Victory is sweet. It's the sweetest. There is nothing like total victory. We are champions. Champions. We are the best among those we compete with. And with conquering your opponents, you conquer your dreams and desires, and then the pure joy that flows out, the emotions, the passion, the sheer ecstasy is the best feeling anyone can have. A feeling that you are on top of the world, and nothing, nothing can stop you from feeling happy. The adrenalin is pumping, and you find this hidden energy within you, that comes bursting out. You reach the pinnacle of satisfaction, and at that moment, nothing seems better. You forget all other pleasures and woes. Sometimes it takes time for the victory to seep in, "shit we have actually won!". It seems like a dream, a dream you don't want to snap out of, and you don't snap out of it because that dream is now reality.
All the practices we had, during Ramadan, under Al Maktoum bridge, in Romit's play area where we endlessly tried to improve our volleys and touches, from grade 7 to now, that preparation, that hard-work, that commitment to the larger cause, that feeling that every time we played football, we played only to win that single tournament we take part in every year, for the biggest bang, the bang that is like a historic legacy in its own small way in the Dubai Modern High School for football, all the seemingly "years of preparation" has led us to a victory that we wanted the most. Screw the medals and the cups, what we wanted was the glory, the glory of victory, because it's that glory that makes everything seem worthwhile. We wanted it, we got it. Hell yeah!
As Captain, I have to specially thank a few people. I would like to thank my team, for their oneness, great spirit, great teamwork, great sportsmanship and for the respect they gave me. I respect you for that. Beyond all the glory-takers, i.e goal-scorers, a special thanks to an unsung hero - Neil Jonathan D'souza - our small Neil. He played with all his heart, and his determination, strength, speed and purposeful tackles played a major role in giving us that once-elusive victory. A special thanks also to Edwin Mathew for a gritty, strong and reliable role as Defensive Midfield. He was brilliant too.
On behalf of the team, I would like to thank all those students and teachers that supported us, from the frantic phone calls of Tejas and Govind, to the "good luck" comments on this blog, and on your MSN nicknames. Thank you - support is always good, and many a time, crucial. Lastly, we would like to thank our passionate and energetic coach - Mr Mahesh Sharma. Thank you sir - you got the best out of us, and made us believe in ourselves even more. Thanks for everything. A special thanks also goes out to Venu Sir, for attending every match, and giving us spurts of inspiration. Thank you sir!
Shit, it feels like the Oscars. I am going to stop. I didn't want this post to be too long, but hey, I really can't control myself at the moment!
More than winning, the whole campaign has been this enchanting and enriching experience of tackling people and emotions, literally and symbolically. Wow - it's been one hell of a roller-coaster, a roller-coaster that we have enjoyed so, so much.
P.S. The obvious song to listen too: "Queen - We Are The Champions"
16 comments:
hardwork,commitment fr 5 yrs has finally paid off!!finally i can say..we r the champions!! the victory is still sinking in..tht also 4-1..tht also against IHS...a perfect way to end our skool footballing! still cant believe tht we won!!voooohhoooooo!!
finally ill like to thank..my capt anish!! if u dont remember, u were the 1 who got me into ftbll!! started as a goalie thn became a striker and thn ended up as a defensive midfielder!!thn got me into playing at maktoum!! and how can i forget..wheneva i came to play at maktoum..only thn tht municipality guy would turn up!!ars!
more thn playing ftbll it was jus funnnn to hang out with all u guys..all the shit we did..ohh also ali's kisses!! so y wont victory be sweet!!
if u smelll lalalalala wat modern high is cooking!!!!!!!!
hey anish
thnxxx a lot..... its bcoz of u tht i got into football... remember ---- we came for square of death practice, i din t have nything to do so i came with u guys for football. as i dint knoe how to kick the ball i ws put goalie. tth day u said i had potential and u backed me throughout. srsly i wsnt ever tht gud neither am i now. but u always kept pushing me bringing out the best in me. when i ws down u brought about an illusion within me tht i ws the best :P:P. tht helped me A LOT. moreover wen i thot tht i dint deserve to be in the team it ws u hu came up - i ll never forget -- before the match versus the teachers, and u told me everything about my play which gave me so much hope. every time i messed up u were there comforting me ( ok dont be sik ) and releasing all the pressure..
in short, without u i wud jus be one of those watching u guys in the stands.
and one more thing -- to all the team especially the defense, thanks for having confidence in me and thanks for saving my asss on a number of occasions
sigh yea thts all
thanks so much bharath! :) means a lot to me!
and eddie - well said!:) thank you!
Victory is SWEET. It is the first for me in football. Firstly, thank you Anish, my captain, my coach, my mentor, my buddy. You have taught me football. Rohan just got me to Maktoum. You have nurtured and nourished me. Thank you , today it paid of. All the shouting and screaming and scolding and abusing "fat oaf" has paid of. I can just think of all those maktoum days..... so many hours we spent to win that one tournament and mostly to enjoy the game. and now WE HAVE DONE IT. U called us there, u pushed us, u led us to victory. Ure the best!!, the best leader of our school.
I would also like to thank our team coach, Mr Sharma, we were of different minds at start but we grew and combined well to rise up to earn this superb victory. Your energy, your push, your love for the game, your abuse fills us and the field. "football is all about Position" and now we agree. I will Blog on u Sir, Respect!
The team - great spirit and unity was oozing out of everyone. keep it going even for next year and years to come.
Great Posts for memory ...it has not been monotonous at all. it is Football for Gods sake...the best game in the world.And we are playing it.
P.s - "Who needs Henry in the team, when we have Malpani, huh?"
cricket is now second best sport -- yes anish and romit u have won my heart for football
actually its bcoz we won in football and came second in cricket:P:P:P:P
weve won theeee competition of competitions (for us).
its been a heck of an experience. i dont know if everyone gets how much this means to us, and frankly speaking it doesnt matter if they dont.
(forgive me, but very nostaligic now :P) football was always/has always been our sport in school.
started in 5th, with playing downstairs in the parking lot, with the DAB 1 - DAB 2 friends. it was there where anish was introduced to football and began growing into the player he is today. for me too, but not to the same extent as anish :P
i remember, then anish couldnt even pronounce 'penalty'.
then maktoum, when omar and freinds used to play, and then anish and i joined them, and now its, well, our football ground :P
love playing at maktoum... right from the game, to emarat,and the bus trip back :P
then the diyaafa cup. my first interschool tournament, and we won with a flawless victory. brilliant!
and then this tournament which we never faired well in, but now have won!
so from 5th to 12th, 7 years...its a long time, and its so, well, emotional that weve now won this tournament, which has been the biggest, most feared (for modern high school) tournament in dubai/sharjah.
victory definately is sweet.
heres to our captain, who has undoubtadly been the most devoted and passionate footballer our school has ever seen. hes lead us since the 9th grade. no one who isnt in the team would understand the amount of respect that we ,i, have for him as our captain. thanks man.
to our coach- its been only like 2 months now. initially i was shit scared of him, but that fear changed into respect. he really got the best out of us. hes extremely passionate and definately knows his football.
thank you sir.
and to the team (everyone, from coach to goalie) - we won!
love you guys. was an over all incredible experience to be in the team with you guys. thanks for bearing with me :P
heres to us!
ive seen you guys practising every now n then.. n ive gotta say.. hats off to u guys!!!!!!! congratulations!!!!!!!!!rock on!
ali romit - i love you guys - thank you!
I LOVE MY FOOTBALL TEAM!:)
shweta - thanks to you and your girlfriends for you support - that's always good - and we really apperciate it!
What a brilliant match:D seriously it was awesome watching u'll play and ofcourse the mad screaming that all of us did *lets go modern lets go*,*who needs Rooney, we got Malpani*,*Charan Guru ho ja shuru*??:P very lame but hell we had fun doing it:D and as eddie said..a perfect way to end the football career for u 12ths
..and congratulations to u anish..and the rest of the team! cuz i know that u'll have been practicing hard for this tournament and ofcourse had fun in the process..what with Mr. Mahesh's introduction of cricket football and handball:P and coming in the mornings during ramadan..the changing rooms where sharath had his hour long showers while santosh made off with his tie cuz he forgot his own:P,everybody stealing sharath's deo, and ofcourse Bharath's annoyingly high pitched shrieks of "louis":p Good times that u should cherish forever:D..congratulations yet again for a brilliant match!
Good job guys.
This is great....something I've always wanted to see.
Always had this dream when we were the school team, but we were pretty content just bunking classes for the team, you guys went all the way and finally did it.
I always knew though, that if our school went anywhere with football, it'd be in Anish's era. So, well done Ali, Anish, and everyone else as well.
I wish now that we had tried harder back when I was in the team, didn't even take it seriously. That was the curse of modern high I guess. Anish was the only guy who even bothered to complete the warming up stuff properly. Haha....
you deserve it dude.....really.
Oh...and just something interesting. One of my friends here, is a guy that scored 3 goals against us that day we lost to St. Marys 10-0! Weird.
Make good use of the Maktoum bridge field while you guys are still there.
And they won.
Thank you Anish, for instiling hope. Thank you, DMHS football team, for instiling spirit. Thank you sir, for instiling passion.
Thank you Anish, for instiling leadership. Thank you, DMHS football team, for instiling wonder. Thank you sir, for instiling righteousness.
Thank you Anish, for instiling respect. Thank you, DMHS football team, for instiling success. Thank you sir, for instiling courage.
Thank you Anish, for leading the team. Thank you, DMHS football team, for winning the cup. Thank you sir, for helping them on their way.
Thank you.
How I wish I was there.
You guys worked hard and totally deserve it!!
Congrats..
ello Anish! once again terribly late, I know, but i was on a break and decided id post now. Bloody hell, its been some 4 yrs for me with you guys now, and i still remember the first time we played together on the small tennis courts and then we shifted to the big tennis courts and played with that brown ball of yours that anwar took! it never saw the light of day again did it? I think it's been the one stable factor all these years, even through the boards when we put on 12 kilos in 2 months, i remember playing when we had extra classes! I don't even need to say it but im still going to say it, you kept the ball rolling! To your passion, to your drive, to your love for the game-respect! YOU are the truest ambassador of sport!keep living it and keep loving it-you'll take each other places!
everythn every1s saying? all the gushing compliments? all the cliches? all the, 'u guys are gods''? v.v.v appropriate!
thanks so much everyone for the appreciation!
omar - unbelievable huh? nice to hear from you..
nishant - thank you for the poem-ish second cup...:S - too flattering at times..but always appreciated!
thanks again everyone...
Hey Anish ,
CONGRATULATIONS !!!!! You guys finally did it..Damn proud of you..Your hard work and dedication has been rewarded.. you deserve all the accolades.. My congrats to all the members of the team and the coach as well.. Great way to finish .. Missing you guys and football ..
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