Millennium Community

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, 27^th 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 27^th 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, 3^rd 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!

A 2 day training camp was held for physical education teachers of junior colleges by ZP, HSC board on 25th and 26th July 2013. The camp was a district level meet to discuss the physical education curriculum for the junior college students. Physical Education (PE) teachers of many Junior colleges from Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad area attended the camp.

It is extremely heartening to know that this was the first time that such a training camp was conducted. We feel that equal emphasis should be given to the ‘physical’ part of ‘education’, as much as mental or academic. As J.F. Kennedy rightly said, “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”

The value of physical fitness can never be overstated. It builds self esteem, reduces stress, improves judgement, provides a lifetime recreational opportunity, helps to establish, strive for, and achieve personal goals, prevents a sedentary lifestyle.

The topics discussed in the meet included physical fitness and its development, injuries related to bones and joints, doping, nutrition, fitness index, obesity, yoga, games and competitions, fitness test etc. The syllabus and the practical problems of PE teachers in its implementation were also discussed in detail.

In this age of technology, pace and competition, we want our children to be playing; not on screens, but on grounds! Not individual games of violence, but games teaching team spirit and cooperation! We want our children to be energetic, active and fit throughout their lives! For this very reason, P.E. deserves its righteous place in the scheme of things. Such a camp is a very positive step in that direction. We want our children to develop love for play, yearning for some game, so that they always have a huge ground to dump their worries in, throughout their lifetime.

We are the ones who can start making the change. We, the community of parents, teachers and students should realize the urgency to transform ourselves into an active lifestyle. Here at Millennium we want to see a healthy tomorrow for all of us. We will strive to ignite that healthy spark in our children which shall remain with them forever. And we need a strong support from parents in achieving this. Are we game?

We had the finals of the tug of war inter house competition on Monday, 22nd July 2013. It was an emotion packed day for participants and viewers alike. Warriors  from 4th to 9th fought and enjoyed the sport. Students were very excited and charged-up even before reaching the battlefield. The real battlefield, that is our badminton hall, scored very high on the energy-meter. 🙂 Students were sitting according to houses with a member waving the house flag vigorously in front of the group. The matches were conducted very efficiently, one after the other. Some victories were very quick while some took longer. Every few minutes, the hall shook with loud yays and heavy sighs. The rejoicing students were a treat to watch! The teams who lost were also encouraged to discuss the reasons of the defeat. They worked out some strategies and their performance indeed improved.

The lower standards had clear and quicker results. Higher classes had tougher and longer fights. It was interesting to see how the teachers and the audience too got involved in every match. We also had teachers vs boys matches which provided motivation to all. Finally Anvit sir, too, fought from the students’ side, but lost to the teachers’ team. His involvement and reaction to defeat in itself was a morale booster for our warriors.

Some students were playing the game for the first time and were very happy to share the strategies that they had thought of and implemented.  Along with sports skills, the entire event was also a lesson in unity, team spirit, healthy enjoyment, respect for teachers, sportsman spirit, learning from seniors etc to name some.

The standard-wise scores were as below –

Class	Blue	Red	Yellow	Green
4th	3	6	5	6
5th	5	7	5	3
6th	4	6	5	5
7th	6	2	6	6
8th	4	6	5	5
9th	7	3	3	7
Total	29	30	29	32

Green house scored the highest points in tug of war, followed very closely by the rest 3 houses.

Kudos to all !!

Department of Sports

Vijayan, Anand and Ramdas
 

The U-17 football team had left school today at 7:30 am for the Range Hills ground to play their first match of the Subroto Mukerjee Cup . However on reaching the venue, the organizers informed them that the matches were postponed. It was told that the ground was very muddy because of heavy rainfall. The tournament will resume again in 2-3 days’ time.  The team returned to school in time for their geometry unit test paper. Though the trip to the ground seems to have gone in vain, it surely makes a learning experience for our student friends.

Subroto Cup Tournament is an inter-school football tournament named after the Indian Air Force Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee. He conceived the idea of such a nationwide tournament in 1958 when he was the chief of the air staff. The tournament is being played since 1960. The prizes are as high as Rs 3,00,000. The inter-school tournaments are held in every state of India. Our vision is to reach Delhi for the finals and be national winners !

Yes! The inter-house competitions of the year 2013-14 begin today. And this year they begin with a bang! All houses get to show their strength, and we mean it literally! We are starting an action-packed sports year with the game of TUG OF WAR. Our student warriors will be playing this game in a technically perfect way on the Millennium campus for the first time ever. We have the selections today and the finals on Monday.

Although almost all of us have played this game casually for fun, it is interesting to know that it has many formal rules.  Tug o’ war can be dated back to 8^th century BC. This sport has also been a part of the Olympic Games from 1900 to 1920. So letÂ’s all bring back the glory of the game to this ‘MillenniumÂ’ and kick off our sports year with real power!

Warriors from blue, green, yellow and red, roll up your sleeves and let those muscles do the talking!