Football happens to be a sport which I love watching as well as playing. Whether it’s at school or with my friends, I cannot resist the opportunity to play a match. When my seniors came forward with a plan to take part in a competition, I did not turn them down. We took part in a football tournament of open category (anyone regardless of age could participate) and competed against various renowned teams. This tournament was held at L.P. Savani Academy, at VIP Road, Surat. Our team was one of the youngest, with most teams having an average age of more than 18. There were teams of exclusively football coaches also. We did not particularly intend to achieve some goal, we just wanted to develop our skills as football players. The tournament was similar to a league which then went into knockouts and a final. We were unfortunately knocked out in the quarter finals. 

LO1- Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

LO2-Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

I had identified various weaknesses as a football player beforehand. One of them was management of the defense line. I was acting too passively for a goalkeeper and often failed to command by defenders well enough. This is a serious issue in high-intensity games like a turf match, where counter-attacks happen instantaneously. A reason for this was because I was the youngest member of our team and all of my teammates were my seniors, so it was very difficult for me to shout at them and chastise them for their mistakes. I partly overcame this fault by making various attempts to rally the midfielders and defenders. I now feel more comfortable in expressing myself on the field and do not think twice before instructing teammates on various blunders committed. Another part for me to work upon was conceding soft goals, or goals which should be easily saved. I have a tendency to save good shots and concede poor or fluke shots and really wanted to work upon this. I made several key saves and stopped many shots, however, I conceded a soft goal on our last and most important match, which eventually led us to exit the tournament. This indicated that while I had certainly developed areas of my skill set, I still had to reach out further and develop more.

Skills such as diving, handling the ball, commanding the defense line, shot-stopping etc. are essential for every goalkeeper and I certainly feel that this tournament was very beneficial for me as I gained valuable knowledge. 

LO3- Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience 

The task of finding the tournament itself was not challenging due to the fact that our football coach recommended us to join it as he himself was part of a coach team. The primary difficulty was finding suitable players for the tournament. This was because different players are accustomed to different playing environments; a player who is used to playing in a turf due to their agility may not fare well on a ground which requires endurance as well. I was well-acquainted with the registration process as well.

LO4- Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

The football tournament was an arduous journey for us and we had to give our 100% in each and every match to win. We, however, failed to do so in the most critical moment. Even though we were knocked out we were certainly proud of our achievement and the fact that we had competed against several of the best teams in the region. For me, personally, it was not very easy to adapt to an environment which demands your totality of skills and abilities. I, however, learned the valuable lesson of persistence and perseverance. 

LO5- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

Football is a team sport and like other team sports, requires the absolute commitment and dedication of each and every player present. This means that cooperation and collaboration was of utmost importance in the tournament and this was reflected by the way in which we were playing. When we lacked collaboration, we were getting hammered. However, we started winning once we understood that team-work is very important.