JFKS Rams – Elementary School Team 1 gets Bronze in Basketball Competition

The JFKS Rams fifth and sixth grade team powered to third place in the fist league finals of the Berlin elementary schools basketball competition. On Saturday May 9, the Rams won three of four games at group level to move into the quarter finals. They won that but lost to the Bäke School in the semi-finals. The Rams then won the play-off for third place.

Jan, Richard, Tarek, Liam, Ayodeji and Malka, played great basketball.  Jan always ran forward to get the ball on fast breaks, while Liam as a good forward liked to slow the ball and attack with tricks, power and motivation. Each member of the team was different and yet everyone had something to contribute. Team members got along very well and motivated each other. They were in harmony and cheered each other on. They didn’t yell at each other if someone lost the ball while dribbling or didn’t make a basket.

The Rams’ coach, Andreas Nagel, deserves a special mention for his encouragement and for supporting the decisions the team make on the court. His calmness gave the Rams confidence and stopped the players from getting nervous. This was one important reason why the team did better than expected. After the Rams came a strong second in their group, Herr Nagel said the team could make it into the top three with the Hausburgschule and the Bäke Schule. And we did, coming in behind Bäke (silver) and Hausburgschule (gold)!

Also participating in this final tournament was JFK II. A big thank you to Herr Mayer for coaching the team. The team worked and played hard reaching fourth place. A big thank you goes out to the seven players finding time to participate in this weekend event. Thanks to: Alicia, Paul, Patrick, Finn, Antonin and Julius. A job well done.

Special thanks to Mrs. Geary-Müller for organizing and teaching the whole season and Jim for his great coaching.

(Richard Wiesmann)