My first experience at the ISSO tournament was fantastic. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I got to share with my friends. Through this tournament I learnt that at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you win or lose, the only thing that matters is you played your best. That is something I will carry with me throughout my life. The competition was hard and all of our opponents were really skilled and had a sense of the game. The competition that we received from the winners, fountainhead, was my favourite because they pushed us to play better and give a 100 percent. To prepare myself for a game I would take some time to myself and just focus on my breathing which really helped calm me down. The tournament helped boost my confidence as this was our first time being runners up and coming to the finals. For me, being captain helped boost my confidence as well. I am extremely excited for the upcoming ISSO events and can't wait for them!
The ISSO tournament was a fun time and a good experience overall. Training and building chemistry with the team was really fun. The ISSO was well organised and we were accommodated well. It was quite difficult going up against the other schools but we had good competition. We made great memories and it was good fun.
ISSO Jaipur was quite the experience, playing competitive school football. After two years we didn't know what to expect coming in the tournament. It was great to see all the teams and it was lovely interacting with them. Our team placed fourth and we believe that we were not completely outplayed in any of the matches. Our team showed fight and commitment. We fought through injury and in every minute of every match and regardless of the outcome gave our hundred percent. I am proud of the fight we displayed. The level of competition between JPIS, NOIDA, FOUNTAIN, AND ourselves BD Somani was very high. We had some very interesting matches competing physically and mentally and enjoyed playing some good football. Of course with a few more teams the level of competition would rise, we would have interesting fixtures. Nevertheless we enjoyed our fixtures and had a great time playing some good football. Every game in this tournament was a big game, I knew our forwards were not scoring and the goalscoring threat was myself alone. Against the top teams I knew I had to be at the top of my game in order for us to win and compete at the highest level. The pressure was always there to deliver; however this was not my first time playing a competitive tournament. I thank my teammates for the support they gave. It helped me handle the pressure well, not crack and kept my nerve throughout the matches, scoring some good goals. Just not overthinking the matches and playing with an open mind helped me slow things down and keep my mind fresh in between the games.
Of course scoring eight goals in six matches and getting the top scorer award is boosting my confidence tremendously. Meeting new people, socializing and getting a stand on where we are as a team and myself as a player was beneficial for me. Obviously, this wasn't the result we were looking for, finishing fourth is never fun but we know now we have the quality of players to compete at the top and hopefully next year come back with the win.
Overall, it was truly an amazing experience, one that I had been longing for. I knew there was going to be strong competition, and there was, but I had confidence in my team as well. Players from all over India were present, all of them very well prepared so it was terrifying. However, I had confidence in our team because we had also trained diligently in the previous few days. Every time I faced some pressure, I told myself that I had to give it my best and forget everything else. I felt very proud after getting second place because it was our first inter state tournament, with a team that had never played together before. We came back more experienced, knowing where to improve and with much more confidence in our abilities because we saw where we stand among other players. I really look forward to the upcoming ISSO event and hope this time we achieve first place!
I really enjoyed this experience of the football tournament in Jaipur. It was my first time participating in such a tournament. Playing with other schools was a different experience and taught us different skills.
Playing with other teams made us realise what we needed to improve on and how to strategize for our next game. It felt great to finish in second position and I am excited for the upcoming ISSO tournament.
The ISSO Football Tournament was my first inter-state tournament as part of BD Somani. The experience of playing against different people was a lot of fun and a fun experience. We only had 2 other teams in our category, but the level of competition was quite high, especially in terms of how physical they played. I feel like with more practice, we will do better next year. Before the final, I was nervous but I talked to my teammates and we energized each other and this helped greatly to just play my game like I normally do. This tournament has helped my confidence because it was in a different state and I met a lot of new people so it helped my communication skills. The fact that I scored a goal also gave me belief that I could play at a good level and contribute something to my team. It feels good to end in 2nd place in a national recognized tournament but the fact that there were only 3 teams negates the achievement slightly. Finishing 2nd isn't good enough and I want to push to win the tournament next time which I'm sure we can do with a good amount of training over the next 5 months. I'm very excited for the next tournament and I hope that more schools participate in my age category so we have more competition instead of playing the same team twice.
