My Volleyball journey has been a long one to say the least. I had always been exposed to it growing up since my mum has been the boys coach since we first got to Sri Lanka. But I was never old enough and I never really showed much interest in it apart from watching the games and training sessions. Then my brother started playing as soon as he was old enough. Now I’ve always wanted to be like my brother and he is my biggest inspiration in life so when he started playing volleyball…so did I. But when I wanted to make the switch from swimming to volleyball COVID hit and I was never able to. That then brings us to last year, my first year of playing. In no time at all it was competing to be my favourite sport along with football. We didn’t end up doing so well at the competition last year but we were a new team so it was understandable but still frustrating. So this year I wanted to really push myself and the team to be as good as I knew we were. We progressively improved as individuals and as a team, we built stamina and teamwork. Teamwork and chemistry is something I felt like we really lacked the previous year so I wanted to make an effort to make sure we had some and overall this benefited us at the tournament. The best part of the pre-comp experience was when I was named captain and we won our mini-tournament. Captaining is the biggest honour a sportsperson can have but the fact that I could lead this incredible team of players and people I loved just made it that much more special. Then there was the tournament, this was the first proper test to see how the team would do. We managed to win every single game we played and only lost maybe 1 or 2 sets throughout. This made me so happy and hopeful of what was to come and it had been a huge improvement compared to the year before where we lost every game and only won 1 set.
Then we were off, off to Nepal to play at the big SAISA competition. The only thing we had to make expectations in our head was the pictures of the other team on the SAISA website. Aside from the actual sports playing SAISA has been such an incredible opportunity to make new friends from other schools so I was very excited to see all my friends. As well as being an opportunity to develop bonds with your teammates. Travelling was one of my highlights, we shared so many laughs and just overall had such a good time. The hotel we stayed at was just insane, the rooms were lovely and the food was also so good. We were all shattered the first day from travelling so we just chilled and went to bed. As I mentioned before, as a captain, team bonding was something that was very important to me. So on the plane, I planned a game where I wrote different questions on paper and put them into a plastic bag. A player would pick one out and read it aloud, they would then pick someone who they wanted to answer the question or do the dare. This was such a fun thing to do and we got to know each other so much better and we all had a good laugh before bed. That sleep in that bed that night was one of the best nights of sleep of my life. I was filled with adrenaline and nerves when I started to get ready.
At breakfast, I had my reunions with all of my friends and it was so nice to see the people who I had created lifelong bonds with. We chatted about how nervous we all were but how excited we were at the same time. The opening ceremony was so cool, we had these little kids who were our mascots and I had a very cute conversation with this little boy. They were such good supporters throughout the tournament and we even went to their class so they could ask us questions. Our very first game was against AISC Raptors. It was an intense game where we won the first set but eased off and lost the second. This meant it was onto 3 sets which is only played to 15. We managed to pull a win and secure a point in the table. We secured another win against ASB winning 2 straight sets. Our next game was one we had been dreading, it was against ACS. They had been good in previous games and the year before as well. Although it was close we did manage to win both sets. Our next 2 games were on the second day. We lost against the home crowd 2-0 but we managed to win against LAS 2-0.
By this point we had already made a name for ourselves and the other teams were scared. The next team we were playing were the raining champions TAISM, they had been playing well during the tournament but if we beat them (which I knew we could) we would knock down their chance of winning first place and we would be in the finals. I remember looking over at TAISM and they looked petrified which gave us the advantage. We played the first set and it didn’t go how we planned, I knew we could play so much better than what we just produced. After a quick pep talk, we were determined to win this next set. Unfortunately, we did not win the next set but it was very close, the score being 25-23. We were absolutely gutted with the result but we knew our journey wasn’t over.
The 3rd and 4th playoffs were a big moment for our team. We had spent the little time we had after our loss resting up and getting mentally prepared for the game. I tried to take my mind off it until the very moment I had to start thinking about it so I just spent some time with my friends and watched the games that were being played. We knew this was going to be a hard fight because we were all so exhausted from a long competition and this would be the first game where we would be playing for 5. We knew this team was good as we had watched them play earlier that day. We had promised our coach who had to stay back in SL that we were going to bring him back a trophy. Now we actually had the chance to and everything we have worked for has come down to this last game. As well as the incentive to win it, it was our teammates Isa, Lara and Hadiya’s last volleyball match they were going to play with us so we wanted to make sure we enjoyed it as well. It was a close start but we lost the first set 24-26 then we lost the second set as well 25-23. We knew we had to win this next set or our hopes of bringing back the trophy would be shattered. But we managed to have a comeback in the next set winning 25-13.
After this, we became more confident in our playing. But it wasn’t over yet, seeing as we were playing 5 sets. I started to feel queasy and light-headed at the end of this set. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to play, my fingers were so sore and my head was pounding. But I knew we had to play on, it was the last set and we were only playing to 15. It felt as though it took so long for us to play those 28 points. As each point went on I felt one step closer to losing my vision completely and collapsing on the floor. When the final point was played and we heard the whistle of the ref and his arm stretched out towards our side I nearly cried. Half because of the fact we had won but also just from pure relief that it was over. I went to hug my friends from the other team and shake their hands out of sportsmanship. I haven’t played many volleyball games in my life but that was by far the best and most intense game I’ve ever played.
Since we were in this incredible country we wanted to make the most of our stay. As a team, we decided we would make 2 tourist visits. The first one was to these streets which were just full of markets where you could buy anything you wished. The atmosphere in the streets was something I had never seen before. Each shop owner trying to convince you to visit their shop and then telling ridiculous prices for items. We learned quickly that we should have a look at a few shops first and compare the prices before committing to one. I ended up buying massive amounts of sweets and snacks, some intense for my parents, a sticker and some salt for my brother, bracelets for me and my SAISA friends and then the best purchase of all was the Yak Yak shirts. That was the best because it had been a team bonding inside joke from the start of the trip and all the girls ended up buying one. The second place we visited was the Monkey Temple which we visited right before we went to the airport. This is an incredibly beautiful temple in Nepal and as you may guess, it’s full of monkeys. Once you walk up many steps you can see the stupa with the prayer flags strung from the top. All around the stupa are these cool little shops where you can buy bracelets, bags, figurines and paintings. We walked around for around an hour and looked at the insane views and then headed to the airport.
I have been participating in SAISA’s for nearly 8 years and one of my favourite parts of it all is making new connections from different schools. Some people I have known since I was 11 years old and have managed to see them every year at track or swimming then we both moved to playing football and volleyball. It is such a highlight to see them each time and especially after COVID, I realised how much I took those friendships for granted. So I always try to spend as much time as I can hanging out with these people. I ended up making a new friend when I accidentally spilt a drink on her. We laughed about it and ended up talking and creating a bond. Since the drink went all on her shirt I ended up giving her one of my OSC shirts and the next day she gave me a shirt from her school. It was so cool to see how an accident had turned into a friendship. Then of course there is our coach. This whole journey wouldn’t have been possible without our incredible coach Kelly who always looked out for us, as a team on the court and as individuals off the court. From loading me up with herbal tea when I felt sick on the second night, buying me a whole tub of ice cream to challenging me and pushing me to be my best on the court.
Coming back from this trip was such a surreal moment for me to realise that I am now the “big kid” who plays volleyball and came back with a trophy.