Last Thursday, a squad of 14- to 16-year-old high school students lost a basketball game… by 131 points! I wrote about CEC’s inconceivable 159-28 loss to UC and asked if any school official or exponent would explain why, after only a few days’ of preparation, their boys were permitted to join the toughest inter-school league in Vis-Min.

Well, at 2:16 p.m. last Sunday, my mobile phone rang. It was Penelope Villabert. “Call me Penny,” she said. A former parent of CEC (and one who worked, for a time, at the well-known Chinese school), Penny and I spoke for nine minutes. Later that night, she sent me this email:

“Sir, Greetings! You are one of the columnists I respect and admire. I know you will understand the concerns I will convey as regards your opinion  in your column, “With 131-pt wreckage, CEC’s name is bruised.” It is a fact that CEC has been in deep slumber especially in athletics for years. It is waking up slowly but surely under the leadership of the new administration for almost two years now. Most of the school’s concerns have been addressed to and this time they are focusing on sports.