Apart from the few games we played during our school days like running, kho-kho, three-legged race, etc., I had never played any kind of sports. I was more of a bookworm. Though I liked watching sports such as cricket, badminton, basketball, etc, I never really played sports. But who would have thought that a person like me could ever play sports or even win one of the rounds? X-sports the annual inter-section tournament held by Sportscom, the sports committee of XIMB brought a turning point in my life. Being the first inter-section event, it instilled a feeling of enthusiasm and motivated participants to get to know each other better. Also, there was a rule that if girls won in any category, their section would get extra brownie points. This made the entire class come and practice together. Boys were seen teaching the tricks in cricket to girls.
Few students were national level players in various sports who helped their fellow classmates and batch-mates as well. We all were struggling to learn the games when our seniors came and helped us out. They encouraged us, motivated us and helped us practice, teaching from their last year’s experience. Seeing our seniors taking time out of their busy schedules, my classmates desperately trying to win each and every game and mainly because of the fact that there were hardly any girls from my class who were ready to participate, I was a bit moved and therefore, went and participated in not just one but three sports – Throw-ball, Cricket, Basketball.
The most important thing I learned was that never take up a game before practicing it thoroughly. This is because, though while practicing I was able to make baskets almost 50% of the time, I couldn't make a single basket during the actual game. We lost both in basketball and cricket. But during the first match of throw-ball, we used a good strategy and won the match. The feeling that I experienced after the win was immense. Though we didn't win the next match and thus got eliminated, I still cherish the overall experience that I had.
We as a class came together as one team. We got to know each other, learned to work with each other and in the process became a family. Each section compromising of both the seniors and juniors became a home away from home for each new face at college. The event concluded with not just one team as the winners but the entire batch as a whole because everyone won in some way or the other.
- Rebecca Yesuvadian
Class of 2018-20, XIMB