“The only way to win is to not lose.”
– Devin Amalean
On the 6th of February 16 OSC Geckos travelled to Chennai, to participate in the SAISA badminton tournament 2019 as the reigning champions.
The tournament was to take place on the 7th February where the OSC Varsity (OSC V) and Junior Varsity (OSC JV) teams competed against the other SAISA schools in a Varsity and Junior Varsity tournament respectively. There were six teams in the Varsity pool and on Thursday, we were to play all of them in a Round-Robin tournament.
The day started with a grand opening ceremony, where flower garlands were given to each participant. We all felt very special…
The highlight of the morning was that, I got to meet my friends from other SAISA schools again. It honestly filled me with so much joy to see them again; I missed them immensely. After the opening ceremony, the games started. Our first match was against Lincoln School, LS, and I won my singles and doubles quite easily. The mixed double was the match I was most concerned about and with validation as I struggled and was pushed to my limit. This made the win even more satisfying though.
Day 1 PC: Desline Attanayake
Identifying my own strengths was key to my success as all our matches that day pushed me both physically and mentally and as captain, I had to carry the pains and losses of my teammates along with my own ones. I knew my strengths lied in the singles and doubles matches and I made sure to win all of them with an opposing score less than 10 which gave out team a big boost in terms of cancelling out our losses as we lost most our boys’ matches.
In terms of demonstrating that challenges have been undertaken and developing new skills in the process, I have to say that my biggest challenge was overcoming my losses faced in the mixed doubles matches. I can’t verbally explain how hard I pushed myself to win them and the loss felt much, much worse every single time. I only won the mixed doubles against Lincoln and sustained losses henceforth against Chennai, Dhaka, ACS and Bombay. Being first seat for mixed doubles didn’t help this situation. I broke down once due to the stress and pressure I had put on myself but I pushed through this and brought myself back up. I took my anger and frustration out on the court and gave it my all for all the matches.
PC: Desline Attanayake
On the first day, we won overall against all the schools except Dhaka and, trust me, that loss broke us, broke us whole. Half of my team broke down and getting them back up was significantly challenging. The thing was, Dhaka was our biggest rival and winning against them had been our goal from the beginning so our loss, especially because all of us knew that we hadn’t given it our best and that we had disappointed our coach most of all.
However, we persevered. The next day was knock-outs and this time, everybody was pumped. Both my doubles partners gave me the talk and honestly, it was the most motivating thing ever. There was tension amongst our team but as we played that day, the tensions wore out. We demonstrate our skills and recognized the benefit of working collaboratively: we cheered for each other, supported each other, advised each other, leaned on each other and fought together. Our team bond improved significantly that day. I was quite sore all over and didn’t perform as well as I had the previous day, despite winning all my singles and doubles. But we made it to semi-finals against ASB and we successfully won and made it to the finals which was to be held on Saturday morning. All of us were pumped and ready to play.
Meanwhile the Junior Varsity team successfully made it to the Semis and came third overall in the JV tournament and, this being most of their first-time paying badminton, that was a great achievement!
I should mention here that my team was quite tense, with certain arguments going here and there and certain problems being built over the day but I made sure to sort these issues. My partner Chelsea and I thankfully had no arguments and made sure to communicate with each other thoroughly. Our relationship was great! We pumped each other up and supported each other on the court and I loved every match I played with her.
The final day, our team was pumped and ready to payback Dhaka for the loss sustained on the first day in the finals. We played some tight games, 4-4 at one point, but managed to turn the table and win 10-6 against them! It was on this day that I played the best and the win that morning, becoming the champions of SAISA once again, pumped and excited me.
My singles in the finals:
I was ecstatic: my entire team was.
No words can describe the pure joy and thrill that ran through my veins, my entire being, after the finals which finished before 10 that morning. The rest of the day was spent doing individual matches for the five categories: boys’ singles, girls’ singles, boys’ doubles, girls’ doubles and mixed doubles.
It was in this section that I played some of the best badminton I’ve ever played in my life.
Not only did I rank third in the girls’ singles tournament, Chelsea and I ranked first in the girls’ doubles tournament (we bounced back from our defeat last year!) on top of this, I received 2 S-pins, from the Lincoln and Dhaka teams for great sportsmanship which really touched me.
Below is a clip from the girls’ singles semi-finals:
And here is a clip capturing the winning point for the girls’ doubles semi-finals:
I should mention here that I reconnected with some of the most brilliant people during SAISA, friendships that were built three years ago when I first joined OSC and participated in SAISA Badminton, people I have played against and have looked forward to playing with ever since, players who I respect and will miss beyond words next year as they will be either leaving or graduating. My heart hurts as I write this section but I created a family in SAISA, not just in my team but with people from other teams as well. It’s a part of my life that I won’t be able to share with anyone unless they see or experience it for themselves. These are my people and I love them. Our jokes, rivalries, bets and ridiculous cheering, I enjoy playing badminton most with them and I know they all have a special place in my heart.
PC: Desline Attanayake
After a very emotional awards ceremony that left me in tears, we returned home with a trophy in our hands.
