More Than Just A Basketball Team

Time has unified the Columbus School basketball team. Turning a passion into a family for 44% of their lives.

By playing together for more than 7 years, Matias Velez, Felipe Santamaria, and Alejandro Mcewen and Sebastian Uribe have made an great family and that has been reflected on all of their Binationals and career.

 

History of these players together and how that talent has given responses.

This kids have played together everywhere they go for 7 years now, they have trained together, studied together, traveled together, lost together and won together.“I have played since 4th grade with Matias Velez, Alejandro Mcewen and Felipe Santamaria,” Sebastian Uribe, 11th grader and basketball player from The Columbus School, said.

Because of the sacrifice they have all made, to stay almost 2 hours every day after school to train, at least 3 of the 4 have always made it to the starting line, that is 66% of the basketball team itself. “We don’t have a real starting line up, but most of the time, there are 3 of us in it,” Felipe Santamaria, 11th grader and basketball player from The Columbus School, said.

Consequently for the good results the 4 had with the school, they were a clear example of “hard work pays off”. All 4 of them were recruited by Independiente Sabaneta and played La Liga Antioqueña. “There was one time, were Felipe, Matias, Alejandro, and me even got to play in the team of Sabaneta because of the talent we had,” Uribe said.

 

Sacrifices being made and consequences it brought with it.

For this players the major preoccupation is their academic responsibilities. They have the clear idea that school is over everything and that it is their biggest concern. Some even decide to lose their place in the team to have more time to study. “Matias Velez, Felipe Santamaria and Alejandro Mcewen play on the current starting team, I was left out this year because of academical reasons, as I’m starting new AP’s,” Uribe said.

Despite the above, this is not the only challenge they really face, when they encounter the outside world and class they have much more competition and it’s a new challenge they face daily. “While the basketball team in Sabaneta has about 30 players, the Columbus school’s team has barely 20. This means the competition to become a starting player for Indeportes is greater, and only starting players participate in tournaments,” (The Discoverer, Amalia Velez, “TCS Students Succeed in Antioquia Basketball League”)

 

Trophies won, defeats encountered and future goals.

Although in middle school, the basketball level of TCS was highly better, other teams have made a big improve. CNG, school from Bogota has made a big rivalry with them, by winning ⅔ of the finals disputed between this two teams on High School Binationals. “Since I was in 6th grade, I have been to Binationals 5 times and we won the title the 3 middle school years. However it’s been tougher in high-school, were we’ve only won 1 out of the 3 years we’ve played,“ Matias Velez, 11th grader and basketball player from The Columbus School said. Even though the results, they don’t even think of surrender.  “I would say that after losing this year’s finals, the team, and us seniors are extremely hungry for a title and we will definitely train extremely hard to win it all,” Velez said.

The team will be a huge promise for next year and the school know what they are capable of even though their defeat the past binationals. “I think it will be our best year yet and that we will play well if we train hard. We will come back stronger!” Santamaria said.