In our school, we have an annual interschool sports event known as FS Cup. In this competition, we invite schools from across the city to participate in various sports like Football, Basketball and Table Tennis to name few. It usually takes two days to conclude the event. Since I have been a part of this school, as my personal sport is Basketball, I always used to play for my school’s team in Basketball, but this year I also got the opportunity to play for the football team as well. I will honestly say how that opportunity came up. I wasn’t a part of the original team, but on the day of the competition, their goalkeeper was absent, and since I had been goalkeeping for my house – Dignity in the school’s inter-house football competition and have been considered good at it, I was asked to fill in for the absentee. And then in our match, we fought bravely and took the match to the penalties stage.
I easily identified my strength which was my reflexes. In goalkeeping, reflexes are one of the most important skillset required. This was evident from the times I had been goalkeeping for my house, but that level of competition and the level of inter-school competition is way different. That is when I say my area of growth as proper tactics of a game and how to deal with different kinds of situations in a game. For this, my friend who was the goalkeeper for the FS-A team gave me some pointers before the match so that I could do a bit better and understand the complexity of the game.
As I had never played at such a level, I had to face some challenges in adjusting to the play style and the requirements of the job I took up. And to conquer those challenges, I learned some new skills which were basically taught by tips and tricks, given by my goalkeeper friend, to not let the other team score. Some of the skills I learned was how to take a proper goal kick. Earlier as I played on a small level (inter-house), hence the small ground and fewer players per team, so I used to throw directly from my hand, but as I had to cover more distance this time, I had to learn how to kick properly to give a good headstart to our team’s offense. And among other skills that I had to learn was how to handle 1-on-1 situations when the other team’s striker is pacing forward in my direction and I had to keep him from scoring. The main challenge that I faced while learning these skills was the lack of time. I got selected as the replacement goalkeeper at the end moment, a few minutes before the match. So, all the skills that I learned were mostly verbal with some small demonstrations without the ball and an actual attempt. Also, I had not been goalkeeping recently so my response time to the kick of the striker had become slow which could be seen in the match.
Despite all of these challenges, I showed commitment and perseverance to the game and did my best. In the first half, due to some or the other mistakes committed by me, I conceded two goals from the opponent side. That really demotivated me, as I was the weakest link of the team and I clearly showed my weakness to the opponents. And on a personal level, it really demotivated me that I shouldn’t be the reason that the team loses. But still, I fought that and in the second half, I didn’t concede any more goals and our team took the match to the overtime and then penalties.
Through this activity, I explored one another sport on a competitive level. Till now I had played three sports – Basketball, Table Tennis, and Cricket at a competitive level like inter-school events. This was very helpful for me. Also, my presence in the team was vital as the team didn’t have a complete 11 if they kept someone from the 10 outfield players as the goalkeeper. This way, I helped our team to at least get a complete chance to compete in the competition. I have now realised that we should always see the greater outcome of the actions we take. At the time when I was asked to be the replacement, I was tired from the basketball matches I had played, but then I got to know that the other 10 players who had come for this single event in the FS Cup would not get to play if they do not have a complete 11. Considering this, I decided and promised that I will give this opportunity my best.
