The story I wish to describe took place in the second year of my engineering. I was on the

basketball team of SRM University and our team had gone to Gurugram, Haryana to play in

a basketball tournament at IIM Ahmedabad. To give a little backstory: the team of

Indus Business School had lost in a game with us a couple months back in RV College. So the current

meeting with their team was a fairly heated one.

As the tournament progressed, we faced diﬀerent team and we faced Indus Business School in the

quarter ﬁnals. We were conﬁdent in our abilities but our young team had learnt the real

meaning of ‘home team advantage’ that day. The support they were getting from the

crowd of their college was surreal. They were singing songs and cheering in chorus which

kind of through us oﬀ guard and we let their emotions scare us to the point that our game

was being aﬀected.

Indus Business School ended up scoring the ﬁrst 10 points and our experienced coach had called a

time-out to inject some motivation into us. He had used the storytelling tool as I can

recall it now. He had asked the 5 individuals playing at the time to share their struggles as

to how to got college and ended up on the basketball team. A lot of my teammates talked

about their ﬁnancial struggles at home, others said the injuries they overcame. I talked

about the many hours we had sacriﬁced in trainings and practices at college so we can

give our best shot which we weren’t doing then. Feeding oﬀ of each other’s motivation

and drive, we were able to remove the distractions from our heads. The game we played

since then was something entirely diﬀerent. We ended up winning the game and had

gained the respect of everyone present because the crowd alone seemed to be acting as

an extra player on court just by their noise.

That day, we recognised that our struggles were not to be forgotten and that they were

great fodder for our zeal in times of need. Although we each were driven by diﬀerent

memories, we were able to focus our energies towards a common goal. Each of us

reciting our pasts gave diﬀerent perspectives to all teammates present and we developed

a new found respect and trust amongst ourselves.

What we could’ve done diﬀerently and maybe a little better was we could’ve adopted a

practice like this since before. A lot of times, when our motivations were less, we could’ve

had other people tell their stories so that our spirits were always high. It could’ve helped

to become better versions of ourselves both on and oﬀ court.

Another thing we could’ve done was take 10 minutes to appreciate someone on the team

(which we learned to do at MDC). This would’ve given a lot of conﬁdence to the person

being praised, develop strong bonds of camaraderie, and also allow everyone to see

diﬀerent perspectives of an individual.


The story I wish to describe took place in the second year of my engineering . I was on the basketball team of SRM University and our team had gone to Gurugram , Haryana to play in a basketball tournament at IIM Ahmedabad . To give a little backstory : the team of Indus Business School had lost in a game with us a couple months back in RV College . So the current meeting with their team was a fairly heated one . As the tournament progressed , we faced diﬀerent team and we faced Indus Business School in the quarter ﬁnals . We were conﬁdent in our abilities but our young team had learnt the real meaning of ‘ home team advantage ’ that day . The support they were getting from the crowd of their college was surreal . They were singing songs and cheering in chorus which kind of through us oﬀ guard and we let their emotions scare us to the point that our game was being aﬀected . Indus Business School ended up scoring the ﬁrst 10 points and our experienced coach had called a time - out to inject some motivation into us . He had used the storytelling tool as I can recall it now . He had asked the 5 individuals playing at the time to share their struggles as to how to got college and ended up on the basketball team . A lot of my teammates talked about their ﬁnancial struggles at home , others said the injuries they overcame . I talked about the many hours we had sacriﬁced in trainings and practices at college so we can give our best shot which we were n’t doing then . Feeding oﬀ of each other ’s motivation and drive , we were able to remove the distractions from our heads . The game we played since then was something entirely diﬀerent . We ended up winning the game and had gained the respect of everyone present because the crowd alone seemed to be acting as an extra player on court just by their noise . That day , we recognised that our struggles were not to be forgotten and that they were great fodder for our zeal in times of need . Although we each were driven by diﬀerent memories , we were able to focus our energies towards a common goal . Each of us reciting our pasts gave diﬀerent perspectives to all teammates present and we developed a new found respect and trust amongst ourselves . What we could ’ve done diﬀerently and maybe a little better was we could ’ve adopted a practice like this since before . A lot of times , when our motivations were less , we could ’ve had other people tell their stories so that our spirits were always high . It could ’ve helped to become better versions of ourselves both on and oﬀ court . Another thing we could ’ve done was take 10 minutes to appreciate someone on the team ( which we learned to do at MDC ) . This would ’ve given a lot of conﬁdence to the person being praised , develop strong bonds of camaraderie , and also allow everyone to see diﬀerent perspectives of an individual .