Capital Giving - A Community on the Move

It’s no secret that the HKIS Activities & Athletics program is a jewel in the school’s crown. Time after time, parents tell us that the balance between our academic programs and physical wellness is a major reason for sending their children to HKIS. After all, an active body can have a tremendous benefit upon a healthy brain, with the two going hand in hand for many of our students.

However, our athletic prowess and ambitions for programming were outgrowing the older facilities at Tai Tam, which were beginning to creak with age. The bold vision for the Dragon Center for Activities & Athletics (DCAA), opened in November 2025, was not simply to upgrade facilities for existing sporting programs. Rather, it was to expand our offerings considerably across the board, for the benefit of our entire school community.

Naturally, the DCAA boasts top class gymnasia, a state-of-the-art fitness suite, and an eight-lane swimming pool to replace the old High School facilities, but this only tells half the story. The Dragon Center’s many other facilities have finally given us the spaces we need to launch a multitude of new programs. In its first year of use, the Dragon Center quickly became a vibrant hub for the many different ways in which our community gets active and connects with one another. Whichever way you love to move, chances are the Dragon Center has something for you!

For our students, we added a raft of new After-School Activities (ASAs). Middle Schoolers can now enjoy activities as diverse as Wrestling, Water Polo, Taekwondo, and Junior Lifeguarding. Proving that the Dragon Center is not just here for Tai Tam students, Lower and Upper Primary students travel from Repulse Bay to partake in ASAs including Table Tennis and Dance classes covering K-Pop, Hip Hop and Funky Jazz!

Last but not least, the Dragon Center has given a home to our burgeoning network of HKIS alumni and provided a focal point for old friends and classmates to come together in friendly competition. Organized by teacher, parent, and alumnus Jeremy Evans ‘93, Alumni Basketball has become a regular fixture in the DCAA gymnasium, with participants rolling back the years, working up a sweat, and forging new memories with their teammates. More recently, Alumni Football has begun to use the Dragon Center as a base, and there is appetite to grow the offering to other sports for our alumni. We are thrilled at the prospect of welcoming ever more Dragons back to campus.

With all these athletic and wellness programs taking place in the Dragon Center, it’s rare not to find it humming with activity at any given time during the day and into the evening. Visitors will hear the splash of swimmers moving up and down the length of the pool, the clunk of weight plates in the Fitness Center, and the rapid thump of basketballs across the gym floor, as weary but glowing athletes walk the corridors after practice ends. Quieter, more mindful pursuits are also taking place too, in the multipurpose rooms and studios. There’s no doubt that the Dragon Center has given the school a fantastic facility in which these activities can all take place. Truly, we are a community on the move!