Written by: Kayla
Edited by: Noah & Pallavi
Visual by: Lia
As ISM sent its Bearcat athletes off to IASAS, it also welcomed athletes from other schools for the IASAS soccer tournament. However, behind the excitement lies a recurring problem whenever ISM hosts an IASAS event: there are not enough beds for visiting athletes until the last minute.
To find accommodations for a total of 180 travelling athletes that came to Manila, Mr. Pekin opened the IASAS hosting interest forms during the previous school year. In the weeks leading up to the tournament, calls to encourage more families to sign up to host were still ongoing. Despite early communication and reminders, it took a long time to secure enough beds for all guests. This raised a key question: what factors influence families’ decisions to host—or not to host—visiting athletes?
IASAS is a three-day event that requires extensive preparation and arrangements to host students for four nights. Families are expected to take responsibility for their guests, providing them with housing, meals, and transportation to and from the tournament sites. Although every ISM family doesn’t need to host, the school highly recommends it as a way to support both the event and the athletes. For parents with children participating in IASAS, hosting serves as a gesture of gratitude and a way to give back to the community.
Beyond logistics, hosting offers a valuable cultural exchange. ISM families can immerse their guests in their culture through at-home practices, meals, and small trips around the city. Similarly, guests can share their own cultures, often through local gifts or mementos.
However, families may not want to host because of the extra work and preparation it takes. Families who have the physical capacity or space to house students but live farther from the school will have to face the traffic. This will create tighter schedules for the family, as they need to shuffle around to pick up and drop off their guests. On the other hand, those living in smaller apartments in BGC may not have enough space for extra people.
In a small survey conducted amongst cross-country IASAS parents, it was noted that only a portion of students encouraged their families to host. Parents who are initially hesitant or uninterested in hosting may end up deciding to host because their children encourage it. This emphasizes the importance of student advocacy when it comes to IASAS hosting.
This leads us to reiterate the question: Why can’t ISM fill IASAS beds quickly, and whose fault is it? Frankly, both students and parents play their part in dictating the pattern of how quickly beds are filled. But we must investigate the cases where families with adequate resources choose not to host.
When interviewing Mr. Pekin, ISM’s Athletic Director, we asked the question, “What kind of things do parents say after they have hosted? ” To which he replied, “For the most part, most families don’t tend to reply; some will say if there is a problem, and we will get a few who say how great it was. But otherwise, we assume no news is good news.”
In this, a problem is evident. Not enough parents are sharing their positive experiences with others.
ISM welcomes a large number of new families yearly, and those new to IASAS may remain hesitant to host. Having strangers live in their household for four days may be uncomfortable, especially if they don’t hear about others’ experiences. So, instead of our school being the sole promoter of IASAS hosting, parents who have previously hosted athletes might consider openly sharing their experiences to provide reassurance to the parent body.
The solution to quicken IASAS bed filling lies beyond school notifications and weekly announcements. Students and parents play an even larger role in encouraging their families and sharing positive experiences. Filling IASAS beds quickly isn’t only about meeting a quota; it’s about continuing a tradition of generosity that makes the Bearcat community truly feel like home.
