This year’s U17 ISSO basketball tournament was held at Vadodara. IB schools from all over India participated in the event, including our very own-FHS. This event fostered a sense of competitiveness and sportsmanship in the participants, along with a platform to learn, grow and build new connections.

LO1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth 

Participating in the ISSO event was definitely a memory I will cherish forever. I was one of the main 5 players, and felt a great responsibility for our team’s victory. We lost one match in our pool, but gained victory over the other 2 teams, and had reached the semi-finals against a ‘training for olympics’ team. Although we lost, I played amazingly in the semis, scoring the maximum points. The entire experience, mixed with victories and failures, taught me a lot. I realized my potential in the sport, and how much I underestimated myself. I was amazed when I scored a 3 pointer (my first in a professional tournament!), which further motivated me to pursue the sport. Along with personal victories, there were definitely mistakes made- mispasses, miscoordination, miscommunication. However, I see these mistakes as stepping stones, learning from them and working hard to not repeat them in my coming tournaments.

 LO2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills

A major challenge I faced personally was a lack of communication and practice with the team. Since I was a new student to this school, it was my first time playing with the team (who had already played various tournaments together earlier). This definitely reflected in our first match, which we could have won easily but failed to due to lack of communication. However, this failure motivated us to work on our shortcomings. From then on, after every match, all of us would discuss and reflect upon each player’s strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, I was a part of the main 5 players, and had to play all 4 quarters. This definitely required a huge part of my stamina, which I realized I hadn’t built enough. Therefore, since I’ve come from the tournament, I have been working on building the same- going on runs, practising yoga, basically being regular in my physical exercise. This tournament incentivised me to work harder, and I have surely improved my stamina, dribbling, shooting and ball handling skills ever since.

LO3 – Initiate and plan a CAS experience.

We had to practise basketball with our team during our PS slots, which were held 4 times in 6 days. Our coach, Krushi Desai, would guide us through our practice sessions, focusing on shooting, ball handling and various team drills. We had to toil everyday, building our strengths and improving our weaknesses. Moreover, during the days of the tournament, we would have discussing sessions with the entire team and our coach, who would give us feedback on how we played for that day.

LO5 – Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively.

Basketball is a team sport, thus it is obvious that effective coordination and communication is crucial for proper execution of the sport. There are a total of 12 players, with the main 5 playing inside. The playing 5 have to definitely have good communication, keeping the other team players’ strengths and weaknesses in mind. However, the other 7 players sitting on the bench have an important role as well- cheering the players playing, providing them with water during time-outs. Overall, I gained confidence and learnt how to work as team, along with the importance of putting aside your ego sometimes and being selfless, in order for the team to achieve their goal. All these learnings are definitely gonna help me in the future- in my business pursuits, for the success of which working in a team is extremely vital.