Hangzhou International School (HIS) was proud to host the 2025 ACAMIS Green Division Football Tournament from 20-22 March 2025.
Altogether 150 student athletes and coaches from six international schools across China converged on HIS to compete in this year’s divisional football tournament, following on from volleyball and basketball tournaments hosted earlier in the year in Hong Kong and Xi’an, respectively.
Students from Shanghai Community International School – Hongqiao (SCIS-HQ), Yew Chung International School – Puxi, Changchun American International School, Xi’an Liangjiatan International School, and Discovery College Hong Kong joined our HIS Gold Dragons for three days of high quality and exciting football which brought together our entire HIS community.
The sunny weather and blue skies was perfect for spectators but really challenged the players, who played seven matches over three days and provided one of the most evenly contested tournaments in recent memory.
Our entire HIS community, including students, staff and parents, were in full voice pitch-side throughout the tournament, and created a fantastic atmosphere for all of the participants.
After two days of round-robin matches, both the HIS boys and girls teams went into the final day’s play in 2nd place and in semi-finals vying for the Championship.
On the Saturday, the girls were unlucky to narrowly lose both their semi-final and 3rd place play-off, competing courageously despite injuries and fatigue, fighting back from deficits and striking the crossbar numerous times but ultimately falling short of their own lofty expectations.
Meanwhile the boys played some thrilling games in their group stage, and were one of five teams trading places as the final round-robin matches took place.
They won an epic semi-final 4-3 versus SCIS-HQ and hit peak form in the championship match versus Changchun American International School, taking an early lead and then continuing to pile on the pressure to ultimately run out as 5-0 winners. This championship follows last year’s title and cements this team in HIS Athletics history as the first back-to-back champions.
Congratulations to all players and coaches on representing themselves and our school so impressively throughout the tournament, and a special mention to our ACAMIS All-Tournament players Rhema, Shauna, Ronan and Gaspard.
The event focused on the athletes but was also an opportunity to showcase our remarkable school pride, from the talented musicians who played at the opening ceremony, to the halftime dance crew who wowed the crowds, to the students who supplied excellent commentary on every game to go with the video live stream (thank you IT team), and the students who stepped up to interview the visiting teams for the tournament video.
A special shout-out to our PAFA Cheer Squad who have developed a growing reputation (both home and away) for their hospitality and ‘HIS Dragon Spirit’. GooOOO Dragons!!!
