Preparing for Panthers

Karl Chan

A month ago, there were try-outs for all first season sports. The two main sports this season are volleyball and soccer. Since then, all the varsity volleyball and soccer players have been working extremely hard to compete for first place in the school’s upcoming major tournament – ACSC. However, for us, the Eagles, to get first in ACSC, we must face countless tough opponents in order to improve; last weekend, we faced one of them – ISKL.

On Friday, September 21st, the varsity soccer guys, varsity soccer girls, varsity volleyball guys, varsity volleyball girls, and the JV volleyball girls took a trip to KL to face off against the Panthers at their home ground.

As ISKL is one of the most famous international schools in Malaysia, their sports facilities are advanced enough to attract lots of high caliber sports players to their school; so, beating them is challenging.

Since I was (and currently am) one of the varsity volleyball players, I can remember that they were consistent with their bumping and setting.  Similarly, Nicholas Khor (12), with three years of varsity soccer experience said, “They (ISKL) are a team that has really good ball movement.”

With only a month worth of training, beating ISKL is, without a doubt, a challenge but is almost impossible for us varsity volleyball guys. This year’s guy’s varsity volleyball team consists of many students with lots of extracurricular activities. For the first week of practice, Ryan Chan (9) was absent because of his chess tournament. For the second week of practice, half of the team (AKA the seniors) went on Senior Sneak to Telunas. For the third week of practice, a few people were sick and could not show up. Finally, in the fourth week, we had our first practice with perfect attendance. So far, we only had three practices where the whole team showed up; but I have to say that our teamwork has been somewhat exceptional.

The Eagles may not have had as much practice as they wanted to before they played against ISKL, but I know, for sure, that the one thing that Dalat has had more than any other school is the heart to play their sports; whether it’s soccer, volleyball, track, basketball, rugby, or baseball, the Eagles will never back down until the game is done.