With excitement building up from various Colombian schools waiting for binationals, TCS sports teams are gearing up to give their 100% and win the tournaments approaching this school year all over the country.
Preparation for this year’s games has shown great determination from both team captains and coaches. All sports teams have big goals in their minds in order to achieve success this season, especially in binationals, taking place in TCS from November 19-23.
“Our binational games this year are going to be in the school and our plans are to win this year because last year we came up 5th place. Therefore, the goal is that due to this year being our coaches’ last year, we bring home the 1st place,” Isabel Mejia, girl’s soccer team captain.
Coach Hernan Arango, also known as “Chapo” has moved the whole teams’ hearts, making them motivated to win first place this year. Soccer girls want to make their coach Chapo that has been with them for several years now proud. The girl’s soccer team is filled with motivation. However, it has weaknesses it needs to work on in order to improve and work in a better way as a team.
“One of our biggest challenges is that we rarely train all together as a team. When we stay in poli, there are only 3-6 people. We haven’t practiced playing the team together as a whole,” Mejia said.
The sports teams give their 100% whether they have upcoming competitions or not. However, their training sessions can slightly change when important events such as binationals are near. When interviewing girl’s volleyball coach Johana Castañeda, she mentioned that upcoming competitions impulses the team to be more consistent and disciplined with training.
“When important moments for the team approach, training and tournaments intensify. Athletes are asked for more commitment and discipline to have a higher peak of competition in order to reach the goal,” said Jiovana Castañeda.
Coaches are also very conscious about the fact that motivation is important for bringing the team to victory. It’s crucial to keep the participants of 9th grade motivated, since they are experimenting a change from middle school to high school. This implies changes in priorities, goals, and time.
“My biggest goal is for the 8th grade girls to enjoy themselves this year, and for them to remain motivated to continue on the team in high school, because changing schools always affects them a little. I want them to continue loving volleyball and continue enjoying it. Let the process of improving in this sport continue,” Castañeda said.
The school is not in charge of funding the sports trips, especially when it is an international competition. This is why team captains have come up with diverse ideas in order to raise money to fund the competition for those who can’t afford it. The teams have implemented ideas such as running laps for money, and doing bake sales.
“For the next international tournament we want to do a bake sale for middle school and high school and doing that we are going to fund a lot of my teammate’s trips,” Juan José Pérez, boys Basketball team captain.
A team can impact someone in different ways. Nevertheless, one of the most important characteristics of a team is that everyone feels included. Everyone should feel like a family, and everyone should feel like they can communicate with genuineness and trust. More than a team, it is a safe place in which you can express yourself in creative and free ways.
“We’re like a family. We treat ourselves like brothers, and I think that this is the best way to unite a community which in this case is the basketball team, and reach victory,” Perez said.