Hanoi-Amsterdam Organization ::

AMS 2005 Male Basketball Team

In order to remain our Hanoi-Amsterdam’s reputation on basketball (we won three championships in three consecutive years), this coming year 2005, our male basketball team is trying to make it the 4th in a row. There are some members of the team who attended the last three championships such as Captain Thai (L2 03-06), Long (H1 03-06) and Tung (L2 02-05). This year, they are still full of energy and eager to win more than ever.

Apart from those senior players, our team will also have two special junior players from the 10th grade which are Hien and Ba Linh. Ba Linh (Bop), despite of his limited height, possesses an excellent speed as well as one of the best passing skill among all players in school right now. Meanwhile, Hien was famous for his over-size body and arms’ length which made him stand out of the crowd. Another new face to our team is Long (H1 03-06) – a really talented Forward – who will be expected to see many action in the tournament. This year, most of the players in our team come from the 11th grade; three are from the 12th (Tung, Thanh, Dung) and three others come from the 10th grade. Mr. Than is our head coach and Mr. Hien will probably be our deputy coach (to be announced).

Last week, our team had a friendly match with the “All Star 13” for the purpose of choosing out the best 12 players for the 2005 championship. “All Star 13” team consists of some famous faces from the 12th grade just graduated last year, namely, Hoa(L2 01-04), Tu (L2 01-04), Toan (H1 98-01), Hoai Anh (A2 01-04), Hieu Minh (Ti 02-05), Duong (L1 03-06) and Duong (H2 02-05). These two “of equal talent” teams battled out a very tense match up until the 4th quarter. For the first three quarters, All Star 13 dominated the game while our new Ams' team did not perform up to standard. Captain Thai sat at a reserve player position for half of the game. Whereas, Long did not have much chance to prove himself as he was drastically defended by Toan and Hoai Anh. The only "bright" stars for AMS were Tung (in the first quarter) and Hien (in the third quarter).

However, as the 4th quarter began, All Star 13 showed their exhaustion. Hoai Anh and Hoa were cramp badly. Taking this advantage, together with much needed rest and a “getting-back-to-form” of Thai and Long, the new AMS team putted up a good solid quarter and the game ended 58-49. They surely deserved that victory. Even though some members did not perform up to our expectation on that day, our new Ams' team still proved that they are talented enough to keep the champion cup here - at our beloved Hanoi-Amsterdam High School - Home of the Basketball Championship this year.

By Nguyễn Hoài Anh (Anh2 01-04)
E-HAO Sport News
Posted by Nguyen Thu Hien - Van 98-01