident; this game was very frustrating but we manage to keep composure as good sportsman. However we lost 1-0.

Our last game was against Lechwe everyone was tired but we managed to play as a team and won that game 1-0. I think the team did their best (without our normal captain) and I would like to see us put the same amount of effort if not more in the up coming qualifiers. 

  

By Sani (Vice Captain)

Netball and Football at Mpelembe

Netball

On Saturday, 7th  February, we went to Mpelembe  to play four netball games against Lechwe, Mpelembe, Trident and Kalulushi.
After a whole day of hard work and sweat, the results were:

Kalulushi  6 v 9  Amano

       

Amano  7 v 7  Trident

      

Mpelembe  6 v 6  Amano

      

Amano  13 v 3  Lechwe

    

This put us in 2nd place because we drew in two of our games with Mpelembe and Trident.
Since our last tournament on the 31st of January,  we improved in terms of moving into space, and because of this we intercepted the ball easily. Our set plays worked really well, but we should use them more often and keep working on new ones.
The man of the match, or should I say women of the match should go to, Bisa Bwalya and Kathleen Kaufman, our goal shooter (GS) and goal attack (GA), for their excellent performance in shooting.
Other than that, I think we need to work on not standing behind our defenders, even if they are smaller than us, because in doing so our opponents jump for the ball and we end up losing possession.
Overall, I am proud of the team and I think we did really well. If we continue playing well and keep practising hard, I think we can do even better at the Nationals which is coming up in a few weeks time.
Report by Natalya Yoro

Bisa shooting with Kathleen in support

Football

We went to play football at Mpelembe [Secondary School] on the 7th of February. There were four schools, namely Mpelembe, Lechwe, Trident and Kalulushi. We were supposed to play four games but Kalulushi did not bring their football team, so we played three games instead. Our first game was against Lechwe, we started off well but eventually got tired because we just came back from playing netball. In the first half and second half Lechwe and Amano had good attacking and defence teams, so we pushed to the best of our ability to keep the defence strong and the game ended 0-0. Then we played Trident, and both halves went well even though both of the teams did not score. Then our last game was against Mpelembe, we started off well, but they eventually scored a goal, we gave up and they scored another goal in the second half. Overall we did well even though we did not have enough practice and were tired 

Lechwe  0 v 0  Amano

Trident 0 v 0  Amano

Mpelembe  0 v 2  Amano

We had a new girl on the team, her name is FIONA McCAFFREY and  she actually played well even though it was her first time to play on the football and netball matches with other schools.

We had some difficulties with passing, calling out to the person we were going to pass to, moving into space, shots on goal and trying to dribble the ball past a defender.

The woman of the match was FIONA McCAFFREY even though she was tired she still kept on playing and she was good in defence.

We should work hard on communication, calling and passing to a person, encouraging each other, shots on goal, scoring goals ,controlling the ball and team work.

The team did well overall even though we did not score any goals in the matches  .

I would like to say thank you to Mr and Mrs Grove for training us, driving us to the tournaments and supporting us.

Report by Natasha Chiombe

Fiona taking a penalty

Chengelo Ten-a-side Rugby

U19 Rugby 10's Tournament
Saturday the 28th of January the Amano U19 and U16 rugby teams went off to Chengelo for a rugby festival. There were three different age groups U14, U16 and U19. Things quickly changed upon our arrival, we discovered that it was not an U19 festival but a ten-a-side open tournament for the U19’s. With that said there two pools each consisting of three teams. In pool A was Masaiti, Lechwe and Chengelo A. In pool B was Amano, Temwani and Chengelo B.
Our first game was against Temwani, [a developing team]. It was very scrappy with lots of poor passes and catches made by the team; fortunately we won that game 17-0. Our next game was against Chengelo B and we played noticeably better. Chengelo B put up a good fight as we scored no tries in the first half of the game but, this soon changed in the second half as we were able to score two tries and a conversion, beating them 12-0.
 By winning our two pool games we qualified for the 1st place final against Chengelo A. It was the final match of the day and Amano was not only going to face a determined team but also two ex-students Chigo and Andrew. We started off kicking to Chengelo and were soon pushed back to the tri-line and this is where the team’s "bean field" motto stood out and we managed to push Chengelo back. However in the last moments of the first half they managed to score a try. We came into the 2nd half still fighting to win but the ball still wasn’t been passed around and Chengelo A managed to score one more try. We lost that game 10-0.
Overall the team did really well in the tournament as we managed to move up from our usual third place to second. In the two games that we did win Fungai and James won man of the match awards and during the award ceremony James won U19 Player of the Tournament! Despite the fact that we came out second I think we were one of the most decorated teams in terms of awards. I would just like to say that it has been a terrific rugby season and I have really seen the team grow in the way they play, interact and the way they represent the school and God.

Reported by: Ethan Milner

U16 Rugby 10's Tournament
The U16 boys also played in their first ever rugby event, another sign of Amano growing in size and stature. It was a team that was thrown together as players in the team train at different times because of the age group going over two pe groups. Also a number of people pulled out and so some other students were found at short notice to fill the empty slots. Not the best preperation but all very keen to play.
 The U16 event was slightly different to the U19 in that they had 3 round robin games, no play offs. Our first game was against Chengelo A and the result was a loss of 17 - 0. A respectable loss as the boys were still figuring out their positions and getting used to the high speed and harder hits in competitive rugby. Our captain, Tarisai, came off after two minutes, unable to run, so Joshua Phiri took over a led the team by example, running hard at the opposition, finding gaps, chasing kicks and getting our team moving forward. Excellent play.
 The second game was against Chengelo B and the result was an excellent win 17 - 5. Amano's Mwansa Mwansa ran in two tries, one of which Ilunga was able to convert and he also scored a try. These came about from good passing and running at the defence. Kurt was very active around the scrum and did some good carries. The real area of dominance was the break down where we were getting lots of turn overs from good tackling and quick support play.
 The third game was against Simba who had a few players from the U19 team! Their tight head prop was enormous and certainly intimidating but the Amano boys showed little fear in having a go. Again, organisation was weak, as we sometimes over committed players to this one prop and as a result their first try came from a big overlap as four Amano students brought no. 3 down. Josh ran in a good try but we ended losing the game 10 - 5. This was a physical game but the boys showed they were up to it and played some excellent rugby.
Overall the success of the U16's came from good team work. Well done.

Report by Mr Grove