Sports News

G7 Girls Basketball CHAMPION

By: Coach Charles 2023

It was laughable. Our bench was empty except for one hurt player, the team manager and the coach (me). Two of our players had never played organized basketball before. I shook my head as I looked down at the other team with seven fresh substitutes, two coaches and seemingly every fan in the gym on their side. We were playing Morrison Academy of Taipei on their home court in the semifinals of the Grade Seven Girls TISSA Basketball Tournament.

How we had arrived at this game without packing it up and heading home was pretty amazing. Our team had basically imploded during the previous morning game against Taipei European School. It looked like a lost cause.

But we held it together. Though we lost to T.E.S. by a sizable margin, we had done well enough in the morning session to advance to the afternoon knockout round. On our lunch break, we decided to regroup, and correct some errors and lapses in judgment. Before we knew it, we were summoned back to the court.

While one overzealous Mom from Morrison screamed “Go Broncos!” nonstop at the top of her lungs throughout the entire game (and tournament), we managed to build a large enough lead to stay in control of the game from start to finish. They were bigger and stronger than us, but we played smarter. We knew exactly what we could control and did just that.

As fate would have it, we met T.E.S. again in the finals, but we were ready this time. We had decided to relax, have fun, and hustle up and down the court on every possession. Our strategy worked and we won the title.

I couldn’t be prouder of the grit and determination these girls showed. They weren’t perfect, but they proved that a team doesn’t have to be perfect to be successful—very successful. Well done DIS, and Go Wolves!