Iris Lee
February 12, 2018
HKIS teams dominated in season three of APAC basketball, hosted by TCIS from Feb 2 to 4: JV and Varsity boys received 2nd place along with the Sportsmanship Trophy, while girls brought home the gold for the third year in a row.
What is the key to a perfect team? Through this second season of APAC, basketball coaches and athletes alike have gotten a step closer to understanding this fundamental objective.
It certainly doesn’t seem like it if you look at the results for the JV and varsity boys team. “I thought we were the best team there,” said James Drake (12), who mentioned it was “humbling” that results don’t always reflect the work you put into something. “I learned never to take anything for granted because even the most achievable things go out of reach.”
This was quite an unexpected result, considering their outstanding performance on the first day. Boys scored over 70 points in the first two games. After struggling on the second day, the team regrouped to defeat a “scrappy Concordia team”, according to Coach Jeremy Evans and competed in the finals against SFS. SFS led by 9 points in the first half, but the HKIS team ended up losing only by 3 points, in the end, making their second place position a narrow one indeed. “There aren’t always storybook endings to your season,” said Coach Evans. “I was really proud of the way our team played and handled adversity. Not having one of our best players for most of the final game was tough, but that's the way it goes sometimes.”
One thing certain, though, is that both girls and boys teams worked incredibly hard and played the game the right way. Many lessons were learned. The basketball athletes learned that preparation is key: scouting the opponents’ game plans and weaknesses added to their own strengths. In addition, playing in front of a foreign crowd in a foreign country was a unique experience.
On the other hand, the girl's team had a unique experience of their own: “Our varsity girls team is unbeatable,” said James. This couldn’t have been the case without their endless preparation and efficient practice: “I’m really happy with the results—I think our hard work this season paid off,” said Selena Sun (9).
So what is the key to a perfect team? Which is “more perfect”: the girls or the boys, who both put an equal amount of work into competing, yet had different outcomes?
While a perfect team may be well-coordinated and highly efficient, it is still subject to forces it cannot control. It is not winning or losing that determines a team’s strength. Rather, it is the practice and hard work that serves as a foundation. Both teams were exceptional and represented our school with pride.