That's
right folks. NACI's own Cricket Team won last year's West
Division Cricket Tournament. NACI beat Runnymede in the final,
a match in which NACI triumphed with ease. I was a proud member
of that team and I shall take everyone through from the starting
to the end. 
It all started in April, when Mr. Elcock (the team's supervisor)
gave in to repeated requests for a cricket team. With no time
to lose, try-outs for the team selection were scheduled. To
everyone's surprise, over a hundred students took part in
the first try-out. That number was reduced to about twenty.
Once the list was finalized, everyone could move on to step
two: a series of morning and after-school practice sessions.
The team practiced hard for the upcoming season. Mr. Ricardo
Tomilson, a former NACI student and athlete of the year was
brought in by Mr. Elcock to coach the team. He assisted the
players with their technique and even came out with the team
to the outdoor practice sessions, but most of all; his work
in preparing the team mentally was worth appreciating.
Our first game was against Lakeshore and was scheduled for
May 2nd, but the weather did not permit that game from taking
place. In fact, we did not play our first game until mid-May,
which was against Thistletown. The game looked like an easy
victory in our favour, but something unearthly prevented that,
causing the game to end in a draw. Maybe it was the weather,
which dampened the players' spirits, but deep down something
was wrong. After going through a few line-up changes prior
to the second game, we literally humiliated Silverthorn. The
first victory of the season brought back the life into the
entire team. The next game against West Humber was the turning
point, as we lost a very close game. Who would want to lose
a game and then take laps around the ground with everyone
else watching?
It took some time to recover from the horrors of losing to
an archrival, but we did come back and beat Lakeshore to secure
a spot in the play-offs. We faced Lakeshore again in the quarterfinals
and managed to beat them comfortably. The team ran into some
unexpected trouble in the semi-finals while playing Weston.
Who would have thought that Weston would give us a hard time?
With coach shouting out instructions and tips on the sideline,
we fought back from the verge of defeat to shock Weston and
pulled off an amazing win. This was no doubt the high point
of the entire season. If one could freeze that moment and
capture it in time, the memories would last forever.
As stated at the starting, the final match was an easy win,
but nothing close to the marvels of the win against Weston.
When the NACI sports awards came around, Andrew Chatterpaul
was declared the most valuable player, with Yadpreet Singh
bagging the title for the most improved player. And so the
season ended, and our goal was accomplished.
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