After a big slump throughout the years TCS girls basketball team has improved tremendously in recent tournaments to end this school year and go into future tournaments in the best way.

The girls have been working very hard to step up their game, coming 5th in Binationals in 2016 and not doing too well in Copa Columbus last year made the team train a lot more. They now won third place in last year’s Binationals and came in first place in Copa Columbus and Copa San Jose de las Vegas, one after the other.

“The fact that they have progressed and advanced so much this last year makes all those things that I, as a coach, contribute from experience very valuable,” says David Lopez, girls basketball head coach.

It was their mentality which was making them lose a lot of games before they even started. They have now worked on this and it is one of the key elements that has taken them to win many more games than before.

“Before we had a horrible mentality, now we always think positively and we know we can beat a lot of teams, even the toughest,” comments Maria Jose Puerta, 10th grade team member. “Each one of us takes our role more seriously; there were many who felt that they did not help at all on the team, now we all know that our role is important so the team can win.”

The teams losing streak was taking over what they thought of themselves and as a team. Not being so close before as they are now affected the team’s performance. Coach David Lopez specifically worked on getting the team together, making them come closer as a team, and at the same time work on the technical and tactical parts of the game.

“When I recently took the team they were very dispersed; there were subgroups within the same group so they didn’t work well together,” explains Lopez. “I dedicated 6 full months to reinforce the cohesion and unity of the team with different activities.”

Technique and tactics are as important in the game as being a united team, this has also been something that the girls have been working on to get much better at their game. They have been combining both to stay strong in both aspects. Coach Lopez explains how they have been reinforcing the basics and technique to then move on to tactics.

“The tactics have been given relevance in training,” says Lopez. “I have been applying a lot of group, cooperation, and position work, this develops skills with more real situations of play.”

The 2017-18 school year is now ending, the girls have finished very strongly. For next year they will be coming to big tournaments like Binationals in November with a lot more skills and motivation, they are all confident about what they have and what they will accomplish.

“I believe that for Binationals if we continue as we are doing it will be an unforgettable tournament,” says Isabela Murillo, 11th grader and team captain. “I think we have improved a lot and I definitely think that we can easily reach the finals.”