Our U12 teams of boys and girls played basketball matches for district level MLA cup. It was an invitational tournament with league cum knock out draws.
Did you know? – Invitational tournament means a sports competition organized by a private institute which is not organized by SAI (Sports Authority of India) or SGFI (School Games Federation of India). In other words, it is not organized by a government body like the ZP (ZP implements the plans of SGFI). It may have higher entry fees, higher prize money, better grounds and facilities. The private body invites some schools to participate in the tournament and only those schools play in the tournament. Hence the name ‘invitational’.
This invitational tournament was organized by Sanjay Sports Academy. Nine schools were invited. The league matches had 3 groups of 3 teams each. The groups are called pools. The matches were held on the beautiful courts of Deccan Gymkhana. All our students were bubbling with excitement on Saturday, 27th July 2013 as this was the first tournament of the year.
Did you know? – League matches are the ones in which all teams play against all other teams in the pool. A defeat does not stop a team from playing the next planned matches. The final scores decide the teams which qualify for the next level. On the other hand, knock out matches imply that when a team loses one match, they are out of the tournament. Only winners go ahead to the next level.
BoysÂ’ first match was with Hoopers club. They won it 10-5.
GirlsÂ’ first match was against Sardar Dastur which was a very strong team. We lost the match 2-20. Our girls were a little nervous, but they were hopeful for the next match.
Next was the boysÂ’ second match. It was against M.P.A. which was again a strong team, considered to be among the tournament favorites. Our boys knew that if they won this match, they would be the pool toppers and would directly qualify for the semifinals. They took lead right from the first quarter, and did not let the opposition recover. We won the match 30-20!
GirlsÂ’ second match was against CSNA. We lost it 16-0. With the defeat, our girlsÂ’ team got out of the tournament.
Thus the day of 27th July alternated between joy and sorrow. Well done boys! Girls, we will surely do better next time! We take this opportunity to request our parents not to stop their wards from going for sports matches when exams are approaching. As we have already said, ‘physical’ part is as important as ‘mental’ in ‘education’. Excellence in sports will surely result in excellence in academics.
The semi-finals for under 12 boys were on Saturday, 3rd August 2013. The venue was the same – Deccan Gymkhana. Our opponents were Vidyanchal High school. The match began on time. Our players were under pressure since it was a semi-final. In the first quarter of the match, our boys took lead of 12-2. The scores in the next 3 quarters were 12-8, 16-16, and 16-22. Thus we finally lost the match that we were capable of winning. Our boys got nervous. We learnt that we lagged not in skill, but in stamina. Our boys got tired after the first quarter and lost their lead.
There have been learnings from all the matches. It is time to work hard now. The world will see our results!
