Jean-François, checking in here to give you a quick update about the state of our athletics and futsal programs.
Since the last time I wrote [link to last blog post], our athletics program has grown and expanded into the fall season with flag football as a new team sport.
A Fall Season of Tireless Improvement
Through a season filled with numerous setbacks against more experienced teams, our students showed great character and sportsmanship, rarely losing their composure and always keeping a positive attitude. They learned to use these setbacks to discover their strengths and weaknesses and figured out ways to adapt to new challenges quickly. The importance of a structured practice and detailed plays also became more and more apparent to them as the season progressed.
On the coaching side, a new flag football program proved to be a challenge, as new plays had to be designed for our students’ strengths as their skills were being assessed during practices and games.
Overall, though, the season was a great learning experience for all parties involved, from the parents to players as well as the support staff.
An Expanded Futsal Season
Our winter futsal season proved to be a more contrasted and fulfilling experience for our students. In addition to the two middle school and one 5th grade teams we maintained from last year, this year’s futsal program expanded to include a 4th grade team.
All of our teams started the season off by learning from a new coaching staff, which introduced a training philosophy based on developing individual skills and improving team communication.
Throughout the season, our students adjusted to this new program and learned a lot from each other.
For our older middle school students, this mutual discovery stemmed from prior experience in club teams. Both types of players learned tremendously from this system: the more experienced players learned how to give pointed advice to their teammates while the less experienced players learned from a group of passionate players with a wide range of skills. For our elementary school players, their improvements came more from discovering what worked through practice and directions from the coaching staff.
Our teams faced off against strong club teams, which challenged our players’ preconceptions and routine in real-time in a variety of ways. In some instances, our players showed great resilience, rose to the challenge, and overcame it in great stride. When the challenge proved to be too overwhelming, however, our players rarely became discouraged and competed with great individual and team effort to stay in the game.
Overall, our teams finished as follow:
4th grade team
Regular season record: 3-2-2
3rd overall
5th grade team
Regular season record: 2-3-0 (3rd in division)
Semi-final result: Win (4 – 3)
Final result: Loss (2 – 9)
2nd overall
6th grade team
Regular season record: 5-0-0 (1st in division)
Semi-final result: Win (10 – 4)
Final result: Loss (6 – 11)
2nd overall
7th/8th grade team
Regular season record: 3-2-2
3rd overall
Throughout these experiences, our players and students gained unique skills, which should translate greatly into the classroom environment and into social interactions in general.
Personally, seeing both our students and coaches learn from each other and mature along the way, managing the entire process, and trying to get our school community involved and excited about our sports program has been a fun, unique and rewarding experience.
I am looking forward to share more similar adventures in the near future.
Go ISTP!
