![\"Walking](\"http:\/\/cas.fountainheadschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/IMG-20150809-WA0024.jpg\")
<\/a>Walking up to take positions in offense.<\/p><\/div>\n
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I participated in an U-19 inter-school basketball competition which was organised by School Games Federation of India.<\/p>\n
For the first time, I had made my way into the school basketball squad and got the honours to represent my school. I was absolutely thrilled to find my name in the roster for this tournament. I had been practicing a new sport(basketball) for a brief period of time and had improved my game to certain extent, justifying my selection.<\/p>\n
We had to travel a good 50 km in the morning to reach the venue of the competition. It was fun to travel with my team mates as well as the school coach.<\/p>\n
Earlier, I did not use to understand how players with fantastic basketball skills were not able to perform in competitive games but as soon as I was put on the basketball court, I realized that the pressure to perform existed across all of the sports. \u00a0I understood and identified my strength as a rebounder and played accordingly. It was a challenge upon me to perform on my school debut. I had also zeroed on my weaknesses that were pointed out by my well wishers and hence decided to work on them.<\/p>\n
I recognized the significance of playing fairly, safely and within the ethical borders. I had cut my nails, removed my wrist watch, and gave the respect the opponent players deserved. I had put playing with integrity as my top priority, even if we we were on the losing side. I intended to avoid physical contact with opponents and was fairly successful in doing so.<\/p>\n
The format which was followed was of knockouts. We won three games on the trot to book a spot for ourselves in the final of competition. We all had a fair chance to demonstrate our strengths to the selectors present there. We also had planned out strategies and tactics and exhibited them to a satisfactory level. Unfortunately, we lost the finals but had got a huge chunk of things to go home with, such as: our strengths, co ordination, game skills, etc.<\/p>\n
It was an amazing experience overall and I hope to continue grasping more and more from this sport.<\/p>\n
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