DSE 2022 Paper 2 Part B Q4: Speech
Good evening, principal, coach, and my fellow teammates! Welcome to the end-of-season dinner celebration! It’s my honour to be standing right here in front of you and share a few words about what we’ve been through as a team in this season before you enjoy the dinner. Tonight, I’m going to first talk about ouor achievement, a lesson that we learned as well as what we can expect in the future.
To begin with, I believe it’ll miss no one’s attention that our team reached the inter-school championship final but unfortunately came second because this year it’s the frist time ever that our school’s basketball team manasged to advance all the way to the final at the inter-school championship. Even though we’re defeated in the final, we’ve still made history for not only reaching the final but also for notching the best record during the regular season of the inter-school basketball league. For many of us, what we’ve achieved this year is undeniably a cause for celebration, and hence we’re gathering here for a celebration dinner so that we can share our joy and the fruit of our hard work and sacrifice.
Despite our achievements and glory, I’m not content with being the first runner-up in the inter-school basketball championship while holding the best record in the league, not because I’m greedy for more glories, but because I know we could have done better. Since I’ve been leading the team for two consecutive seasons as a captain, I’m well aware of each and every member’s potential and skills. On top of that, the “triangle strategy” dewveloped by our respectrable coach Mr.Smith is impeccable and well-suited for out team. Otherwise, we couldn’t have snatched the record-high 32 wins during the regular season. After losing in the final, it began to dawn on us that our definition of “good game” was not good enough, and we believed that we need to train harder, learn faster, and play smarter in the future until we top the chart and bring the trophy back to our school. That’s a tough and bitter lesson we learned from the past season, and I believe it’ll make us more formidable in the future.
Moving on, our team will continue to train under the guidance of Mr. Smith. In fact, we’ve already held several team meetings to set up the training schedule for the next season. What’s more exciting is that our school principal is generous enough to accept out request to bring in Ms. Young, who will serve as our new physical therapist and conditioning coach in the next season because we have to stay healthy to remain competitive in the league. On top of that, I still can vividly recall how we had a lot of turnovers during the fourth quarter of the final due to fatigue. Because of that, I’m convinced that Ms Young can improve our physical conditions through her thoughtful conditioning scheme. With the help of Ms Young and Mr. Smith, I expect we’ll start a new chapter of our school’s basketball history, and it’ll be one that’s filled with flories and trophie.
Although the prospect of our school’s basketball will be bright, I’m disheartened to say that I won’t be there to witness it with you all as I’m graduating this year. People may say that “no one will remember the first-runner up as only the champion will be remembered.” But I beg to differ, because I will always remember how we persevered in the face of adversity, how we went against all odds as we defeated all the basketball powerhouses one by one in our school district to reach the final, and how we fought until the final whistle in the last quarter of the championship game. As the greatest basketball player of all time Michael Jordan has once said, “I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying.” I think that we’ve tried our best and left everything on the court, so we shoulld have no regret.
Now we should give ourselves some credits and more importantly, we should also thank our principal, who is a huge fan of our team, as well as Mr. Smith for their unconditional support. Thank you for listening and letting me be your captain. Without further ado, let the celebration begin!