When we hear about the game of basketball, we tend to think about the legends who have been the rising stars of this game in their early years further becoming brilliant sportspersons. We think of Michael Jordan’s pride, Kobe’s calmness, Trae Young’s aggression, and Steph Curry’s confidence on the basketball court. Conversely, at Atmiya Vidya Mandir, students are trained to pray, practice Atmiyata, and play with a spirit of keen competition infused with the feeling of ‘We are One’ on the playground or on the basketball court. This sport is played quite enthusiastically here at AVM. AVM’s coaches ensure that the team wins and become competent, but not at the cost of ethics and value systems. In this manner, at Atmiya Vidya Mandir, His Divine Holiness Param Pujya Hariprasad Swamiji’s mission for the multidimensional growth of AVM students is being accomplished through various sports activities. After enough practice and training through inter-house matches, AVM’s U-19 basketball team participated in the West Zone Clusters Basketball tournament held at Gujarat Public School Vadodara.
The basketball team left the school campus on the 9th of October 2023 at about half past 1. They were ready to take part in a competition for which they had been preparing for a month. Special training sessions were conducted by the AVM basketball coaches to make the team competent enough for this CBSE Clusters Basketball Competition 2023-24. Taking along all the lessons learned on the basketball court, the AVM basketball team reached the venue which was the Gujarat Public School [Atladra campus], Vadodara. There was a ceremonial atmosphere with an exuberant crowd of different teams arriving from various schools to participate in this competition. The opening ceremony consisted of a traditional dance, an aerobics dance, and speeches by the chairman of GPS schools, the principal, and the CBSE Observer. After the opening ceremony, there was a schedule for four token matches to let the participants observe the quality of skills of the other participating teams.
As they were waiting for their chance to play their part, the AVM team witnessed all the matches with a lot of focus and paid attention to the minutest of the details of the ace players of other teams. Thereafter, there was an announcement of their match against the Gujarat Public School, Chhani. In this match AVM team displayed amazing qualities of agility, swiftness, and good play. AVM players kept scoring one after another without giving any chance to the opposite team as they applied all the tricks given by their basketball coach. Thus, the victory inclined to the AVM team with final score of 67-02. Consequently, the AVM players made their way to the quarter-finals. Though AVM players secured a massive victory, yet, quite notably, there was humility in their conduct as they were praying and hoping to do better in the next game. Next, AVM players were quite prepared for the quarter-finals which was against the team of the hosting school GPS Atladra, Vadodara.
The GPS Atladra team had been winning the tournament consecutively for the last 4 years and the AVM team was set to play against them. The stakes were high for the opposite team and the match was going to be tough but the AVM team made their best efforts and started with a bang. The team surprised the audience by putting the opposition under pressure. This was the first time that the AVM team had 14 points in the first half. In the next half, the opposition team bounced back taking a lead of 10 to 12 points. But, as fate decided, the AVM team lost by a big margin of points. Though, the AVM team’s journey had unfortunately ended in the quarter-finals, they were appreciated for their skill and approach. The tournament thus ended and the players returned home with a determination to play better next time. The competition also served its purpose of providing them exposure and experience of playing in such a competitive environment.
Written by: Sarvam Patel (Grade 10)
