The Yew Chung International School of Beijing volleyball teams began the season to an amazing streak of wins against some of Beijing’s well known international schools. These results reflect how determination and team spirit can help achieve great results.

To learn more about our School sports victories, we interviewed Stella Snider-Hickey, Captain of the Girls Under 19 volleyball team, at YCIS Beijing since 2009. Stella, whose name means “Star”, is truly one of our “Star” students. She is involved not only in sports, but dedicates her time to charitable work as well.

Below, she shares with us what her role as Captain of the girls’ team entails and which victories she is most proud of.

When did you join the Volleyball team and why?I joined the volleyball team when I was in Year 9. This year is my third year of playing competitive volleyball. To be honest, I wasn’t very interested in volleyball, I only joined because I wanted to be able to spend time with my friends. It’s been the best choice I have ever made.

What lessons/qualities have you learned from being a part of the team? And being team captain?I learned that being surrounded by people who believe in you and love you is a feeling nothing can ever replace. We all work hard together. We win together, fail together, and even deal with exhaustion together.

What is your role as team captain?The role of team captain includes a lot of talking. Talking between plays, before practice, during the week, whether it’s inspiring quotes or just silly things. I promise, if I wore a mic during a game, no one would understand what I was trying to say I say it that fast. But, it works because then my teammates know that there are people watching and helping. The hardest part about being captain though, is keeping a positive attitude while also making sure everyone is focused.

How is the team performing so far?The team is doing great! We just finished our final game of the season last night. It was at BIBA, against their varsity team. We knew walking in that it would be tough because they had the same season record as us. After an hour and a half of nerve-wracking, intense and amazing volleyball we won, 3-1. Our season record is now 5 wins-1 loss. We are currently first place and we have our final ISAC Tournament tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Which victories have you been proud of and why?I’d say that the CISB game is the one I am proudest of by far. They were in the division above us, and last year won 2nd place when we got 6th. We decided that we would be happy if we at least won one set. In the end we pushed them all the way to the 5th set and ended up winning 3-2! The playing was amazing, but more importantly the atmosphere was a lot of fun. As you may have noticed, there is a healthy competition between us and the CISB Bobcats. Their gym was packed, but even so, the screaming of the Scorpions overpowered their chants.

What other sports and extra-curricular activities do you take part in?I play on the U-19 girls basketball team, and unlike volleyball, I’ve been playing basketball since I joined the U10 team 7 years ago. I used to play football, and I’m hoping to start back up this year. Other than sports I’m also part of the Student Council and Migrant Children’s Foundation (MFC).

With a few more games coming up this Saturday, we wish our girls’ team an energetic game. Go Scorpions!