Basketball fever swept the nation in late August as the 2026 Vodafone Fiji Secondary Schools Basketball Championship arrived in Suva. ISS had five teams competing in the finals after qualifying through the Suva Zones competition; Under-15, Under-17 and Under-19 boys, and Under-15 and Under-19 girls.

Days one and two were taken up with group matches and the quarter finals. Both girls teams battled valiantly but neither managed to progress to the quarter finals. The Under-19 boys went out in a shock 16-15 defeat on the Friday night in the quarter finals, despite being highly fancied for the title. For the Year 12 students in the team this was a particularly devastating end to their basketball careers at ISS.

The Under-15 boys performed superbly, winning a late-night quarter final to progress to the semi finals, which would be held in the main hall at the Vodafone Arena. A second-half comeback saw ISS close to within two points of their opponents, but the match finished 22-20 to SVC, a heartbreaking result for the boys. It cannot be denied that there were some tears in the aftermath of this game.

It was the Under-17 boys who impressed the most, winning all of their group games and then progressing through their semi final on Saturday morning 34-23 against ISN. This meant they progressed to the Under-17 final, held in the Vodafone Arena on Saturday evening, where the hopes of ISS would rest on their shoulders.

Their opponents were Yat Sen; a team they had already beaten in the ground round, so confidence was high. There was noisy support from staff, family and friends in the stands, who had waited around for a tip-off that had been delayed by around three hours. Despite the support, Yat Sen were just too strong this time and ran out 27-12 winners. There were tears on show here too but it was an incredible show of ISS unity and dedication.

The following players were named in the ‘All Star Five’ across the tournament, which is voted on by all the team coaches – a fantastic achievement:

• Under-15 Boys All Star: Ozzy Dorji
• Under-17 Boys All Star: Sako Vodivodi
• Under-19 Boys All Star: Jai Ludher

A massive thanks to coaches Jon and Ryan for their commitment to the teams over the past months, and to all those family members for supporting our students throughout the journey to the Nationals. We will move on to bigger and better things in the 2027 season.