Students of Global Indian International School, Whitefield (Bengaluru) emerged as winners at the recently concluded 3-day CBSE Cluster 8 (Karnataka U-19 Boys) Football Championship hosted at Delhi Public School, Mysore. A pulsating semi-final against Sindhi School, where GIIS were one goal down, was eventually converted into a comeback victory with 2 winning goals. We won the tournament final with 2-0 against Brigade PSBB School showcasing the results of our students' rigorous practice and on-ground teamwork.

Master Neelakantanfrom the school was awarded with the "Best Player of the Tournament" title for his meticulous strategy and game plan during the game. A passionate and skilful footballer, Neel found a great platform to showcase his football skills.

GIIS has always emphasised on creating well-rounded individuals and future leaders. We encourage our students to pay equal attention to sports, academics, and other extra-curricular activities through our NINE Gems framework for the holistic development. We have always encouraged students to take up a sport of their liking, develop and hone athletic talent among them, and for this we have especially designed a 'Gold Squad Programme' that offers specialised training to students. Gold Squad Programme, provides students with special coaches to train them to participate in various competitions at the national level.

Such CBSE Cluster Championships are also a way to identify talents at the State Level and mould them to be a part of the National Team.

To celebrate this momentous feat, all the team players were also felicitated in a special program in the school to celebrate their victory. Dr Shivananda CS, the principal took the stage and exclaimed that at the start of the Mysuru sojourn he had only one message for the team, "Win at least one match." But the team repeated their victory multiple times and bagged the winner's trophy. Each 'champion player' was asked to speak for at least a minute about their experience of the field and the win. Players described that at the beginning of the tournament, their team was not a known one for the spectators. But they proved them wrong by getting the trophy home. One of the players from the team said that "our practice intensity built up as we progressed in preparation. From two days a week initially, we did four days the next week and finally were practising on six days of the week! We really enjoyed this part of the process and it probably set us on the right track."

The man behind this team coach Ramesh was also felicitated in a traditional way with a shawl. He was really ecstatic and commended others who made this trip possible - Uttara the PE Head, Rachna Tyagi, coaches Praveen and Aishwarya. Parents were also requested to speak and expressed how happy they were with the right set of values that had been imbibed in the players.

The fervour of this win has made all of the campus ecstatic and everyone is screaming "Three Cheers for our winning team Hip Hip Hurray!"?