A Company Report
Bar Law – I like to draw. Until being a part of Phys. Ed class in A Coy, I’ve never really been interested in or appreciated athleticism or competition or even team sports for that matter.
There’s something about the anticipation for competition. That feeling in your stomach before a game or a race or a match that makes you no longer hungry and feeling sick to your stomach. The description of “butterflies in my stomach,” I completely understand now. It seems to be accompanied by heightened senses,
a state of ultra-alertness, excessive sweating, feelings of dread, impending embarrassment, vivid hope and every other feeling on the spectrum. I felt that every day of the Fall Exercise and when we played ACRES in soccer.
I could see the same anticipation on our Loyalist basketball players faces when they last played Stamford High School at home. Despite the visiting Stamford team being a foot taller, and having more experience, our Loyalists did not give up and fought through a great game to take the lead and minimize damage on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, our Loyalists lost that battle, but only by a narrow margin.
The following week, the DSBN Academy Argonauts were arrogantly practicing/trash talking, getting ready for a showdown with our Loyalists at the Academy. The Loyalists were ready for them and had rebounded from last week’s close loss.
It was clear that the team playing this week was a different team than played last week.
Despite that anticipation being visible on their faces during the warmup, their performance on the court during the game was a positive change from the previous game. Every player on our Loyalist team was emulating the teamwork visible between coaches Lt. Guy and 2Lt. Ahlstedt. With a consistently strong defensive presence, a relentless offence and perfectly timed passing, all working cohesively resulted in the Loyalists outscoring the Argonauts 52-29.
The inspiration through locker room coach talks, positive reinforcement from fellow team mates on the sideline and on the court, other staff and students in the crowd fueled the dominant Loyalists to their victory.
Thinking about it now, all the components that made up the experience, lots of cheering, drumming, rapping and overall positivity made this game an impressive experience not only for the Loyalist players, but the coaches and spectators too. I am eagerly looking forward to the next Loyalist home game on February 9th.
