Lap by Lap to the Last Line: SAISA Track and Field 2025

On February 12th, 2025, I traveled to The American International School of Muscat (TAISM) in Oman for the annual SAISA Track and Field competition. This competition brings together 10 international schools from South Asia to compete in various activities. Having participated in these competitions for various sports and activities for numerous years, my final competition has come by.

This was not my first time in Oman. I travelled here last year in 2024 where TAISM hosted the SAISA Girls Basketball. Having had a great experience in Oman previously, I was very excited to be back! We arrived early morning on Wednesday, and having the whole day to explore and chill before the competition began the next day allowed for some great team bonding! Being the only senior on the entire team, I was keen on making new friends and hanging out with my teammates which I generally would not have during school. The 10th and 11th grade students are the teammates I spent most of my time with, and enjoyed very much! During this free day, we went to a mall, took a small walk, and went swimming! Whilst swimming at our hotel, we met up with another SAISA team, AISC. Our teams bonded, and it was great to see the amazing sportsmanship everyone had whilst interacting with other teams.

On the first night, the 15-19 girls and boys age group had dinner together. This was not only a fun way to end our first night but also boosted our team spirit as we bonded and got closer. This was a good influence on the younger members as well!

Then came around Thursday morning, the first day of the competition. Before the opening ceremony, there was the first event, which was the 1500m. I am not a distance runner, so I was not participating in this event. However, several of my teammates were. As a captain, I made sure to ensure that all of our team were fostering a good spirit, cheering everyone on, and motivating each other to do their best! After this event, came the opening ceremony. Here, both the captains, Aydin and I, lead our team through to the ground. From here on, I had 4 events to look forward to that day. Having 4 events in one day is an exhausting way to start the competition. However, getting many out of the way on the first day allowed me to not end the competition as tired. I had my 100m sprint, long jump, discus, and the 4x400m relay. From these events, I was able to place into the top 6 finals for long jump and the 4x400m relay. Unfortunately, for discus, I came in 7th place, with a very close throw distance to have gotten into the final 6.

For long jump, I got a bronze medal by coming 3rd place! This was one of my proudest moments of the whole competition. This medal had extra meaning to me, as in the previous 2 years I had placed in the top 6 finals for long jump, and was always so close to receiving a medal. Thus, I was motivated to finally get that medal before I ended my time at SAISA. What was just as amazing, was that my whole 15-19 girls age group all placed in the top 6! Seeing Charlotte, who got 1st, myself who got 3rd, and Serian who got 6th all together on the podium was so great!

For our 4x400m relay, I was the first runner, Serian was the 2nd runner, Malaika was the 3rd runner, and Charlotte was the 4th runner. With our age group having only 3 people, this meant we had to recruit another girl from a different age group to compete with us. This being Malaika, in 5th grade. During our training sessions at school, we made sure to perfect everything about our relays with Malaika, understanding her nervousness about having to run up against and with senior girls. I knew exactly how Malaika felt, as I was in the same exact situation as her back when I was in the 10-12 age group in 2020. However, I was not able to receive any preparation for the relay as my addition to the senior girl’s relay was on the day of the competition, as one of their runners had injured themselves. Thus, as captain, I took on the role of making sure Malaika felt confident and ready to run, sharing my personal experience of having no practice with the seniors and still receiving a silver medal with them! While telling this to Malaika, I reinforced how she was able to have so much practice with us, and that she knows exactly what she is doing and to do her best, as she always had been during training. In this relay, we came 2nd place, receiving silver medals!! This felt like 2020 all over again for me but in a reversed role as a senior instead of the younger kid.

 

The 2nd day of the competition, Friday, was my most relaxed day. I only had one event in the morning, which was my 200m sprint. For this event, I was not as pleased with my results as previous events, but still continued on with a good spirit as there was no going back and changing the results afterward! Whenever another teammate had a negative mindset on their results, I would reinforce this idea to them, that they attempted their best and that there is nothing to do about it now! Throughout the day I watched all my other teammates’ events, supporting and cheering them on. Additionally, whilst I was walking around the school with Serian, Kiran, and Mango, the TAISM Media Team stopped us and asked if it were possible for us to film some content and interviews with them. We of course said yes! These videos have not yet been published on the TAISM social media, but will be soon! Following this, some of us were asked to take some more content for their media, including group photos with captains and members from other teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the third and final day of the competition, Saturday, I had two events. I started with my 400m run, which is known as one of the hardest track and field running events, as it is still considered a sprint. By the end of the race, I was so exhausted with all the muscles in my body in pain. I made sure to do some extra stretching so that I would be ready for the 4x100m relay later on in the day. For this event, once again we had the 10-12 year age group runner, Malaika, run with us. We ended up placing 5th for this relay, still receiving a ribbon! After all the events were complete, came the closing ceremony. OSC came 4th overall, out of 10 is good! However, having been champions for several years, and 2 years in a row previously, we had hoped for a higher result. However, we were all still very proud of ourselves as individuals and as a team for the hard work we put in all season! Then, after the closing ceremony, we had our final social time. Here, I was hanging out mostly with my friends from other schools, such as AISD, ASC, and more. Knowing that this would be the last time I see these people in so long (as this is my final SAISA) made me enjoy these moments even more. As per SAISA traditions, all the athletes usually trade their hoodies or clothing items with athletes from other schools. I did so with my friend from ASC Jordan, where I gave my Gecko hoodie in return for an ASC track hoodie (as can be seen in the selfie below with Charlotte and Serian).

 

Overall, for my last ever SAISA, I really enjoyed this competition and trip in many aspects. I am proud of myself for the hard work I have put in this season, especially as captain, and am excited to support next years team in spirirt whilst I am in university!