Kiet Nguyen, Grade 11
UWC Thailand
To this date, there are still times where I find myself shouting at my teammates; “Chuyên di...chuyên cho tao nè,” I yell to my partners in Vietnamese, indicating for them to pass the ball to me. After 6 months of playing together, I still have the habit of using these phrases and each time I receive the same bewildered look from everyone. I feel alienated - as if I come from a different planet. Football has always been a challenging sport to play for me, let alone playing with teammates who come from different nations and speak different languages. However, despite all these boundaries, UWCT Mantas will always be one of the best teams I have ever played in. Here is my story.
I still remember the first day when we came together as a team. I was going to be playing with people who come from different countries, countries which compete in the World Cup – this was only a far-fetched dream for my country. I wondered how fast and strong they would be. Would I fit in? Would I let Vietnam down? These thoughts raced through my head as my shoes repeatedly brushed past the freshly cut grass. My eyes wandered around the 57,000 square feet turf until a bold sign instantly caught my attention. I zoomed through the list, only to find myself at the bottom of both lists – strength and speed. However, I wasn’t the worst on the team yet. Not unless I was at the bottom of the skills test as well. I let out a deep long-awaited sigh. I wasn’t the worst. No matter how disappointed I was with myself, my new teammates had always been there to constantly cheer and support me. It was that moment when a new feeling started to grow in me – I started to feel like I belonged to this place. To these people. To this team.
Every Monday and Thursday, we come together to train with Kru Cameron and Kru Chris ( “Kru” being Thai for coach/teacher). These were the most hard-working coaches I had ever come across. They do the same exercises that they make us do, sometimes even more rigorously. Seeing my coaches push their limits has always inspired me to train harder, not only for myself but for the team too. To my surprise, the support continued throughout my training. They would always be supportive whenever I did any exercises wrong or whenever I missed any shots. This made me believe that I should try my best to do something for this team. For the first time in my life, I had the motivation and drive to train by myself – even during days where I didn’t have training with my coaches. I wasn’t going to let such a wonderful team down.
Then the big day came. It was the day of the tournament. The debilitating feeling that I would disappoint my team and coaches began to rise again. The recent losses of our team contributed to the anxiety I had felt. However, after every match, my coaches would always tell us to be proud of ourselves and continue to train hard so that we could play better in the next match. No matter what the result of the match was, there was no place for negativity in our team. I know how frustrated our coaches would get when we lost the ball due to a silly mistake or missed an easy chance, yet they always kept calm and focused on improvement and better teamwork. We also never showed a bad attitude towards each other because we all know that each of us was giving the team everything we had. By supporting each other and giving our very best to every game we played, the team, which just came together six months ago, has become my family, where one plays for all and all plays for one.
This team will play together for the next 6 months and then we will have to say goodbye to some of our players, which I could never even imagine. But every journey needs come to an end, which is what makes the journey so valuable, to begin with. On a brighter side, we will have some new players who will one day have a great experience here just like I did. I hope that they will also play with the same spirit with which our team is playing and that they will carry on the legacy of UWC Thailand. So to our readers, love and compassion is ubiquitous in the UWC family and I hope you discover this just as I have at UWC Thailand.
I still remember the first day when we came together as a team. I was going to be playing with people who come from different countries, countries which compete in the World Cup – this was only a far-fetched dream for my country. I wondered how fast and strong they would be. Would I fit in? Would I let Vietnam down? These thoughts raced through my head as my shoes repeatedly brushed past the freshly cut grass. My eyes wandered around the 57,000 square feet turf until a bold sign instantly caught my attention. I zoomed through the list, only to find myself at the bottom of both lists – strength and speed. However, I wasn’t the worst on the team yet. Not unless I was at the bottom of the skills test as well. I let out a deep long-awaited sigh. I wasn’t the worst. No matter how disappointed I was with myself, my new teammates had always been there to constantly cheer and support me. It was that moment when a new feeling started to grow in me – I started to feel like I belonged to this place. To these people. To this team.
Every Monday and Thursday, we come together to train with Kru Cameron and Kru Chris ( “Kru” being Thai for coach/teacher). These were the most hard-working coaches I had ever come across. They do the same exercises that they make us do, sometimes even more rigorously. Seeing my coaches push their limits has always inspired me to train harder, not only for myself but for the team too. To my surprise, the support continued throughout my training. They would always be supportive whenever I did any exercises wrong or whenever I missed any shots. This made me believe that I should try my best to do something for this team. For the first time in my life, I had the motivation and drive to train by myself – even during days where I didn’t have training with my coaches. I wasn’t going to let such a wonderful team down.
Then the big day came. It was the day of the tournament. The debilitating feeling that I would disappoint my team and coaches began to rise again. The recent losses of our team contributed to the anxiety I had felt. However, after every match, my coaches would always tell us to be proud of ourselves and continue to train hard so that we could play better in the next match. No matter what the result of the match was, there was no place for negativity in our team. I know how frustrated our coaches would get when we lost the ball due to a silly mistake or missed an easy chance, yet they always kept calm and focused on improvement and better teamwork. We also never showed a bad attitude towards each other because we all know that each of us was giving the team everything we had. By supporting each other and giving our very best to every game we played, the team, which just came together six months ago, has become my family, where one plays for all and all plays for one.
This team will play together for the next 6 months and then we will have to say goodbye to some of our players, which I could never even imagine. But every journey needs come to an end, which is what makes the journey so valuable, to begin with. On a brighter side, we will have some new players who will one day have a great experience here just like I did. I hope that they will also play with the same spirit with which our team is playing and that they will carry on the legacy of UWC Thailand. So to our readers, love and compassion is ubiquitous in the UWC family and I hope you discover this just as I have at UWC Thailand.
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