One of the main focuses in team sports at ISB is teamwork, because it supposedly has important lessons and skills for our future as working adults. Panther Nation asked four students to give their personal opinions on this subject.

Rayan Saqib (9), Jeannie Macrae (11), Benedict Laidlaw (10), and Leah Zhao (9) have all been on team sports. Rayan has been part of the Black and Gold Boys Soccer team, Benedict has been on the swim team, Leah has been on the JV Girls Basketball team and Jeannie has been apart of multiple teams such as Soccer, Basketball, Softball and Volleyball.

When asked what his favorite thing about being on a team was, Rayan replied with, “working as one and having good relationships with peers.” This is an example of what sports in ISB are focused on, building relationships and being able to work with each other easily.

To this question Jeannie said, “I love the camaraderie and the new friendships that are made when a team is put together.” It is always important to make new friends wherever you go and sports are one of the best places to do that.

She later added, “when you mess up, you have a whole group of people to pick you up, support you and then tease you about it for the rest of the season.” As you can see teams do form important relationships even when people are of different ages they still manage to come together and work as a team.

There are many things you can gain from being on a team and of course friendship is one of those amazing things, but there are also many other things you are able to gain. Leah says, “I think I [have] gained a better sense of communication, as with meeting any new people, it is important to be able to talk to them and become familiar with each other.”

According to ISB, being on a sport can help you in your future to gain skills. We asked Benedict what he thinks he will use in the future and he simply said, “teamwork skills.” Which is a short and sweet way to say, that he has learned many social skills that will help him in the future to work in teams if his job requires him to do so.

Leah had her own opinion on what she will use in the future, “I think being on a sport will help me in the future with connecting with other people.” She later added, “being on a team means that you have to be able to become friends with your teammates [quickly], which I think is a skill that can be easily transferred to anything else.”

Rayan said “As I have a dream to play [soccer] professionally it [will] help being a team player and being proud of what you do.” Explaining that the use of teamwork in his everyday life will help him learn skills for his future professional soccer career. “I feel as though throughout the rest of my life I am going to have to work with and put up with various people who I may not get along well with or may not see eye to eye.” Jeannie explained.

She thinks being on a team sport is valuable and how you will use it in the future. She states that she will use the skills of patience in the workplace in order to deal with people that she usually wouldn’t agree with.

She continued with, “Being on teams has helped me develop a patience with others, which would make compromising and working with said people easier.” And this is why teamwork at ISB is such an important idea. It helps us with many skills we can use in the future jobs and the rest of our lives.

ISB has noticed that being on a team is an important thing when being in school with developing academic and social skills. So if you are not part of a team right now, try out for something, as your future career may rely on it.

Megan B