Last week, at the ISSO football tournament, the U17 girls’ team secured Ascend’s first-ever national trophy. The team of 12 consisting of Anika Swadi, Zahra Faizallabhoy, Keya Rajgarhia, Aanya Vora, Ameira Ramachandra, Ahana Gandhi, Divina Ramnani, Krisha Kapoor, Nakiso Mutasa, Kiara Bhogilal, Zoe Jacob Badami, Jayahtara Bhupal, Aarna Dhawan, Aanya Kapoor and Ananya Sharma traveled to Indore for the national football tournament . To understand what went on behind the scenes, we interviewed co-captains Aanya and Keya, to get an understanding of what they did to play high level football at the national level.

How does it feel bringing home Ascend’s first national trophy?: 

“With all that effort that we had put in, not just over the lead up to ISSO, but also for the last year, there’s no better word to describe other than amazing,” said the pair. Aanya described this “as a great feeling, but I still feel like we could have gotten first place, however that’s always the case.” Still, the Ascend community was overjoyed with the win, celebrating the girls win by cheering them on their first day back and doing another trophy lifting. Aanya described this as– “really great, because coming back we were super noticed, it felt that our work was being acknowledged and applauded.” 

How does it feel as captains? 

“A huge sense of pride”, is what the co-captains described the feeling as. They also said they were “really proud of the whole team”, with Aanya going on to say–“Some of the U14 girls played an U17 tournament and I’m so proud of the work that they put in, because they are the ones that have gotten us this far.” Along with that, as captains the two motivated their team and made sure their spirits were constantly high, even though they may not have felt it themselves: “We were nervous against JPIS because last year they had beaten us pretty badly.” The pair could tell that their team was nervous about their match, hoping it wouldn’t be a repeat of the previous. “While as captain I believed that we were going to win, it is hard to block out the self-doubt”, said Keya. However they did not show this, and instead–“We took the pressure off the team, and onto ourselves, just telling the team to fight and have fun”. On the field being captain is a super important role, and Aanya with a very sore throat says–“The reason I lost my voice is because on the field I was shouting so much”. Aanya added on by saying, “Even though I was constantly shouting on the pitch, I told all the girls beforehand to not take any of it personally, because that’s just what I had to do to make sure the team was performing on the field.” Aanya noted that it was hard for her to shout at her own teammates, but it was what she knew she had to do. 

What was the lead up to ISSO like and what was the tournament like? 

As mentioned the lead up to ISSO for any team is grueling but nonetheless a team experience. Aanya and Keya described the lead up as “super tiring because we had morning practices 4 out of 5 days a week.” The pair went on to say how hard it was, “a struggle sometimes coming to practice, even with summatives and tests, and out-of-school commitments.” They went on to describe the tournament as “super intense”, however with “smaller fields than last year, it meant less exertion.” Aanya described the smaller pitches and the feel of the matches as–“quite fun, because we could shoot from shorter distances”, which she demonstrated through her flawless corner goal. ” 

What are some important lessons that you have taken away from playing and leading at a national level? 

“That there’s all kinds of people, and you will face conflict,” said Aanya. However a “level of uncertainty is very present” Keya and Aanya said. “We have no idea what the teams will play like, so our entire strategy just focuses solely on how we play, and staying focused on our game”. Furthermore, once of the differences of playing at a local level is that here, “you won’t face nearly as much conflict, however at ISSO you’ll get pushed, you’ll get rammed into by girls twice your size, and sometimes those fouls won’t even be called, and you just have to learn to deal with it and brush it off”, Aanya said. While ISSO is a great team, any tournament, especially an intense one like ISSO, helps with resilience and overcoming challenges. 

Aanya and Keya did an incredible job captaining their team, and we can’t wait to see what next year’s ISSO will bring for all teams in the Ascend community. Congratulations to the U17 girls!