The girl’s volleyball match ends. The players hurry up to drink water, after an exhausting game right past noon under the burning sun in Baranquilla. Playing in outdoor courts considering this conditions is highly challenging; the girls are tired and ready to rest. Just as they head towards their room to change, they see the school’s boy’s volleyball team playing and immediately sit in the bleachers to watch.

It’s not just about the sports. Students attending the Binational Games deal with much more than competition and athletic prowess. If The Columbus School athletes train all year long for this week, it must certainly be a worthy unforgettable experience.

Binational games is a yearly tournament held by the SACS schools across Colombia, which each time take place in a different city. Volleyball, soccer and basketball teams of each school train and prepare months prior to the event. The tournament is commonly held in November, and this year’s edition took place in Barranquilla in the Karl C. Parrish facilities.

We are all Columbus

Athletes spend more time doing other activities than in their actual games. Students mostly enjoy supporting the school’s teams in their spare time.

“We have all the freedom to walk around the school to see the different games, talk to people, and have lunch,” Paloma Urrea, soccer player, said.

The majority of times, people prefer to support their friends and the school’s delegations than sleep or wander around.

“It’s important to rest for the next games, but even more importantly, we have to go and support our school in the different sports,” Nicolas Restrepo, volleyball player, said.

It’s fun to cheer for other teams while they are playing, and it certainly helps to see your teammates cheering for your team as well. Despite the hot weather conditions and many matches taking place at noon, nothing stops Columbus School students from showing their true spirit.

“Its really really hot outside and it’s exhausting to go there and support everyone. We have done a super good job considering the conditions, and it’s very sweet when we can go,” Pamela Raseni, volleyball player, said.

The Room

Each school is assigned with a classroom at the beginning of the week, and it is known by everyone as el cuarto. Students have all day access, since they arrive in the mornings until they leave. The six delegations along with the coaches, psychotherapeutics and directives share the room, and it functions mainly as a place where they can leave their belongings. It is mostly full before and after the games, when the players are really tired or need to change.

“It’s [the room] for the entire school’s delegations, here we can rest and the best part is, it has air conditioner. Also, it’s where my team meets to change into our uniforms before we leave to play,” Maria Londoño, soccer p

layer, said.

It is mostly full of backpacks, balls for training and thermos. Everyone leaves their stuff and here, avoiding carrying their backpacks around the entire day.

Meetings

An essential part of the day are the meetings held in the school and in the hotel. Athletes have the freedom to choose what to do when they do not play, but when the coach calls for a meeting, it’s mandatory. Whether it’s previous to a game, right after it or at the hotel at night, each team has one to two meetings per day.

“We [girl’s soccer team] have a kind of peptalk previous to each game, were our trainer motivates us to do our best in the game, he lists out the positions, and then we talk among each other,” Urrea said.

Only some of the teams meet in between matches while at the school, but every single one meets at the hotel at night in one of their member’s rooms.

“At the hotel at night, we have a meeting each day where we talk about the game we had that day. It’s basically looking forward towards the new game and talking about our errors to correct them,” Urrea said.

Making friends

Binationals certainly creates a bond with the people from your school, but it’s an opportunity like no other to meet people from the other fifteen schools. Columbus School athletes have a tendency of making many new friends.

“One of the ideas of binationals is to interact with other people, which is why people like to go around watch games and meet friends. Throughout the years, I have made many new friends from at least 5 schools,” Londoño said.

“In the school we go and eat, we rest in the room, but also we always meet new people. This is one of the things that I really enjoy about going to Binationals,” Daniel Meneses, Basketball player said.

This year the Columbus School athletes and coaches stayed at the Wyndham Garden hotel, and traveled every day to the facilities in which each team played.

The Hotel

After a day of exhausting matches under the sun, the hotel is a space where students can hang out with the friends they don’t see in the day. They have the freedom to choose what is it they want to do, and are only called for their dai

ly meeting at night.

“This year there was a jacuzzi in the hotel, so we spent most of the time there. Also, we could go to our friend’s rooms, eat, and specially we ordered a lot of rappis this time,” Londoño said.

Besides going to the jacuzzi, people hung out at their friend’s rooms, had dinner downstairs and slept off the exhaustment each day brought.

“I love Binationals along with every single thing that comes with it. We train for an entire year and come here with the goal of winning, but even if we don’t, the essence of what Binationals is, makes it worth it,” Restrepo said.