Fatigue and its Results

Hello friends, today we are going to talk about nothing more than the 10th annual Win Mumby Basketball tournament. Firstly, we lost. To the winning teams. Secondly, we played out of our skin every time we were on that court which is something to be very proud of. the tournament was a really exciting event, the new Win Mumby gym really proved to be an amazing place to have the tournament. The crowd really got behind the players and were even open to booing the opposition, something which I believe to be really good for a home crowd to do. Anyway, if only our schedule showed us some mercy, I believe that without a doubt Woodstock would be Champions. The team was forced to play two game in one day, a fact only exemplified with another fact that the starting five had to play the entire second game. The tournament started for Woodstock on a really bright note as the managed to win their first two games in without any fuss whatsoever, except that the second game was gradually becoming a landslide victory for Woodstock and so the referees lowered the time per quarter from 10 minutes to 8. Everything seemed to be going fine and dandy until the Doon School game came. Woodstock had already beaten Doon twice this season with a 20 point victory at home and a priceless 2 point victory at theirs. The odds were in Woodstocks favor. Though Woodstock were favorites, the away side came out all guns blazing and raced to a 6 point lead within the first 2 minutes. Woodstock slightly under pressure now continued to fight back and just managed to grab a 2 point lead by the end of the second quarter. Just when the fans thought all their fears had been allayed, Doon started playing like they were not even tired. Eventually, Woodstock lost its precious 2 point lead and hence they were forced to play full strength for the entire game, not a very bright idea. The team just got way to tired after that and succumbed to a ten point loss. The team knew it was doomed then as they would have to face the amazing Welham's boys team which had just beaten Woodstock twice in the Afzal Khan Tournament. The team played and destroyed the Bishop Cotton School in their next game and, as expected, made to the semis. They all knew they had to play Welhams the next day but as unfortunate as it may sound, a majority of the team stayed up late talking to their friends. Three of the members slept no later than 4 a.m, dooming themselves and the chances of the team. The next day, Gaurab Adhikari, the Boy who single handily destroyed Welhams by scoring 27 points against them in the Afzal Khan, fell really sick. Without such a major player and a myriad of sleepy ones, the Welham Boys took the game by the horn and defeated Woodstock by around 20 points, leading by at one pint no less than 30. As Woodstock got knocked out, one couldn't help but see the emotion just pour out from everyone present. There were tears everywhere and a silent crowd who simply couldn't fathom this elimination. As the weary crowd went back, the tournament apparently continued.

The Bitter Taste of Defeat

So the cricket team is back and sadly they have been given a sound beating. Their first game said it all, the opposition went in to bat first and put a commanding total of 205 runs for the loss of three wickets by the end of their 20 overs. Woodstock responded to this massive total by scoring 65 runs in 16 overs and getting all out. A truly shocking display with both the bat and the ball. Though understandably the team wasn't aware of what kind of weather conditions to expect or what tactics would be suitable for such a pitch, they still had no reason to perform so dismally. The Woodstock cricket team has always been quite poor, their biggest achievement coming when they won a single match in a nail biting finish. The fact that cricket is indubitably India's sport of choice means that Woodstock has to have a team, otherwise they will be (not like they already aren't) considered a very Un-Indian school, getting them ostracized from the rest of the community here. As ridiculous as this notion may sound, Woodstock has already been ignored by its neighbouring school St. Georges as their annual music festival, Milestone, hasn't featured Woodstock but every other major school in the vicinity. The reason for this, Woodstock plays a completely different breed of music, a throwback to the ages past. A pure focus on classical music and instruments makes Woodstock a completely different entity from the generic guitar and drums, cover performing band, which is all the other schools are capable of. In this case its Woodstock failure to comply with the normal that has gotten them ostracized (not a bad thing at all in this situation.) Well anyways, back on the main topic, the team played two more games after the initial set back and were yet again defeated in both games with the only highlight being that of inspirational captain Siddarth Datla's knock of 65 runs. Datla has long been the teams sole hope of victory as he actually trains and recieves coaching over the break, pure dedication, especially when compared to the rest of the team which consists of members who only play cricket at home with a tennis ball and freedom to do anything they want with rules such as the famous one-tip one-hand rule. Anyway before I go into another angry rant, I will conclude with the old idea that no matter what, the team will have to keep its head up and look towards the future as every Indian sports team, other than the cricket team, has to as well.

Pure Dedication

If there is anything wrong about school sports teams it has to be the amount of voluntary sacrifices one has to make. The Cricket team and the Basketball team both have major tournaments coming up and are ready to perform but it seems that these teams will miss out on the annual JSB (Junior Senior Banquet) as, if they perform well enough they will undoubtedly miss the event as the finals for both of these tournaments coincide on JSB night. Though this sacrifice may seem small in the larger picture, it is still an integral part of a students childhood. Alumnus who wind up back here usually remember their JSB night quite well and can even recall what they were wearing and the awkward moments which accompany such a night. The same goes for sports teams, a team invariably remembers its wins and losses. Such is the recall factor that ones judgement can be clouded. If one chooses to play sports over the JSB night, they have a chance of gaining invaluable experience which could benefit them in the future, a great long term plan. Yet if one chooses to attend JSB night over sports, in the short run it will be a very memorable night with some good food and some quality time with friends, a fun short term plan which is quite feasible. Either way, the the team members will have to choose one as, if they do not they will be distracted by the other one no matter what.

Of Carpet Pitches and "Rocky" Playing Fields

After hours of catch, batting and bowling practice, Woodstock's cricket team has finally been formed and they are ready to hit out from the first ball. In a surprising move, Siddarth Datla has been named captain after predicted captain Aditya Todi decided that he had to much on his plate to deal with. The team had a record turnout for tryouts as no less the 50 students showed up. The signs were definitely encouraging. Anant Poddar and I decided to go for the tryouts just for kicks and were quite simply blown away. It started it off with catch practice. The catching with a leather ball was a lot more difficult than either of us had imagined. It was so difficult that when we were instructed to call out our names before taking a catch, Anant accidentally shouted out ANOOP instead of his name. When it came to batting, The very first ball saw me clean bowled. It was so weird wearing all the padding that I was actually unable to even get close to playing my usual style. Well I did learn something from all of this though, there is no such thing as an easy sport (Except Curling of course!).