SUNBEAMS SUPER CUP 2014

Interschool tournaments have always been a way for students of different schools to come together to interact, know each other, and simply, play. They have become events to look forward to, for both players and spectators of the different schools. Sunbeams School hosted its annual interschool football tournament, Sunbeams Super Cup, from the 13th to the 15th of February, with the tagline “Spend Valentine's day with the thing you love most -- football”. The cup was sponsored by Rexona.
Despite mocks and exams, a total of 15 schools, including Sunbeams, participated in SCC. The schools being Scholastica (Mirpur and Uttara), CIS, ISD, Ebenezer, Green Herald, Sunnydale, ITHS, CGSD, Sea Breeze, Playpen, DPS, Manarat and Pledge Harbour. The different categories were Boys u-16, Boys u-18, and Girls. It was a competitive tournament, no doubt, made more competitive by the screaming crowd. Sadly, only a small percentage of the names signed up on the spectators' list actually came to the tournament, and Beamers cheering for their own school ruled the ground. Even then, according to Ayat, a player from CGSD, “Apart from the crowd going wild for the host team, they were very friendly in general. Even the players, after every foul, apologised. SSC is one of the toughest tournaments to play in; it is insanely competitive.”
The principle of the senior section, Dr. Quadri had said in the opening ceremony, “They keep saying that it's not about winning or losing. If that's true, why do we keep score?” And the score really was kept. With every goal and free kick, the tournament became more and more competitive. There were some unbelievable goals in the group matches. Some teams had to go through penalty shootouts to advance to the semis. After semis, from the girls' category, Sunbeams A and Sunbeams B played in the finals, with Sunbeams B going on to become champions (1-0). From the u-16 category, CGSD beat Sunbeams A in the penalty shootout, and the final scores were 4-3. Qazi, Sunbeams A defender, said, “Although winning would have made all of us ecstatic and the whole school proud, it came down to luck. We did get a hell of a game out of the experience.” The last minutes were nail-biting. ITHS dominated DPS in the u-18 boys' finals. The finals scores were 5-1. It was obvious that they had improved since the last AIFT. They had more possession and played the best football in the entire tournament.
Apart from the matches, flash-mobs took place on Friday and Saturday. Some 30 players and volunteers danced away to Treasure, Love Natural, and I Love It. On the day of the finals, the chief guest, Sheikh Aslam, 5 times top scorer of the Bangladesh National Football Team, gave out the medals and trophies. From the individual awards, for girls', Raiyan (Sunbeams) got best player, Samaha (Scholastica) got best striker, Daneesha (Sunbeams) got best goalkeeper. For the u-18 boys', Atef (DPS) got best player, Murfat (ITHS) got best striker, Ikram (ITHS) got best goalkeeper. From the u-16 boys', Shayer (CGSD) got best player, Nabil (Sunbeams B) got best striker, Ahnaf (Sunbeams B) got best goalkeeper.
“Interschool tournaments are extra special because you are representing a certain institute and you want to establish your school as one of the best teams in Dhaka. It is a great platform for new players to emerge into the game. I would personally love to see more girls' team participating in the near future and hope that there are more interschool tournaments from time to time,” said Raiyan. Hope to see you all in SSC next year!