This year (2023), the SAISA swimming meet was hosted by the American International School Chennai (AISC) in Chennai, India from the 2nd to the 4th of November.

While I was unfortunately not feeling at my best, given that I had been down with a bad case of flu just before the swim meet, I knew I couldn’t back out and had to push through as my team was counting on me.

From the individual events I took part in, I ended up winning 2 golds (for the 50 free and 50 fly) as well as 2 silvers (for 100 back and 100 IM). Although this wasn’t near as good as a result of last year (6 golds), and I got worse times for a majority of the events I swam, I wasn’t too stressed about it given my poor physical condition. Besides, I had still gotten many points for the team, which I was happy about.

What I enjoyed most about SAISA, more than even the swimming itself was the friends I made. I formed many of these friendships at last year’s SAISA in Amman, Jordan, so it was super nice to see everyone again and catch up. I believe I have made some lifetime connections with some of these folks. I was also truly honored to be presented with a SAISA Pin by one of my competitors from the SAISA school in Dhaka. This award is given to individuals at a SAISA event for sportsmanship and each SAISA team nominates two individuals from another school. They said they gave me the award for not only providing them with great competition but also demonstrating sportsmanship.

I also enjoyed spending time with my teammates and supporting especially the younger swimmers and newcomers during tough races or setbacks and also celebrating together their successes.

Being captain also honed my leadership skills, an important ability that I can apply to other parts of my life in the future.

Although OSC didn’t score too many points, every swimmer put in their full effort got personal best times, and had a good time, which was what mattered the most.