Basketball Inside St. Paul's School

By C. Lobo and A. Pacey

How would we describe the St. Paul’s basketball community? The first aspect, which basketball in school has taught us, was determination and persistence. Taking in consideration the long hours in preparation, as well as decisive moments presented to you in a game, we learnt these skills since we first stepped foot in the basketball court in Prep 4, and will be taking this key lesson to the rest of our lives. Another aspect basketball has taught us is the equality the team should have, being the youngest or the oldest, it doesn’t matter whether you are filling a cup of water for your teammates during timeouts, or you are scoring the winning shot, you will always receive the same medal as your teammates when collectively winning a championship.
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What about losing? The difference between winning and losing can be considered none. When your team wins a championship, it is shown how the hours and days spent practicing as a group, paid off. Not only physically, but the stress while playing serves as a lesson for the team's mental endurance. While having difficult times on the academic side of school, being IGCSE's, IB’s or any exams, we learnt that an hour or two spent doing any physical activity, apart from studying, is key to balancing your stress with schoolwork. Also, controlling your mental stress during practices and games, reflects on how you perform academically. Always when playing for the school community, it is highly important to take care of your academic endeavours, by considering hard work, determination, focus and other skills you learn in the basketball court. Players should also apply this effort to work projects or exams which they complete during academic hours. A memory we are to remember for the rest of our lives, was the times spent doing schoolwork with your teammates in the library before training sessions. We had time to help each other with difficulties certain individuals had and spend time together in order to create better friendships.