Saint-Cloud, November 7, 2018 ISST Division 1 Boys Championship 2018-19: Soaring to New Heights

Dear ISST Volleyball players, coaches, supporters,

Did you know that the word “volley” in Volleyball comes from the late 16th century French verb volée, which is based on the Latin origin volare? You’ve already started to ask the next logical question: what did this word first mean when OUR MISSION Europeans used it?

The American Volare is the verb “to FLY,” and today we use it in French (se voler) in the same manner. School of Paris is a When I first thought of this, I immediately began making associations to great aspirations of the human spirit and then to vibrant, so many historical achievements (the Wright brothers, NASA’s mission to the moon, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart). international, And this is the beauty of language and history—words can be so rich that they can be treasures in many different ways. family-oriented And now you can take extra pride as a volleyball player (or coach, parent, spectator) that this game that you love is community. associated with the wonders of flight. In fact, it was at the first official demonstration of the game in 1895, when sports directors saw the ball flying through the gymnasium, that they thought it should be called Volleyball (instead of

Mintonette, which it was originally named by its inventor William Morgan). Starting tomorrow—here in Paris, 123 years Our mission is to later—we will all see many volleys in our 2 gymnasiums, and balls will be flying and soaring through the air with cool spins, inspire and prepare with grand souplesse, at great speeds, and we will all be filled with wonder and joy! every student to In addition to the sport’s rich linguistics context, it has experienced tremendous development and growth during its achieve personal history. Invented in America, Volleyball today is one of the big 5 international team sports and FIVB is the largest international sports federation in the world, and it is played on every continent and in practically every corner of the world. and academic excellence as an Teams at this 2018-19 championship in Paris highlight this worldwide appeal, as our Division 1 cadre includes teams that come from neighboring countries such as and England and those who have traveled much farther from and engaged global . 5 different nations of schools are represented here, but even more impressive is this fact: participating are citizen by providing students of 24 different nationalities who come from Argentina, , , , , , , a challenging, England, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, , Ireland, , , Malasya, , Republic of Korea, , United States of America, Venezuela . . . WOW! Our conference championship truly is an innovative program excellent illustration and symbol for the great sport of international volleyball today. within a compassionate environment.

2018 – 19 American School of Paris team

With those thoughts in mind, I wish you the best of sporting experiences in the coming days and the greatest success for you and your teams. ASP is honored to welcome you and we look forward to seeing you soar to new heights!

John KIM, Director, Athletics & Activities

RESPECT YOURSELF RESPECT YOUR TEAM RESPECT THE GAME