Highlights of SPHSL Games Against Graded

By V. Gonzalez

On the 22nd of February, our Lions had their fourth game of the season, this time against the Graded Eagles in our precious Lion’s Den. Even though the final results weren’t as good as the last ones, we knew it would be challenging, as our rivals are extremely talented and skillful. However, on a positive note, I am proud to say that all boys and girls that played that night worked hard until the very end, never giving up and always pushing themselves forward.

Now, for the volleyball games; the girls unfortunately lost, however, as part of the team, I can tell you, from the best perspective, that our girls fought extremely hard throughout the whole game. The Eagles have two main players that made our match a little bit more difficult, but we are eager that on our next game, we will beat them and take back the three points that we deserve. Similarly, our boys also lost, but fought until the very end, always concentrating and keeping their heads in the game. Both the volleyball boys and the futsal girls are fairly new teams in school and are facing a greater challenge, however, our lions are successfully preventing the scores from distracting them during the matches and are fearless of what the season has to bring to us.

This was not a good day for our futsal boys, either. They can work on improving their mental strength as they have the technique and skills to spare! I appreciate that playing against our all-time opponents can distract us and take our minds off the game at times, however, as also part of the futsal team, I can say that being able to keep concentrated in the game and focusing on achieving our aims, whether that is winning one set, or scoring one more goal, is vital. It is extremely important to work as a team, communicate at all times, help your teammates and, most importantly, to enjoy what you are doing. This applies to all sports, whether that is volleyball, futsal, basketball or football. Don’t forget this.

Last but not least, to end this article on a reasonably positive note, our futsal girls were able to tie the game in the end. It was a rough and INTENSE match on that Friday night. We closed the first half winning by 1-0, however, at the beginning of the other half, the Eagles were able to score one goal. This goal, unexpectedly, triggered the following 3 others that they scored consequently, one behind the other. They completely turned the score and were then winning by 4-1. There were only 5 more minutes of the game left. Graded was celebrating their victory and we had accepted our defeat. And that was when Felipe, our coach, called us in and made his inspiring speech. He told us to forget the score and made us repeat over and over that the game was still 0-0. He told us that we were here because we wanted to and because this is something we enjoy doing - playing football. Now, all we had to do was win by 3-0 and the game would be over. When his time was up, our girls got back to the game, and, just like magic, we managed to score one goal, then another one. It was 4-3 and we still had a few seconds left. Like a miracle, with only 50 seconds of the game to go, our inexplicable Manoela scored our final goal, closing the game with a total of 4-4. It was tough, but we are certain that we will beat them on our next opportunity.

​It has only been 4 games until now, and we still have 4 more to go until the semi-finals. The season is just beginning. Always keeping our heads up high and our feet on the ground, our lions will conquer their way through this season, ready for whatever the tournament has to throw at us. Congratulations to everyone involved. Wish you all the best for the games to come.