SAISA Recap

SAISA was a rollercoaster of emotions and sensational experiences. The only coherent feeling that I retained from being in an ecstatic and blissful state for three days is that indescribable feeling of both enjoyment contrasted with that inkling of dread when you know that ‘all good things must come to an end’. This was true in my case, as this would prove to be my final swimming Saisa, due to prior commitments. Thus, I made it a point to not only fulfill my sub goals for the season but to also make use of the limited time to create new friendships and expand on existing ones.

My two main sub goals highlighted my aim to improve my skills, in terms of the physicality of the sport by asking that I improve my personal best for 100m breastroke, by three seconds as well as helping me process the concept of making mistakes for self – development. I felt that these goals went hand in hand as I felt that I, somewhat, achieved them both (in a non – conventional manner).

In terms of improving my physicality of the support, towards the beginning of the training season, I struggled to work, effectively, towards my goal as I suffered a series of minor health problems. Although this acted as a buffer when hindering my otherwise growing momentum of improvement, it helped to re-vitalize the priorities within my life and helped to clarify my attitude towards swimming. At this specific point within the season, I was sure that I wouldn’t be able to surpass my personal best nor enhance my mentality and thus was in a state of panic. However, I combatted this stagnation in my journey by reflecting back to two years ago, when two days before TISSL, I injured my leg and was forced to get stiches. However, I remember feeling a sense of overwhelming resilience and perseverance when I decided against skipping the competition and swam with the injury. The memories rekindle the same spark of perseverance embedded within me and as my health increased, I started to increase the intensity within my training regime as I not only did after school trainings, but went for morning practices at my private squad, Starfish Aquatics.

Towards the latter end of the Saisa season, I felt that I had drastically improved my mentality towards making mistakes in the process of heightening one’s self confidence and development. For example, in terms of training when I found myself in a difficult set, that I sought difficult to maintain, I always tried to have better technique and speed during the second round, negating any sense of backward thoughts such as giving up. I transferred these skills to the competition when, despite the fact that I knew I was in a slower heat, that could possible hinder my chances of making it to the finals, I flashbacked to the journey that I took to arrive at this moment in time, thus fueling me with much needed support before I dove in.