“Let me hear your funky gecko! What did you say?”
– Lady Geckos 2019
I can’t believe my SAISA journey is over.
As mentioned in my earlier post, I trained with the girls’ volleyball team this year to travel to Amman, Jordan for the SAISA Volleyball tournament of 2019. After intense months of training, we were ready and fired up to travel on the 15th of October, 2019.
The team was pumped up, to say the least, and I felt prepared and excited to travel with this amazing bunch of girls. The day we arrived in Amman, we visited the dead sea, which was a whole experience to itself. I have nothing to compare it to and it truly was a great start to what would be an eventful tournament.
On the first day of the tournament, we had four matches, out of which we won three and lost one. However, the games were tight and intense, giving me anxiety throughout. The hardest game that day was against Lincoln and I was put into sub for the setter which was nerve-wracking beyond words. We lost the game but we gave them a tight match and none of us were truly disappointed as we really did try our best. I didn’t get to play much on the first day but it still was a great experience and I was worn out by the end of the day.
The second day was not so great for us: we lost three of our games and only won one. The outcome was the inverse of the first day and I must admit, it did bring our morale down. But if I’m being completely honest, I went into this tournament with the mindset of doing my best on the court, rather than a “let’s win this” attitude, so, amongst those defeats we suffered, I had my own little personal victories which helped me keep my attitude strong throughout that day. In many ways, despite not being a senior player, I was a more mature athlete for which I am proud of. The second day truly showed me how much I’ve grown as an athlete and how I can truly handle stressful situations. I owe these attributes to my experiences in badminton and football. I got to play much more on the second day and I truly did play better: my serves were good and I even hit which was really satisfying.
My performance on the second day paid off because I got a lot of court-time on the final day, where I played against both teams and managed to get some good hits. We placed sixth overall, which was not great and many of our players were disappointed but as I said earlier, I took our team losses with a grain of salt and focused on my little victories. This may sound selfish but given how my role was mainly as a substitute player, I wanted to make the best out of whatever court-time I got and enjoy the tournament to the best of my abilities.
SAISA volleyball reminded me of just how much I love SAISA. How much I love team sports. How much I love my coaches and my team and simply the adrenaline. I am truly disappointed that I can’t do another SAISA sport this year, it truly breaks my heart in more ways than one, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make.
Sports in OSC has taught me so much about myself that in no other field would I have realized and I seriously don’t think anyone else understands how much I will miss it. And honestly, it’s not even the traveling or the clout you get from being in a sports team but just being on a court or the field, just focusing on the game, the whole art of being a sportswoman, I live for that. I truly do live for that.
My sports journey doesn’t end here, mind you, I’m just taking a temporary step back for the next few months. I will still keep my fitness up but I will return to the field and court once more after my high school journey comes to an end.
Though for now, this incredible chapter of my life will have to close.