Atmiya Vidya Mandir believes that sports are as important as academics. There are many occasions when the school participates in inter-school sports competitions. One such event is the Subroto Mukerjee Football Tournament. The best players at AVM got selected for this football tournament. Days before the competition, the chosen players were given enough practice and training by the school coaches. Not only for such competitions but also on a regular basis, our coaches make the children work hard for developing their skills in the game and to strengthen their stamina.

Football is a game which not only requires physical fitness but also a fit mind. Due to Covid-19, the inter-school competitions were not held for almost 3 years, but after Covid, this year the championships were finally organised and AVM players availed the opportunity to prove their sports skills.

Our school’s under-14 football team was all set to participate in this prestigious event. Their coach, Swadesh Sir coached them for various moves and techniques of the game. And the team was ready to face the challenges of the interschool tournament.

The bhoolku players were taken to the venue of the tournament, a place near Abhva, Surat. There were total 16 best teams selected from various schools in and around Surat and A.V.M. was one of them.

The sheer hard work, excellent training and agility of the AVM football players finally paid off well and the team delivered outstanding performance in its first match, defeating the Aarth Universal School team by 3 goals. After winning also, the AVM players didn’t forget the values taught by the school. The dictum ‘We are One’ was being practiced at the playground by these AVM players. It was quite a pleasant site that instead of celebrating their victory, they encouraged the opponent team to not be disappointed and to practice more.

The second match included many twists and turns. This match was between AVM and the Mount Litera Zee School. The Atmiya football team played well as was indicated by the fact that the ball was in the opponent’s court most of the whole time. In spite of playing well, the match went in penalty and the opponent team defeated the Atmiya team by 3 goals. Though AVM team was defeated, all the coaches present there acknowledged the better skills of our team and wished us well.

The school team lost the semi-finals but didn’t lose to follow AVM’s teaching that ‘Mistakes should be corrected’.

Written by: Swastik Patel (Grade 8)