Basketball. The One Sport of Woodstock

Its been a while. There have been departures and there have been arrivals. There have been players fulfilling all their promise and players just waiting for a chance to shine. The moment Mr. Mark hands over that jersey to anybody in Woodstock, they know its their one shot to make a mark on Woodstock's strong basketball history. Ladies and Gentlemen, Basketball season is here and is off to a flyer!

After some dedicated practice and hard work, the Woodstock boys basketball team has started their season by winning their first three friendlies. The first game was against the surprisingly short Welham boys team. Though they were quite short, They were full of surprises. When the game started it seemed that it was going to be nothing more than a straightforward walk in the park for the boys as they raced to an early 9 point lead. As the game wore on Woodstock never seemed like they were going to relinquish their lead. They were constantly attacking the opposition with one fast break after another. It was all smooth sailing until the 3rd quarter when out of the blue, Welhams suddenly became a lot more accurate. After trailing by almost 15 points throughout the first half, Welhams suddenly were only 7 points away. This brief scare was easily pushed aside as Woodstock regained their initial bravado and continued to decimate their opponents. The game ended 42-26 in the favor of Woodstock. The second game was against the "mighty" WybergAllen team. After I missed the game I asked P.E teacher Mr. Luukkonen how the game was. His reply was "it was a tight game, the team barely won. It ended 55-11." The third and final game was against Woodstocks main sporting rival. Doon School. The game was always going to be the most intense of the lot and consequently had the largest turnout of fans. The moment the game started, the fans realised that they were definitely getting their expectations met. With injuries to Tadit and Captain Kakivi, the game had a very aggressive edge to it. The Doon School even had five of its players fouled out after they constantly failed to deal with Woodstocks speedy players. The game finally ended with a score line of 42-21, with Woodstock outscoring Doon by double their score.

These results were definitely good news to a team so heavily unfavored to win anything this year that people are actually predicting Woodstock to finally lift the Win Mumby trophy after missing it the last 5 years. If these results are anything to go by, then we will have a great season to look forward to!

The Controversial Sport of Woodstock

Ahh time for a little tour down conspiracy/controversy lane. This weekend midlands played host to Woodstock's all time most controversial game. The one game that never ever ever ends with all parties happy...Dodgeball. The night began on a sour note when teams began stealing players to join their own teams. After an initial period of frustration, the game finally started. The first game was contested between the 12th graders B teamand the 11th grade all korean team. After a long drawn out game, the 11th graders managed a comfortable victory with the game eventually ending with 3 juniors against 1 senior. The next game was between the 12th grade A team and the 11the grade A team, definitely the most anticipated game of the evening. After an amazingly tight game, the seniors managed to snatch victory in a match which was seemingly impossible for them. the controversial moment of the game being when 11th grader Gaurab Adhikari was declared out 3 times in the space of a minute. This fueled the 11th graders to become extremely aggressive. Making them just throw the ball without aiming. Basically playing like a bunch of blind kids in a shootout. The Night ended with the same game as both of the teams reached the finals. In a dominant display, the 11th graders, with the help of senior Pranit Budhathoki destroyed the 12th graders in a one sided affair. After the game, The 11th graders were furious with how the refereeing was conducted. There was even a moment when an 11th grade spectator had to be held back from attacking the Ref!

Inter House Sports and All That Jazz

Bonjour mes amis,
Finally we have had some sort of sports. It's been a while.
Inter house cricket finally took place. Though unsurprisingly, it ended with all three teams winning one game and losing the other. The Merlins seemed to be the team to beat and technically, they did have the highest run rate meaning they should have won(no shock there) but sadly, the rules never said it was going to consult the run rate to decide victory.(The Merlins victory blockade still in effect I suppose.) As good as the Merlins might have played, the best player of the day was without a doubt Tejaskar Rana of the Condors. His knock of 57 was highly entertaining for the spectators and highly infuriating for the "Mighty" Eagles bowling attack. It seemed as though they simply did not know what to do as Rana was hitting them all over the park. The other entertaining point of the game must have been the amount guys playing who didn't have a clue of what they were doing.(Not really surprising in Woodstock.) There were some talking points in the game regarding certain LBW (leg before wicket) decisions and players getting frustrated at each other, but I guess that's the beauty of the "Gentleman's game" in Woodstock. Inter house basketball was also an interesting affair, with the condors simply mauling everyone in each division. There were games such as the inter boys Merlins vs Condors which stand testimony to their destruction. In a game which seemed to be pretty evenly contested, the Merlins ended up losing 14-48, more than triple of what the Merlins were able to score. The Merlins were at least able to salvage the top spot in the inter girls division, giving them second place in the end of it all. The Eagles on the other hand were wrecked by one poor performance after another. Quote fitting for the team which sniped the sports day trophy from right under the noses of the Merlins. Well hopefully these sports are just a sign of things to come.