Kudos: Winter Happenings in Futsal, Chess and TV Appearances

Darshan Chahal, grade 6, participated in the World Futsal Cup in Barcelona from Dec 28-30. Chahal plays futsal (indoor soccer) for the San Jose Legends Futsal Club. His futsal club won the USA Futsal National Championship in North Carolina in July, earning it the right to represent the United States in Barcelona. In addition to participating in the tournament, Chahal enjoyed touring the soccer stadiums of the world famous Real Madrid FC (Estadio Santiago Bernabeu) and FC Barcelona (Camp Nou). He also spent a night at the Ciudad del Futbol (Soccer City), a sports complex build for the Royal Spanish Football Federation, where the Spanish national soccer team stays and practices prior to international tournaments. Submitted by Harker parent Karen Singh

Twin boys Drake and Dominick Piscione, grade 3, have been acting and modeling since they were 5 years old. Most recently, they were thrilled to share the spotlight with a select group of children featured in a “MythBusters” spinoff television show, which just aired on the Discovery Channel. Co-hosted by MythBusters stars Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, the one-hour special was called “Dangerous Toys.” In the show, Hyneman and Savage mined the children’s imaginations for ideas on how to build such kid-inspired “toys” as a 25-foot couch fort and explosive robot armies. In other news, Drake recently filmed a pilot for the A&E network for a show called “Restless Souls,” which will air in the spring.

Nathan Liu, grade 2, made a number of very important chess wins at the recent CalChess State Grade Level Championship, held in mid-January at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlinghame. Among his awards was an individual trophy for “super performance.” He also joined the Bay Area Chess team and won second place for a team trophy. Liu learned how to play chess in an after-school club at Harker just last year and fell in love with it.

In other chess news, Shafieen Ibrahim, grade 7, recently tied for fifth place in the Golden Gate Open Chess Tournament held in Concord. The weekend event was sponsored by the Continental Chess Association.

January 28, 2014Tags: Featured Story