Junior Anshul Sinha has been a part of the MVHS Football team since his freshman year of high school. By the second semester of junior year, Sinha wanted to try a new sport and decided to join Track and Field along with many of his other friends in Football. Sinha says a big challenge he’s faced in transitioning from a team to an individual sport is learning to be more confident in himself and his skills. When playing football, he notices that he has teammates to turn to for help during games, but during track and field meets, Sinha has had to learn to trust his own ability to perform well.
“I definitely learned to be more confident with my abilities, since there’s no one else to rely on and there’s no backup for you,” Sinha said. “So you just have to learn more self-reliant, just trusting yourself and your abilities and knowing that ‘Yes, you can do this and it’s going to be good on the game day as well.’”
However, just as the individualism of solo sports can be challenging for many players, Sinha explains that it can also be an advantage. Senior Courtney Yuen, who is a part of the Varsity Girls Water Polo and Swim team, agrees with Sinha, highlighting how team sports rely heavily on the collaboration between players. However, Yuen emphasizes that players cannot control their teammates’ actions, commenting that even with talents and impeccable strategies, a team would still lose if someone refuses to work with others.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to communicate in Water Polo because your teammates don’t know what you’re thinking and you don’t know what your teammates are thinking,” Yuen said. “And then in Swim, you know what’s best for you.”
Sinha adds that individual sports also lessen the pressure players feel during competition. He explains that he feels more stressed about his performance in Football because if he makes a mistake, it not only affects himself but the whole team as well. Similarly, senior Tanisha Kholiya, who did gymnastics for 13 years, karate for six years and joined MVHS Girls Soccer during her freshman and sophomore years, notes that she often felt stressed playing soccer due to the fear of disappointing her teammates.
However, Kholiya adds that team sports lead to better dynamics between her and her peers. As players in team sports work together to reach the common goal of winning, she says players tend to have a closer relationship, whereas the individualism of solo sports sometimes makes it difficult for everyone to build the same camaraderie.
“Our gymnastics team was really close, and we all were really good friends,” Kholiya said. “But, at the end of the day, at a competition, you’re still competing against these girls. It’s not like them winning benefits you in any way. It’s really individual in that way, and you’re still trying to beat them, so when they’re doing their routines and when they’re competing, you want them to do good, but at the same time, you want to do better than they’re doing.”
Sinha also notices that in Track and Field, he only has a few close friends and barely knows the rest of the team, while he knows and is friends with most of his teammates in Football. This difference is ultimately the reason why Sinha enjoys playing football more than track and field. While he appreciates that members in Track and Field cheer for others during meets, Sinha says he prefers having a more personal relationship with all his teammates and a strong support system around him both during and outside of games.
“I prefer football more because the team feels more like a family and you have people to motivate you when you’re not doing well,” Sinha said. “It’s just more fun to play with the team for me rather than individually because I’m not very good at finding the motivation within to perform well, so I like having people around me that help motivate me.”
