I’m glad to say that I’ve completed my first ever SAISA (south Asia inter-scholastic Association) competition. If I’m being completely honest, it was one of the best weeks I’ve had so far this year! The first season of the SAISA tournament this year was Volleyball and Swimming. I was a participant in the volleyball team along with 9 other girls from grades 9-12. I think that SAISA is a great opportunity to make friends and get to know people from other countries while competing in a sport and most importantly having fun.
This year the volleyball SAISA tournament was hosted in Amman, Jordan and lasted for 3 days. However, because of travel times and sightseeing, we ended up going for around 5 days. On the first day that we got there, we got to go to the dead sea, which was an incredible experience. I think that’s another factor that differentiates SAISA from any other sports competition I’ve competed in in the past; the fact that you get to visit some of the touristic aspects of the country you’re visiting rather than traveling and only attending the school.
We competed against 10 other teams (from schools all over south Asia) in a round-robin format for the first two days in order to get an equal playing experience. Then, on the last day, depending on the scores from the first two days, semi-finals and finals were held, as well as the placement matches for all other places below fourth.
Throughout the entire tournament, I’m happy to say that our entire team fought as hard as we possibly could. We worked collaboratively and supported each other all throughout, gaining each other’s respect in turn. Not only was this a great season in which I, along with my other peers, got a chance to improve our technique and skills in Volleyball, but it was also a great opportunity to bond with our team as a whole as well as the other competing teams.
I made many friends from countless different schools that I will hopefully get to see more throughout the next two years in various different SAISA tournaments, which is the beauty of this all. Therefore, I think that SAISA was a great experience and hopefully, many more like these are to come!
