HS ACAMIS Volleyball

To be honest, this is one of the best sports tournaments I have ever been a part of…

This year, the ACAMIS High School Volleyball Tournament was held in our school (XIS). The first time I heard this was disappointment. This is not because I think our school is not good enough to hold this tournament, nor because I think we will play poorly at home court. The major reason is the fact that we cannot take the plane and travel elsewhere, and stay at a 5 star hotel. That was what I always looked for during sports, MUN, or school trips. However, everything changed when other schools arrived in XIS on the first day of the tournament. I suddenly felt the pressure of playing in my own school. First, it is because the girls got third place two years ago; thus, we know that we have the ability to do a good job together. Secondly, our team wanted to do a good job in our own school and make everyone proud.

The first day was a great success for us when we won both matches against SIS and BISS. That boosted our confidence by a whole lot because SIS was the champion two years ago and the runner-up last year. We knew we had a chance against them, but winning them in two sets was a great surprise. The second day was also pretty successful because we were undefeated until the match against last year’s champions, ISQ. One of the reasons why I thought the tournament started off so well is due to our team spirit. As a team prior to the tournament, we had a team dinner and worked out the cheers we wanted to do before and after a match. As expected, the cheer brought us closer together as a team; thus, team spirit is directly correlated with our performance.

The most memorable match is definitely the finals, when we had to compete against ISQ, the only team we lost against during the entire tournament. ISQ has players with a lot of experience and skills, they work well as a team and play very good volleyball. Personally, I didn’t expect us to win against them before the match, but I still encouraged the team to play as best as we can and maybe miracle would happen. During the finals, all the sets were very close. ISQ won the first set 25-23, we won the second set 26-24. I would say we our team definitely stepped up our game since ISQ did not use their subs at all, whereas last time their coach did not even need to use their best players to play against us. After 1-1 set tie, the environment of the whole gym changed. The XIS and ISQ boys team were sitting by our benches, cheering us up and competing how loud each boys’ team can cheer. It was a great pleasure hearing the guys cheering for us because they were never as enthusiastic towards our team as they are now. By that time, I could feel the pressure, and I suddenly realized that we have a great chance in winning this and getting first place. The gym was so quiet during every point of the third set, other than the players calling “mine”, we could almost hear a pin drop. And then the most disappointing part happened. I missed my serve when our team was one point away from winning. The score went back and forth for about six times, both ISQ and us had several match points. At last, we did not manage to finish off and get championship. At that point, I could not control the tears on the edge of my eyes. I have never cried during sports competitions, but this match was not like any I have played in my entire life.