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!).

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.