This year (2022), the SAISA swimming meet was hosted by the American Community School (ACS) in Amman, Jordan from the 20th to the 23rd of October. From the (maximum) 7 individual events I partook in, I was able to win 5 golds, a silver, and a 4th place, earning me the most overall points as a male in the competition for all age groups. Furthermore, OSC came 3rd overall out of the total 8 competing schools.

I wasn’t expecting such a successful result for myself as I had only started training about 2 months prior to the competition due to injuries and sickness so I was quite unfit. I definitely wasn’t at my fitness peak but luckily I had gained power from other forms of exercise hence I was able to beat most of my previous best times. Given most of these times were two years ago pre-covid so I should have easily been able to beat them with consistent training but since I had not been able to train much, this was a good achievement and I was still able to come out on top (points) overall for men by quite a margin. I also received two Sportsmanship awards (S-pins) from schools AISD and LS.

We arrived in Jordan 36 hours before the start of the swim meet so we had the day before to go sightseeing in Amman. As a team, we all went to the dead sea and other archaeological sites in Amman. Although the intense heat would have not been the best on the day before a swim meet, visiting the dead sea was a once in a lifetime opportunity that we could not pass on. In the end, it was definitely worth it though as it was a feeling (floating) that could not be re-created anywhere else.

Overall, the trip was an amazing experience and I was able to many new friends and achieve great times.