As of November 7, 2023 tryouts for the OSC Varsity basketball began. Being OSC’s most popular boys high school athletic, there were bound to be lots of students competing to be chosen to travel to the American Community School in Amman, Jordan. Tryouts started 3 days after myself and the volleyball team had just won the championship so there was bound to be fatigue heading into the first week. Luckily, due to our gr0up 4 science trip we only had one Tuesday training before we were able to take a week break from basketball.

As we got back from our trip basketball training had started. As a newcomer to the OSC team I would have to break into the coaches starting squad so that I could travel for the upcoming tournament. As an unnoticed first week of efforts I was unable to catch the coaches eye as I was certain he had yet to even know my name. As the second week had ended the same fate had occured for me as I continued with the B team unable to break in to the coach’s eyesight even. However, this all changed on the third week as I was able to come into recognition after beating the A team in our 5v5 scrimmage matches. This same recognition would come on Friday as I was able to make 4/10 of the 3 pointers made by our team in our team shooting drill. This would be good news for me as next week I was training in and out of the B and A teams and gained recognition from the coach by the 5th week when I was selected to travel. After the selection we had our first team game against Gateway College. This would be an unfortunate loss however.

Another week passed as we had our next game, a rematch against Gateway. As the game started off the score was dire for us as we could not cover from a 10-point deficit from them. However, at the start of the 4th quarter, we had closed the gap drastically even closing it to within 1 point as we had unfortunately lost 48-47. This game was the last before the break and the weird thing about the basketball SAISA season was that it was split up between the winter break, making it awkward for all participants to continue their flow of training.

After the break, recovery was rough. It started with two weeks of rusty training and games against Moir which both ended in our favor. After these starting weeks, things would get ever rougher as our WWW would begin leaving us one training session in two weeks before we travel for SAISA.

As SAISA Travel Day finally arrived, the team and I set out to the airport at 7:00 on Tuesday. As we all arrived exhausted and dreary we gathered our way to our gate and set off to Doha. After a 45-minute layover, our flight from Doha to Amman finally began as we finally arrived and settled down in our hotel at around 5:00 PM in Jordan. The first impression the team had when we landed was the shocking cold that spread throughout the whole country. For the first time in years, I was able to see my breath in the air. As everyone was knocked out early due to the exhausting day of flying we started the second day with a trip to the Dead Sea with one of our closest friend schools, Lincoln School Nepal. The Dead Sea was magnificent as the buoyancy that occurred from the salt was shocking for everyone. After a relaxing day of floating and making memories, we headed home for at sunset to prepare for the tournament that began tomorrow.

As Tournament Day 1 began, we headed to school for our first match-up at 11 against Karachi American School which ended with a convincing win in our favor. After this game, the dreadful 8-hour break between our games began. Not only was the large break a problem but we would stiffen up. But also, our second game was at 7:00 PM which, due to jetlag, was at 9:30 PM in Colombo. The time difference would prove to not have an effect. However, we were unable to come out with the win against our SAISA rivals, The American International School of Muscat. This defeat would make our tournament much more difficult though.

Going into the second day our two games were against Lincoln School and the American International School of Chennai. The first game against Chennai would end in our victory with a score of 48-56. This convincing win would be the start of the end of our journey. Unbeknownst to us, the deciding margin when a tie in the group occurred was related to defensive points conceded compared to what we had assumed which was Points scored – Points conceded. This would prove to be our downfall as our comfortable lead (so we thought) in the group heading into the second group game would mean we would start our worst players for them to gain experience and give the starters a rest. As I was subbed on in the last quarter the scores were close. OSC constantly trailing by just 2-3 points was a constant trend heading into the final seconds as a ball from Antoine to Ethan to me with just 11 seconds left on the outskirts of the 3-point line would fly, and the crowd would be left in awe. As the ball bricked off of the rim a rebound from OSC would once again be swung to Antoine to Ethan and then Myself again in a redemption shot I let it fly with around 6 seconds left on the clock. As the ball flew it hit the back of the rim once again before going to a Lincoln player who let the clock die out. My heart dropped as I had just bricked two clutch 3-point shots leading to our team losing 42-40. The disappointment was minimal as we assumed we were still top of our group. However, as we were informed the decider was points conceded. This meant we were the 6th seed instead of the 4th heading into the knockouts. This would lead to us playing the 3rd seed instead of the 5th seed. As the whole team sat in shock we were prepared to head into tomorrow with high spirits.

As the third day began, our game at 11 was the third of the day. After a late start, we headed to the school to play our game. As the team was confident, we warmed up in high hopes of pulling a win out against the American School of Bombay. The game started in our favor with us ending the first quarter 16-10. The emotions were high between both teams. After the first quarter, our lead had dropped to just two points though. The tensions rose as the end of the third quarter left ASB with a ten-point lead 44-34. Yet, we were not done fighting just yet as we pushed ASB within one point with the score being 45-46 with two minutes remaining. This would be the end of our success however as 2 back-to-back 3-point shots would give ASB a comfortable lead ending the game 47-57. This would lead to us crashing out of the tournament in 6th place while we comfortably beat the 4th place team.