FootBaLL aCaDeMY

Mark Potter, Cross Campus Head Football Coach

The Battle of Bangkok will take place on 7th February 2023, an unprecedented opportunity for our Varsity teams to compete at Muangthong United’s Thunderdome Stadium. This is a chance for our senior players to compete in a professional environment under floodlights. We will be competing against NIST, our main footballing rivals in Bangkok, playing 11v11 football, which was introduced for the first time this year. We will also be playing with an accumulative score from the Boys’ and Girls’ fixtures, giving a total score between the teams. I am incredibly pleased to continue our great relationship with Muangthong United who have been a great supporter of the Bangkok Patana Football Academy.

BMaC WeekenD

Richard Molloy, Cross Campus Head of Sports

Aswe near the end of Season 2, our JV, Under 14, Under 12 and Under 11 teams competed in their end of season tournaments last weekend.

Bangkok Patana hosted the ever popular and competitive Under 11 BMAC Basketball tournaments, with more than 200 students in attendance for their respective schools. Our teams fought hard across the morning, securing lots of excellent results in the festival. The Boys’ A Tournament culminated with a silver medal, and the Girls’ took Bronze.

The Friday evening JV events were held throughout Bangkok. The Tigers JV Boys’ Tennis team secured a silver on the home court, with the Girls’ winning silver too over at ISB. Both Rugby and Touch teams were victorious on a fabulous ‘under the lights’ finish at NIST. The Basketball Girls’ Team came away from ISB with a well deserved gold medal, with the Boys’ missing out in 5th after being drawn in a very tough group.

The action for the Under 12/14s was then in full swing on Saturday with big squads from Bangkok Patana in action for Volleyball. The Under 12 Boys’ were crowned champions, Under 14 Boys’ and Under 12 Girls’ took away silver medals and the Under 14 Girls’ finished their season with a 4th place finish.

The Softball teams all competed hard, finishing with the Under 14 and Under 12 Boys’ in second and Under 14 Girls’ in third. Well done to all the teams!

BMaC RUgBY

Robb Falls, Primary Support for Learning Teacher

JVBMAC rugby made a memorable comeback at the NIST sports complex where we were welcomed by music and sun blaring across the rugby field, creating a fantastic atmosphere often seen at rugby 10s tournaments around the world. The Bangkok Patana Tigers, captained by James Somanader, were relentless in the scorching sun, remaining undefeated to clinch the trophy on the back of a superior points difference. Bangkok Patana Bs, mostly new to rugby and captained by Alex Millard, fought hard and displayed much-improved performances. This year’s BMAC tournament has added to the buzz around schools’ rugby and has set the stage for more exciting and competitive matches in the future.

The Tigers campaign started with a dominant first half against NIST, taking the lead via Thomas Skillbeck’s tackle busting try. The second half, however, belonged to the opposition who, using their size advantage well, deservedly tied the game 5-5, minutes from the end.

Next, the Tigers were looking to put the record straight against ISB after suffering defeat at home earlier in the season. The boys started strong again and, after a powerful run by Leo Huai, Thomas trundled over for his second. Minutes later, Pira Sumner weaved through, converting his own try to put us 14-0 up at half time. Once again, we allowed the opposition back in the game but, thanks to the fresh legs of William Stewart and co off the bench, we held on to a 14-7 win.

With the tournament all square it could come down to points difference and, with NIST way ahead, we needed a special performance against ISB Bs. The heroic Tigers played spectacularly to finish with 42 points and an important clean sheet. Our top points scorer, Pira, finished strong with a hat trick and 8 successful conversions, joined on the scoresheet by Brook Kirtland, Sam Jones, Kai Richards, Monty Newman and Captain James.

In a fitting final game, we needed an ISB win over NIST to secure the trophy. However, after a nail-biting back and forth, NIST finally wore a resilient ISB down, winning in the last play of the game and putting the whole season down to points difference. Following what seemed like eternity, Scott McGregor, head coach at NIST, announced the 2023 JV BMAC champions were the Bangkok Patana Tigers, by a miniscule 8 points difference. Congratulations to James Somanader (C), Alex Smith (VC) and the BPS JV rugby Tigers!