“Boys, get ready! You have two weeks to prepare for the Sports Day,” our sports teacher announced.

We were all excited for the Sports Day. I was selected with some other boys for the cone race. There were 15 people to be divided into five groups, and each team would have three students. Everybody was waiting for the teams to be announced so that we could all practice for it.

The next day, our sports teacher came in with a list in his hands and he began to announce the team members.

“The members in the first team are Ali, Hamza and Ahmed, and in the second team….” he went on.

I couldn’t hear the rest of the names after the first team as I was shocked to hear my name in it. The reason was that Hamza was one of the slowest boys in our class. I was really upset with my team selection and I complained to my sports teacher that the other teams had all good runners and it will be difficult for my team to win this race.

The teacher responded coldly, “The names are final. You still have two weeks, so work hard instead of complaining!”

I had always won at the events I took part in on Sports Day in school and I got upset as my winning streak would now be broken because I didn’t have a partner of my choice. From then on, every day we had a practice race.

On the first day, my team came the last. I was dejected. I went home and was thinking about my race, when suddenly my father’s words, which he had said to me sometime time back, came to my mind.

“Teamwork always pays off!” I remembered him saying and then telling me how his team succeeded in winning the football tournament in his school through teamwork and passion. He had also encouraged me by telling me several times that there is nothing impossible in life, all we need is faith in our abilities.

So I tried to stay positive, and the next day I went to school with a positive mind and a new strategy. I went over to Ali and talked to him about what I had in mind. He agreed to help me and we then went to talk to Hamza.

I gave Hamza a briefing on teamwork, quoted some of my father’s words and then motivated both of them. I and Ali decided that we will both work hard, with Hamza’s cooperation, and will try to improve Hamza’s running speed. For our part, we will also try to improve our pace so that we can make up for Hamza’s slower pace. From that day onwards, we worked really hard and made Hamza run on a treadmill in our school gym.

Also, we made him run two to three rounds of our ground twice a day. We practiced vigorously and we not just made Hamza practice hard, but we also practiced with him for better coordination. When our race trials took place after a few days, we came fourth out of five teams, which was an improvement since the first trial. Days passed until our Sports Day arrived.

We were all ready as well as nervous that morning. Finally, it was our race. We took our positions and we decided that I would be going first to give a boost at the start, then in the middle it will be Hamza and, in the last position, it will be Ali to give a booster finish.

The race began, we were ready and confident. I gave Hamza a good start and we were happy to see that Hamza was able to maintain that advantage. When it was Ali’s turn, both mine and Hamza’s eyes were fixed on him. Ali ran so fast that within moments we saw him pass the finishing line first.

It was a moment of extreme joy and pride for us. Everyone was shocked to see the team that was considered the weakest had won the race. This victory was just because of good teamwork. So there is truth in the saying, “Teamwork always pays off”.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 8th, 2022