As the pandemic situation recovered, the highly anticipated “Shanghai Schools Sports Association & Shanghai Youth League 2023” Frisbee tournament finally got underway. On the 4th of March, our school’s Frisbee team “Kraken” had its first match at SUIS WanYuan. It was the first official match in almost a year and a half, with the old players having graduated and the new Grade 10s joining in.

Before the game, we all worked hard to squeeze in time after school to build up the foundational skills and actively discuss tactical techniques. At the same time, Coach Chang taught members defensive strategies and guided us through a stretching exercise. Despite that, we just had very little time to train this year compared to previous years, so the team members may not be so familiar with each other. However, our team’s aim was to learn from our experience in practice, to enjoy each training session, and to gradually make progress. We would all be doing our best in the upcoming games and taking them seriously.

Everyone was excited on the day of the race, arriving 40 minutes early to warm up. We had one last practice of running positions and getting comfortable with throwing the disc. At the last minute, the whole team came together and shouted “Kraken” to boost morale. The beginning is always the hardest, everyone was not yet fully familiar with the role they were playing, and it led us to make mistakes, especially when there was some pressure. Even though everyone put in their best effort, we were still down by a large margin. Some of the players felt particularly guilty about their errors, but the other players encouraged and praised them for what they did well and gave solid advice to them. We did not blame each other because mistakes happened all the time and we were just a new team starting out. We thought it was more crucial to trust each other and to get experience from our failures.

We were not playing wisely enough in the first two games, but in the latter two, we corrected our weaknesses in running the position, improved our defensive efficiency, and gradually started to score with the cooperation of teammates. Each member of the team showed their strengths, with cutters running aggressively to catch the discs and handlers carefully analyzing the situation on the field so as to make the most informed choices. After each score, everyone cheered and celebrated with heartfelt joy. Even when the opponents scored, we applauded and summarized the reasons for their victory. We were always committed to the “spirit of frisbee”, treating each game with dignity and showing respect to our opponents.

After the game, we gathered to watch videos of the game taken by the team managers. Some of the moves made us laugh, but meanwhile, we noticed our shortcomings. For example, there were times when cutters ran too disruptively and blocked the handlers’ throwing line, or when someone got the disc and was too nervous leading to a turnover. The purpose of this was to discover aspects that could be improved and enhanced in future training. After this competition, I deeply felt that the entire team had become more united. All of us had a great time and I believe it was an unforgettable memory.

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On February 28th and March 23rd, the students of Luwan BC had a house team activity, which was a dodgeball game. The basic rule was that a player is out when hit by a ball, but not out if the ball hits the ground first before hitting them. If a player catches a ball thrown by an opponent, the thrower is out, and the catching player’s team can revive an out member. After all members of a team are out, that team loses, and the remaining number of people on the winning team counts as points, with one person equaling one point.

The first five matches were held on February 28th: Red team vs. Pink team (winner: Pink, with 5 people remaining), Grey team vs. Orange team (winner: Orange, with 6 people remaining), Yellow team vs. Green team (winner: Yellow, with 9 people remaining), Red team vs. Green team (winner: Green, with 9 people remaining), and Orange team vs. Yellow team (winner: Orange, with 8 people remaining). Every game was exciting, and everyone fought for victory. Orange created a huge margin of victory for themselves on the first day, while the Red team came out on the wrong side of a two-game losing streak. However, some students were rather shy and kept standing in the corner of the field, hiding or not throwing the ball with their hands in their pockets since it was first time holding a sports house team event.

The second dodgeball game was not held as normal due to the 12th grade being in quarantine due to Covid-19. Instead, the teachers and current students held a friendly tournament, with the teachers’ team winning, unsurprisingly, in the end.

After the 12th graders were able to come to school, the official second dodgeball house team event was held on March 23. After the first experience, all the students actively participated in the games on this day, which made these games even more exciting. The first game was between the Grey team and Pink team, which the graduated seniors of Grey team influenced to lose (Pink had 7 people left). In the second game, Red team played Grey team, and Grey team attacked hard and beat the Red team to the point that only two players were left on the field, but thanks to Peter’s strong performance, Red team successfully turned the game around and won. In the third game, Orange team played against Green team. Orange team did not maintain their performance from the previous event and was quickly defeated by Green team, missing the chance to get the final victory. In the last game, Yellow team played against Pink team. Yellow team was quickly defeated in the opening game, giving the final victory to Pink team with the cooperation of Pink team members.

In the end, Pink team was the winning house team with a record of 3 wins and 0 losses (21 points), Green took second place with two wins and one loss (16 points), and Orange unfortunately took third place with two wins and one loss (14 points).

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Our Green team translated the menus for a hotpot restaurant that specialized in beef. During the translation process, teammates ran into various troubles, which included not being able to translate certain Chinese words into English without changing their original meaning and connotations. To increase the accuracy and authenticity of the translation, we needed to do some research to figure out the implied meaning of the Chinese name of the dish. For example, we named our second restaurant as ‘happy stilt beef’ because its Chinese name being “翘脚牛肉” implied that the customers would enjoy the food so much that they would sit with their legs crossed. Therefore, we translated the name into “happy stilt beef” to illustrate the behavior of the customers enjoying their meals. Besides providing a creative translation of the menu, other teams especially Grey all devoted their artistic and designing skills to make the menu look attractive and appealing to the customers.

Overall, this activity helps us earn many house team points. Besides developing interpreting skills and teamwork, we also develop a sense of responsibility to make our community more inclusive to foreigners by providing English menus of many restaurants.

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The rules of the game are: all students are divided into three groups, and each group of students forms a circle. After that, two students are picked; while one person chases, the other person runs. The person being chased has to look for someone in the group with commonalities, pat him/her on the back, and say: “Hay we both have…” Then the person being ‘picked’ becomes the new ‘chaser’ while the old ‘chaser’ switches his/her role from being the ‘chaser’ to become the ‘runner’ (the one being chased). The original runners who manage to escape by finding others to switch their role with will gain a point for their house team. The team with the most points wins.  

Overall, this is a game that combines both physical strength and tactics. The yellow team’s strategy was to select multiple players from their team and to maximize the numbers of switches to accumulate the most points. With this clever strategy, Eric the captain of the yellow team, organized his team well and successfully gained victory. Tony, the captain of the grey team, was also eager to win, and he dominated the game by constantly taking up the roles between the runner and the catcher. At the end, the grey team became the runner-up while the orange team finished third. 

One of the benefits of playing this game is to encourage students to identify similarities and communicate with each other. This is not an easy task to make such an observation since all students wear the same school uniform. Despite being reluctant to play at first, most students enjoyed the game. This reminds us of Mr. Chang’s favourite quote-“Although you guys complained that the game was tiring at the beginning, when you got into it, you all enjoyed it.” 

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Since the pandemic, all the Frisbee games were shut by the BC Offshore School league. Until October 2020, the Kraken’s coach, Mr. Chang, announced that we were going to have games again. The first league day was on March 7th, 2021. We were so excited to hear about that. The training was started again each Monday and Thursday. Compared with previous years, Coach Chang taught the team more tactics to help us play more efficiently and offensively on the field. Everyone in the team had unlimited passion for the training, both rookies and veterans. We had huge confidence in the Krakens this year. 

The first league day came very soon, according to the our game results from 2019, we were placed into division 2. The teams we were facing against were all the top teams of 2019, ULINK, QDHS and SCLS. For the first game, we got a V easily against SCLS (7:3). However, for the following games, we were not good enough to handle the mistakes and pressures from the strong teams, finally losing both games, 3:7 with ULINK and 3:8 with QDHS. With the results of the games, we turned to division 3. 

For the following League days at 3.27 and 4.25. The results of the games for Kraken were full win and full lose respectively. On the March 27th, we got 7:5 in the game with SCLS and Nanmo, and had a big win in the game with SUIS G (10:2), and returned to the division 2. For the last day of league days, we lost all games by 0:8 with SUIS O, 2:13 with ULINK and 4:9 with SCLS. 

Finally, we had our play-off on May 15th. Since we had a school activity on that day, Mr. Chang had to be absent from all the games. However, through Levi’s leadership, we still got 3 wins and 1 loss, which was a pretty good result. Finally, we got 5th place out of 13 teams. 7:5 with SCLS, 4:9 with KCLS, 6:3 with QDHS, 6:3 with Nanmo. 

After 1 week, the most important day was coming, the Shanghai Youth Open (SHYO). SHYO means a lot to every teenager ultimate player. It’s the biggest annual tournament, teams from every international high school will attend, and there are also some teams from other cities. The first team we met on the first day was from Shenzhen. Because they were new in this sport, we got a big lead in the first-half, although we had a lot of mistakes in the second-half, we still won the game by 9:5. In the second game, we were once again up against our old rival, SCLS. This was quite a tough game. Our strategy was to play it safe, keep the lead and get the win. When the ending bell ringed, the score showed 6:4. Everyone in the team felt relieved, we got another win. In the third game, we met one of the top 3 team in the league, the Otters. Without a miracle, we were crushed by them.(1:11). For the last game of the first day, in order to keep the top 8 place, we needed to win against QDHS. That was a very close game. Finally, with the determination and fighting spirit, we defeated QDHS by 6:5. 

Because of the weather, we only had 2 games on the second day, and we lost both of them. Finally, we got 7th place out of 15 teams, which is the best Luwan has ever done in this tournament. With the great performance and nice spirit, Levi Liu won the MVP for the Krakens in this tournament. 

This was the whole year in review for LW Kraken 2020-2021. I hope Kraken can become better and better in the coming years. PEACE&LOVE.   

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In Canada, field hockey is generally restricted to spring, summer and early autumn seasons, except in southwestern BC, where it can be played year-round. It is principally a girls’ sport in schools, but is played by both men and women in adult leagues across the country. From this official description from the Canadian Encyclopedia, you can see that the ardent love of this sport has been deeply embedded into their culture. Well in this special spring in 2021, we held an intense field hockey tournament at Luwan Senior High School.

At noon on March 3rd, in the Yellow-Orange vs. Pink-Grey match, the players on the court brought us a magnificent show. They fought fiercely, and they ignited everyone’s passion.

Sometimes the players on both teams collided together, making a loud “boom” sound, which made the audience worry about whether the players were injured or not. However, they entered the fighting state again in the next second. Nobody was hurt in this game, and everyone was playing sportsmanlike while vying for victory.

The most eye-catching destination of field hockey must be the convenience of cooperation. We can see that Jason from grade 12 kicked off a high ball from the side line, and gave a round pass to Eric. After catching the ball, Eric rushed all over to the opponent’s goal. He was swift, he dodged, he turned his body and escaped the guards’ interference again and again. He shot with a sophisticated blow, but it hit the goalpost. Tim from grade 12 got the ball, and he made a hard long swing from one side to the other. Levi captured that ball midway, his years of frisbee experience allowed him to break through numerous blocks, and cleared a path for Tim who caught up from behind. He also made a hard experienced shot, but unfortunately the one who stood in front of him was Milo, his huge body creates

an advantage for him, but what stopped the indomitable imposing manner was his years of experience. With a quick squat, he captured the dashing ball with his left glove. His actions not only prevented the opponent’s impetus, but also shattered the opponent’s ambition. He then brought a quick pass to Jason again.

At almost the end of the game, neither side had scored a goal, the situation gradually became very intense. The clubs were staggered, and the players poured all their sweat and strength into the last-minute competition. It was almost the end of the game, but it is never too late for the miracles. The ball flew out of the squeezed crowd, Tony made a quick rush-up. Nobody noticed him and he made a heavy blow aiming at the several defensive weaknesses by the goalie Milo. He shot and scored! Although the game was over for a time, the fierce shouts of the audience seemed to still echo in the playground.

After that, there were two more games on the 24^th. But unfortunately, there were no goals due to the effort by the defense and the goalies. However, this game really left us a very deep impression. It used practical examples to tell us that miracles exist if we don’t give up till the last minute.

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On November 11^th, 2020, Luwan Senior High School’s BC program organized the term 1 assembly. During the assembly, Ms. Fortin, the principal of LWBC, summarized the students’ performance in this term and praised the excellent student work. She was pleased that grade 10 students adapted to the BC program quickly, and many of them even made the Honor Roll with a GPA greater than 3.0. We hope these students can persist in their efforts next term. For students not on the list, we also hope they keep moving in the right direction. For grade 11 students, although they had half a year of online classes due to the pandemic, many of them still adjusted in a short time and successfully connected to the grade 11 courses. In addition to the Honor Roll, some students were listed in the Principal List with a GPA above 3.7. What’s more, almost all the grade 12 students received an award, and more than half of them were listed on the Principal List. We hope these students can maintain their excellent performance in the following term to reach their dream university. 

In addition, the assembly also announced the highly anticipated additions to the Frisbee Hall of Fame. Frisbee Club, as one of the most popular clubs in LWBC, inducts many students every year. Those who do well on the team are given the chance to be in the Frisbee Hall of Fame after graduation. This time, many graduates returned to school to receive praise. In addition to the team leader Mr. Chang’s summary of the players’ performance over the past three years, the most interesting part was the release of the nicknames the players gave themselves. For example, Shirley, the leader of the Frisbee team, gave herself the name of King Kong Barbie. When students in the frisbee team saw the uniforms of the graduates hanging on the wall of the class, many of them showed their envious eyes. We hope these students can continue their excellent performance in the frisbee team! 

The term 1 assembly is a good incentive for students. We hope students who have performed well this term can continue to do so, and other students can integrate into their courses quickly. We also hope all the students achieve their goals successfully!  

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In the campus life of Luwan students, one of the most anticipated events is the annual basketball tournament. The basketball game is divided into groups according to the different house teams. Two house teams form a team to compete against each other. At noon on Wednesday, the students came to the basketball hall early to warm up. 

The games began at 12:15. In the boys’ division, the team led by Peter and Ryan bore the brunt of the competition. They won their first-round matchup against Pink and Grey by a wide margin. They were the first team to reach the finals. On the other side of the game, Roy led the yellow team as the core in the first round of the game and easily won, also making it through to the finals. In the final match, the score of both sides was very close. The deadlock was not broken until late in the game. Red team took the lead again in the last two minutes of the game when Peter scored a layup. Ryan then made a steal and hit a basket to pull the lead to two. Two yellow players both had chances in the final 30 seconds to even up the score but failed to deliver. In the end, the red team and the orange team won the championship for the boys’ group. 

The girls’ competition at the same time was also very exciting. The girls came out with a lot of confidence and attitude. Every play was contested fiercely, but at the same time all players also maintained good sportsmanship. Teamwork also allows the grade 10s to quickly integrate into the Luwan BC family. 

In the end, the students not only got a chance to relax from their busy study life, but what’s more, the students of all grades enhanced their friendship through this tournament. With the wonderful game over, we’ll see you next year！ 

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Our red team won the first pizza party on November 30^th by winning Chit Chat. Our teammates couldn’t wait to eat the pizza on that day, and even forgot to eat the original delicious school lunch as they always have. Once the bell rang, signaling the end of period 5, they all rushed directly to the library and waited for the upcoming pizza party. Some of them didn’t even eat their breakfast, just because they wanted to have a better appetite to eat pizza. After we finished our pizza party, we all felt that we could eat twice as much food as we had, and we also hoped to win the next round of Chit Chat and receive another pizza party again. 

In order to win Chit Chat, our whole team put in a lot of effort. At the start of round one, there was an activity where we made clothes out of old newspapers. We won first place for two sets of fashionable clothes and got three bonus Chit Chat cards. This gave us a head start on the round. Although we lost some cards and were overtaken by other teams a few times, we still believed that we could win in the end. We got about five bonus cards during the last week, which put us over the top and we were able to secure the first-place finish. We think we’ve been rewarded for all the hard work we’ve put in. It was all worth it in the end. 

To bring even more honor to our team, we are also trying to improve our house team points, which we currently have 950 of. We can say that for these house team points, each of our player worked really hard and took each activity seriously; everyone played to their strengths, contributed a lot to the red team, so that we had at least a top 3 finish. We also took home a lot of first place finishes, for example, the basketball tournament, clothing design, Christmas tree decoration, Halloween, Chit Chat and so on. During Chit Chat, in order to encourage our team members not to lose their cards, there is an unwritten rule: if our team fails to win the first place, the member who loses the most cards needs to buy milk tea for other team members. This will not only prevent the number of card losses, but also help team members to speak less Chinese in daily life so as to improve their English. For future activities, such as the hockey match, dodgeball and so on, we encourage our red team players to keep a positive attitude and compete with other teams for the rank fairly. 

Here are some quotes from our team.  

“Our whole team members worked very hard in the last week. Because, red team is a family, we really wanted to eat pizza. Also, as a team leader, I am very proud and happy for us. After all, we got our pizza party for the first time this year. Our team effort also made me feel very glorious. I will continue my role as a leader and lead the red team to more achievement in my last year. By the way, I hope we can have more and more pizza parties later” – from our team leader Ryan Cheng (G12). 

“At the beginning, I didn’t think we could easily win Chit Chat, but when I saw that each of our classmates were striving for first place, I found the hope which gave me confidence. This year’s Red Team, like last year, also had a spirit of unity. I also saw the desire to win in the eyes of the freshmen in grade 10. Also, the pizza was delicious, I was so happy to win, I can’t wait to eat it again. As a grade 12 senior, I will also lead our members to win more bonus cards” – from Eugene Cai. 

Let’s go red team and work hard to reach our higher goals and have a pizza party every time!) 

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On Tuesday January 19^th, 2021, Luwan BC students welcomed the long-awaited science challenge. The challenge was made up of three parts: the strongest structure challenge, the potato chip ring experiment, and the roller coaster building exercise. All students from three grades were still divided into the traditional six teams of LWBC to participate in the challenge. 

First, the science challenge started with the strongest structure challenge and the bonus activity– the potato chip ring experiment. Each team needed to split their members into two parts and do two challenges simultaneously. The strongest structure challenge had students use drinking straws to make a free-standing structure. Then the team with the structure that had the best ratio of strength to number of straws wins. The orange team had a very strong structure. They used a lot of straws and made them into a circle. In the end, the circle bore the weight of at least 10 books. In the final weighing session, their work was able to hold about 20kg of objects. What amazing work! 

But the potato chip ring challenge tested the students’ operating ability even more. It’s not easy to make a perfect circle out of potato chips. Some of the students searched the Internet for tutorials, and some of them discussed and brainstormed together. In both of these activities, everyone demonstrated their ability to work as a team. 

And then, all the students did the roller coaster building exercise together. Each team used drinking straws and a hot-glue gun to build a creative roller coaster that can transport a ping pong ball from start to finish. The group who had the most creativity would win the activity. The students had a heated discussion about how to make the roller coaster the most interesting and creative. In the end, we saw some imaginative roller coasters. The yellow team used two structures to show off their roller coaster. Although the ping pong balls had a low probability of passing through these two parts without error, the building was still a good example of the creativity of the yellow team. 

The science challenge was interesting for all LWBC students because it allowed them to show not only their creative thinking, but also their good hands-on skills. Most importantly, the students learned the importance of teamwork through this activity. This challenge would not have been successful without a group discussion, thinking and reflection! 

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