Strong Words Came From the Rider

A Young Student who Rode his Way Through Life
By Moustafa Barakat

Mohammed Ali Seif is a current eighth grader who has spent most of his life at Schutz American School. He is fourteen years old but his mind is motivated and filled with vitality. He is part of a large family with two sisters and a lot of cousins. Physical Education is Mohammed’s favorite subject. He loves the challenge and endurance of working out and playing sports. Not only is Mohammed a great person with an outstanding personality, but he is a dedicated horseback rider. Mohammed goes every day to ride his horses in the Alexandria Sporting Club. Mohammed has two horses, Mister Bombastic and Fabio, and he loves having them both race and compete with one another. Mohammed has had a lot of inspirations and support from his parents and his trainer Captain Yaser.
Mohammed Seif is not only a dedicated and talented horseback rider but also a teacher and inspirer of the sport. Mohammed talked about how anyone could become a great horse rider. The first step is that you have to achieve balance and concentration. The second step is to understand your horse and talk to him, and not be afraid of him in any way and to have a bond with your horse. Mohammed also said that persistence, courage, love, passion and endurance are very important things that you have to achieve to become a motivated horseback rider. “It is all about experience,” said Mohammed Seif. Mohammed is talented and has an outstanding personality.
Mohammed Ali Seif participated in many competitions through out Egypt; he went to a lot of clubs to compete with many other talented horseback riders. However he does not always ride his horses to compete. He loves the feeling of being high above the ground and getting attention from the people around him. He also enjoys the tact and strategies behind controlling his horses. Mohammed Seif also loves feeding his horses and giving them treats for the day.

Looking Forward to Euro 2008

By Omar Zahran

The UEFA European football championship for 2008, also known as the Euro, will take place in Austria and Switzerland. It will take place between June 7th and June 29th this year. This tournament takes place every four years. The winner in 2004 was Greece.
There will be sixteen teams in the championship. Austria and Switzerland automatically qualify because they are the hosts of the tournament. The remaining fourteen countries are Poland, Portugal, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Germany, Croatia, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Romania, and the Netherlands. Each of the sixteen teams will be split up into four groups. The teams in the groups will play each other for spots in the knockout round. Two teams from each group will enter the knockout round and have a chance to play in, and win, the Euro 2008 finals.
Group A will consist of Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Turkey. They will be the first group to play in the tournament. The first two teams playing are Switzerland and the Czech Republic. They will play in St. Jakob’s Park in Basel, Austria. This will be the place of the opening ceremony too.
Austria, Croatia, Germany, and Poland will make up Group B. This group will begin to play on June 8th, one day after the opening ceremony and Group A’s beginning. The qualifying rounds will be done for Group B by June 16th.
Group C is by far the strongest group in the tournament. It is made up of World Cup Finalists, Italy and France. They are accompanied by Romania and the Netherlands. Italy, France, and the Netherlands are all teams that are internationally known for excellence which make this the most competitive group in the whole tournament.
Finally, Group D is made up of 2004’s winner Greece, Sweden, Spain, and Russia. This group will begin playing on June 10th and finish their qualifying matches by June 18th.
This will be an especially exciting competition because it will have some of the most talented teams in the world. The winner of this tournament will play in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. All of the winners from the continental cups will be able to participate in this cup.

Varsity Volleyball Tournament Ends in Girls’ Disappointment

By Moustafa Barakat and Aya Kordy

Schutz American School hosted this year the Varsity Volleyball tournament (October 24-28). The Schutz players showed that both teams have made great improvements and excelled. The girls won the first two games but lost the final games to rank in fifth place which was quite a disappointment to the general team and the school. In contrast, the boys played with great teamwork and cooperation crowned by achieving third place.
Hannia Zanana and Laila Afifi were the girls’ captains while the boys’ captains were Seif El Attal and Khaled El Naggar. They were great role models for the rest of the teams and they showed great compassion at the time of their losses.
Five different schools from the Middle East competed in the tournament. In addition to Schutz American School, there were the British International School of Cairo, the American Community School of Amman, the American Community School of Beirut, and the American School of Doha. All teams showed great enthusiasm; nevertheless, sportsmanship was not fully achieved between teams. Some players unfortunately displayed inappropriate behaviors.
The coaches of Schutz’ teams are Clay and Susannah Huggins. They encouraged their teams to keep doing the best they can at the times of a loss. Mrs. Huggins declared, “I like how creative the players are because they always have solutions to problems.” Clay Huggins added, “There was a lot of chemistry between players, and I think they worked well together and had a great time”.
Doha won first in the girls division. After a final game between Doha and Amman, Amman won the boys division.
The Schutz Athletic Director, Mindi Dryer, performed really well in organizing the festivities and working out any tribulations.

Determination Brings Forth Great Achievements

By Omar Zahran

Name: Arnab Chaudhuri
Born: January 22, 1992
Hometown: Calcutta, India
Plays: Right-Handed
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Hobbies: Computer Games, Cricket, Guitar

Arnab has been playing cricket since he was eleven years old. At first he played for fun and did not realize that soon he was about to play cricket for national teams. Arnab kept on practicing to perfect his skills in cricket. While studying in Thailand he was picked for the National Team of Thailand. He has traveled to international competitions in Malaysia, Dubai, and India. Arnab proved to be a valuable player in Thailand and played for them for three years till he moved to Egypt in 2005.
Arnab is a hard working person as he works just as hard at school as he does on a cricket field. Arnab joined Schutz just two years ago. Arnab decided to join the Alexandria Cricket Team and has now become one of the permanent team players. The Alexandria Cricket Team which plays under the first division includes six teams. Arnab stated that “The Alexandria Cricket Team still needs a lot of practice as the players managed to win only five matches out of eight matches last year." This year Arnab believes the Alexandria Cricket Team may have a chance to win the league.
Arnab has received many awards for his cricket skills. The biggest award in cricket is the Man of the Match Award. This award is given to the best player of the winning team. Arnab has received two man of the match awards. He received these awards when he played for Thailand against Singapore and Hong Kong. He has won a third place trophy and a third place medal during his career in other tournaments. With Arnab working hard both in and out of the cricket field it is possible he might have a future to maybe play in a national team at a higher level in the future.

iBust!

By Tarek Talaat

The iPod Nano is Apple’s mid-range portable media player. It originated on September 7, 2005. Apple surprised everyone with the iPod Nano as no one expected a sudden decline in the popularity of the former iPod Mini.
Many people say that the only disadvantage of the iPod Nano is that it does not connect or synchronize over a FireWire connection. That was not the case when it came to Danny Williams. Despite the iPod originating in 2005, another disadvantage was only discovered in 2007. "I look down and I see flames coming up to my chest," Williams said. He also explained that if it was not for the piece of glossy paper in his pocket with the iPod, he would have had a 15-second burn.
Apple wanted to send him a brand new iPod in exchange for his old burned one. Williams' mother refused and instead took the story to the Channel 2 news. She explained that this was not just about one iPod bursting into flames; it was about what could have happened. This led Elaine Williams to think, "It could have happened when we were sleeping, or when he was driving, and the outcome would have become much worse." When Channel 2 sent Apple the pictures, Apple refused to comment on the incident at all.
It was said that the iPod uses a lithium ion battery, the same battery under recall for setting laptops on fire. Use over a long time may be risky. Young people love the latest technology trends; however, they need to be aware of their potential downsides.

Hang out at the coolest place, where all the action takes place:

1. Carrefour
2. Sporting Club
3. Starbucks
4. Green Plaza
5. San Stefano

Porto Marina Powerboating Championship

By Karim Maksoud

The fifth race of the 'Class I' World Powerboating Championship was held at Porto Marina from October 25th through the 27th. This event was hosted by Amer Group. The world class event was described to have been an experience similar to "driving a Formula 1 car and flying an air plane."
Amer Group signed an agreement with the World Professional Power boating Association to host the Powerboating Championship in Egypt for at least the next five years. The teams that were present were from UAE, Italy, Qatar, Norway, and England. This event was covered by 142 international TV channels.
The Championship was advertised on Egyptian TV and on different channels. This event was a way to invite tourists to Egypt. The event was attended by thousands of viewers as it was free of charge, but many of the viewers attending had no background on the sport. People who attended found that there was poor organization. Some people were not informed that the races would be held at another gate in Marina. Hosting such an event in Egypt is a great step towards attracting more tourists to Egypt. It is also a good way to utilize the beautiful Egyptian beaches to make new water sports more popular.

Go eat at the yummiest places in town:

1. Four Seasons
2. Friday's
3. Chilli's
4. Ole
5. KOI