There are many memories that I’ve made at my years at St. Mary’s during the sports program and during school. The friendships I’ve made will always be kept in a special place in my heart and will stay with me forever.
Before Bryan Cheung became AD, my first impression of him was the crazy guy with yelling issues. I remember how he would yell and throw his board on the ground every time my sister and her team made a mistake. I will never forget how his face turned completely red when he was very upset of the performance of my sister’s team. Little did I know he did the same thing to me. He yelled at me and pushed me to reach up to my full potential not only in basketball but in volleyball and soccer. Bryan was someone that motivated me to do my best in sports and everything in life.
In 5th grade, I practically gave up on trying on getting girls from my class to join basketball. This team would always rely on me to score every basket since they weren’t experienced in basketball. As the team had gotten the hang of the sport basketball, they learned the main aspects of basketball, such as creating your own shot, shooting when you are wide open, and especially being aggressive to the basket.
In 6th grade, Bryan asked me to play volleyball with girls a year older than me, and soccer with all guys. I took that challenge of playing both sports at one time and maintaining good grades. I played without knowing much about my teammates. As one year passed by, my teammates were not only friends but also brothers and sisters. We went from tripping over balls and kicking it everywhere on the field, to trapping, passing, and kicking the soccer ball properly.
Then in 7th grade, we lost one of our girls to play on our basketball team that resulted in having only 4 girls. But just when I was about to lose faith, our hope came back to us. Amanda Li took the challenge to play on our team, and at that time she was a 6th grader. Our team had another fantastic coach that year. His name was James Chiu. He worked on teaching us teamwork and the fundamentals of basketball before we learned plays. James motivated us to do our best and leave everything on the court.He believed that if we put our minds on something we can always achieve our goal with hard work. One main thing I learned from James to always work hard and believe that anything is possible if you just put your mind to it. Our goal was to win back to back championships. And our team won the championships against a team we had only beaten by 1 in the regular season. The 8th graders that are now sophomores had a scheduled championship game on the same day at the same time. Both teams definitely loss some support from the school because we only had half the support of the school at our game and their game.
The 7th/ 8th grade volleyball team had at least one year of experience that helped us during the season. It may seem that it was a disadvantage for me since I was the only 7th grader on the team, but it really motivated me to try harder and better to keep up with the girls on the team. Heather, our volleyball coach, taught us how to be light on our toes and anticipate where the ball might go. She said, “Since you had 1 year of experience, you shouldn’t be afraid to get hit by the ball.” We tried hard during practice to achieve a bigger step. Into our second week of practice, we learned how to spike, tip, set (underhand or overhand) and even overhand serve. As my volleyball coach Heather always said, “It takes communication to win games.” As a team, we not only thrived to win games, but to go all the way to the championships. And we did just that. Although we didn’t win that championships game, we made memories, friendships, and adventures that will always be with us forever. We learned the true meaning of teamwork.
The 7th/8th grade soccer team went from not knowing much about one another to practically being brothers and sisters. No one on our team knew how to trap a soccer ball, kick a soccer ball properly, or where to anticipate where the soccer ball will go. In our second year of playing soccer, we knew what to expect from 1 year of experience. We went from not scoring any goals to scoring several goals in a game. We not only scored several goals, but also won our first ever game.
Lastly in 8th grade, we recruited girls and boys from grades 6-8 from the school, De Marillac Academy, to play in our sport teams. The 8th grade volleyball team was mostly full of beginners, Alexa Drapiza, Precious Listana, Gavrielle De Leon Thompson, and Catharine Chiu. Four out of the seven players on the volleyball team didn’t know anything about volleyball. It was a great challenge as a team. Heather, my volleyball coach since 6th grade, taught the fundamentals of volleyball. She told the team that in order for us to win games we have to have teamwork and communication with one another. Our first game as a team played at Cornerstone against Good Shepherd is one of the most memorable moments that has happened. We not only won 1 set as a team but won the whole game. I was out for 2 or 3 games due to a knee injury. The team had me there for support but not physically playing on the court with them. Even though I wasn’t there to play with them, they never gave up one bit. They put all of their hard work at practice into the games. Even though we weren’t able to go all the way to the championships, we still have made many accomplishments with was we had and also had a (4-4) record. The bonds we’ve made at practice are going to stay with us forever.
The 8th grade basketball team had a big challenge ahead of them. We had the pressure of trying to have a 3peat while jumping up 2 divisions. But unfortunately we weren’t able to fulfill that dream. The playoff game we played against St. Brigid was obviously a winnable game, but many of us had the butterflies in our stomach and weren’t ready from the start. Even though we didn’t win, I am extremely proud of the girls this year. We came together from 4 different schools and not all of us can make it to every practice. That led to many confusions and miscommunications when it was time for game time. After the playoff game James told us, “The friendships and bonds you’ve made as a team will stick with you guys forever. Don’t let your heads down. Basketball is just a game and it is made for you guys to have fun. If you put your mind to something you can always succeed in life.” I will miss James Chiu and Bryan Cheung because they’ve taught me what no other coach can teach me, which was that if I put my mind to things I can always succeed in life. I will miss the famous “DAAAAHHH” from James when he gets upset. I am truly thankful for all that James Chiu, Bryan Cheung, and Tiffanie Yu. They voluntarily gave up their precious time to coach our team. I will never forget the laughs, the smiles, and especially the lessons. James, Bryan and Tiffanie will always have a special place in my heart. Bryan has obviously been a big motivation on my sports career. He taught me how to keep my head up no matter what happens. Bryan encouraged me to always do better. At the end of practice in a huddle, he would always say, “There is always room for improvement. You can win games is you convert what you learned from practice into the games.” I will always take that lesson with me in life, and everywhere I go.
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