I also had the privilege of coaching and being involved in a variety of sporting teams including varsity boys football and basketball as well as athletics. For football, I took the team away to Nürnberg Germany and Zurich, Switzerland. As for basketball, I enjoyed a trip to Dresden, Germany and Barcelona, Spain. All trips were fantastic, allowing me to further develop my coaching while also travelling and enjoying the sights of Germany and abroad.
Further to the travel, I was fortunate to go to Vienna, Austria for an International Schools PE teachers’ conference with over 100 teachers from across the world and went on a trip to Lisbon, Portugal to participate in the European Sports Conference AGM.
As far as my family goes, my wife Laura has been a woman of leisure taking the opportunity to catch up with friends and family, while regularly jogging in the forest, her favoured recreational activity. Leon and Noah have had an experience to remember having had the opportunity to be enrolled in the Early Elementary School at BBIS. My boys have had some wonderful experiences being a part of musicals, going out into the forest for expeditions and learning some new skills in PE. Most significantly, the boys are now fluent in German, which was one of the main goals for them and strengthened their support for ‘Die Mannschaft (German football team)’.
The highlights, for the family, was most definitely our summer vacation in Greece, enjoying the great weather, beaches, food and company of some old friends. In the European winter, we travelled across Germany into The Netherlands and then down into Belgium. Therefore, we certainly made the most of Europe’s diverse and beautiful cities, landscape and diversity.
So as I wrap up my year, I managed to bring in Jerome Boateng multiple Bundesliga winner, Champions League and World Cup winner. Not only is Jerome a world class footballer but he is also super cool and easy to chat to as was evident when I interviewed him in front of staff, students and parents at the school. He related to the students really well and was able to share some great stories and tips on how to make it to the top in the world game. I did ask him about Sydney and it was definitely on the list of travel destinations. Getting in Jerome to BBIS was a great way that I could say thanks to the whole BBIS community for making my teacher exchange a most wonderful experience!