For this year’s second SAISA season, I decided to try out for SAISA basketball for the first time. This was a new experience for me as I was used to traveling for SAISA Track and Field, which also takes place during season 2, however, I decided against it and wanted to try something new. I have always enjoyed playing basketball but have never played it competitively, so this was a big step for me. The beginning of the season started timidly, the practices were light and somewhat easy, however, there was an underlying pressure felt by all the members trying out, we all were trying effortlessly to prove ourselves. Week in and week out, as the practices went on, they became more and more difficult, and our coaches were pushing us to our limit. Going into the final week before the team selection, there were still many possible open spots for the team, it was an extremely close selection. However, despite the tough selection I persevered and was picked for the team. I was excited. This meant I was guaranteed to travel to Mumbai.
The tournament itself was great. After going through long, hard, tough training for months prior, I felt our team was ready and we attacked the tournament with confidence. Winning our first game was a vital win for us, as it would assure our dominance and consolidate our hard work. However, after winning the first game, we lost the next two group games. Meaning we had to play the number 2 seed from the other group, AISC Raptors. They were a tough team, we knew from watching their games. But we came out on top and dominated them to get our second win and a chance at a semi-finals game. However, the following game was disappointing. We played the ACS Scorpions again, from our group and got beat once again, meaning we were out of the final contention. Our team was highly disappointed with our performance, as we knew that we could have come out on top against the other finalist team if we had played them. This meant we were stuck playing for 3-4 place, and knowing how hard we worked, our team was not going to settle for 4th. It was an extremely close game, we were losing for most of it, but slowly we persevered and lessened the gap point by point, and eventually, in the last 2 minutes of the 4th quarter the OSC Geckos, (us) took the lead and won the game. Although it was not the outcome we had hoped for, we were all proud for still achieving 3rd place; a podium finish. I would say that my collaboration skills were tested as this team was new for me, and basketball was a first for me too.
