Spotlight On Tanglin Trust School (Singapore)
Tanglin Trust School is an International school in Singapore that runs as a non-profit organisation. Established in 1925, Tanglin Trust School provides British-based learning with an international perspective for students aged 3–18.
Peter Bell spoke to Tanglin PE Teacher and Touch Coach Vicky Paterson about the school’s history at All Schools.
How long has Tanglin been attending the All Schools?
We are excited to say that this is our 11th Year at the All Schools. It is definitely the Tournament that every Touch player at school wants to attend.
What do you see as the positives for your school and students in attending the event?
The standard of play, that the players get to watch and verse is definitely the main positive. To be able to see the game played by so many students, seeing their enjoyment and competitiveness, allows our players to gain experience and knowledge of different styles of play, which aides in their overall learning and game development during this tournament. We also don’t get to play teams in SEA of this quality!
You have three age divisions attending for the first time I think – is this a pointer to the value in attending for your players?
The first year of Covid was going to be the school’s first year of bringing 3 teams. Obviously, this didn’t happen and last year due to the world only just opening up, it didn’t feel right, to bring 3 teams.
This is definitely something we have wanted to do as a school for some time, we have been developing the grass roots Touch community so we have the opportunity to bring a U13 team. We are hoping that we will be competitive, but we are also hoping that the players themselves get to see the different standard in which players of their age can perform to. This will hopefully inspire them to be the best touch player that they can be.
What significance does your attendance provide for the general school community?
The significance of the tournament does not just have an impact on Touch, but also on all the other sports that are played at school. As other sporting athletes also want to compete in competitions of this standard, throughout South East Asia and beyond.
The All Schools has definitely made our sports department, strive for excellence through competitive Tournaments.
What can we expect from your girls this year?
Players to watch etc.? As usual the girls will bring a tour spirit and excitement of playing other schools which we haven’t played before.
The U15 and U13 are developing squads with some raw talent coming through from a variety of age groups.
In our U18 team we are lucky enough to have 4 girls who represented Singapore in the U18 team, who recently played in the Asia Pacific Youth Touch cup. We have two up and coming players that are worth watching out for Nina Donaldson and Tamani Khanbabi.
