Written by: Andy 

Edited by: Mehek

IASAS. Interscholastic Association for Southeast Asia Schools. It’s a word that excites many athletes, musicians, artists, and even debaters in ISM. You’ve most likely seen these ISM IASAS delegates around school, sporting their black and green varsity jackets. 

However, many in the ISM community are unaware that two to three weeks before an IASAS tournament, many schools host an IASAS exchange that many have dubbed, “Pre-IASAS”. This event allows varsity athletes to get a taste of the competition before the actual IASAS tournament. During the long weekend in September, “Pre-IASAS” was held for all season 1 sports. The exchange for volleyball was held at the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL), the football exchange was held at Singapore American School (SAS), and the cross country “Pre-IASAS” was held at the International School of Bangkok (ISB). Many of our varsity athletes, however, were not able to experience this exchange, as ISM chose to not send their delegates to ISKL or SAS. 

When interviewing students, varsity volleyball player, Zari (Grade 11) stated that “(she) was disappointed,” and that she did not think it was “fair that they’re sending sports like cross country.” Overall, several varsity athletes who did not participate shared emotions of disappointment, stating that it would have been more “useful to send team sports such as volleyball and football” to these exchanges to scope out other teams.

Connor (Grade 12) however, believed that while pre-IASAS would have been a “good low-stakes opportunity to get a gauge of the skill level of the other IASAS teams,” skipping these exchanges also had its benefits. “IASAS teams won’t get to watch us as well, and so we may have a kind of element of surprise,” Connor said, saying that as a senior, going to an event such as pre-IASAS would have negatively affected his other commitments. 

The Athletics Director, Mr. Pekin, explained why certain teams and athletes were not sent to pre-IASAS events. Following the IASAS and school board meetings last December 2022 and April 2023, carbon emissions and costs had a big impact on whether schools would send their athletes. Following the pandemic, both an eco-friendly sentiment as well as a hike in flight prices meant that pre-IASAS events would not necessarily be worth the cost. In addition, some schools would not send their full varsity teams. Instead, they would send a mix of junior varsity and varsity players who would not be a “true reflection of the teams that are going to IASAS.” 

Mr. Pekin clarified that these IASAS exchanges would now be referred to as “invitationals”. This means that more schools outside of just the IASAS 6 would be able to join the events. This would not only increase the competition that our teams face, but also remove the need for all IASAS schools to take part in these exchanges. 

Furthermore, Mr. Pekin said that one of the main purposes of sending ISM teams to invitationals would be to get more games and competition for the teams. Teams such as volleyball, football, and basketball can have upwards of ten games in a season, and these teams would not need to ride a plane to play two or three more games. Sports such as rugby and softball, however, do not get enough “quality games,” and would benefit from traveling to these invitationals and experiencing different levels of competition. 

Therefore, despite the disappointment of many of our varsity team athletes, ISM administration’s reasoning for not participating in some of these new invitationals can be understood. There is, however, hope for athletes of future years, as Mr. Pekin did say that they may pursue a rotation-like system that allows for some teams to go some years, and others to go other years.