Wow, what a trip.
I honestly really love SAISA basketball, I think it has been one of my favourites to do in my career. Not because I like basketball the best but rather because I like it the least. Without having to stress about performing to my personal standards, getting a good result each game and becoming frustrated when it wasn’t going how I hoped I was able to enjoy the SAISA experience so much more. Now, don’t get me wrong I LOVE SAISA volleyball and football but they are “my sports” so I care a lot more about the sport itself and get a bit too caught up within that. I do care about basketball but it is in more of a fun and enjoyment way rather than a competitive way. Without that extra variable, I was having the time of my life. I was able to hang out more with my friends from other schools, admire all the mad bballers and most importantly have a genuinely good time.
Our flight time to Muscat Oman was pretty brutal. Our flight was at 5 am so we had to meet at school at 12. The best sleep I could get for then was a quick nap after school on Tuesday, pack then try and get some desperate sleep on the bus to the airport. Once we arrived at the airport we had to wait AGES (1h) for our gate to be open. This was actually a nice bonding moment for some of us. Mali, Nay, Amy, Lily and I were just hanging out and laughing together. Everyone else was dead asleep on the chairs. Once we checked in our bags it was time to go get some scran. The whole time we were waiting to get through food was a big talk and I was ravenous. We decided to get some pizza from Pizza Hut and I was ecstatic. We practically ran to thew restaurant and ordered right away. I was exhausted at this point. Hungry, annoyed and tired, deadly combos. The whole team ended up coming and eating with us and we played a card game which was super wholesome. Amy and I then decided to go look at the legos in this new shop that opened up. I didn’t want to fall asleep until I was on the plane to ensure prime sleeping. Fast forward an hour we actually ended up being a bit late to the flight so we had to run down the terminal to reach our gate and quickly board the plane. Nayara and I were in a 3-seat line so we had extra space to put our feet which was super nice. I ended up staying up for a little bit because there was a really gorgeous sunrise as you can see in the pics. I had quite a restless sleep, constantly moving positions but I ended up sleeping the whole 4h flight. Once we exited the airport we got on the bus to the hotel immidiently.
Since we arrived in the morning on Wednesday this meant we had the whole day to ourselves to just chill. The hotel we were staying at was INSANE, it was so so beautiful. The first thing we did was laz into the buffet breakfast because we were all desperate for food. I had SUCH good hashbrowns and croissants. Nay, Amy and I went outside to the pool area to explore a bit and found the lazy river IN THE POOL. Actual madness. We did a little photoshoot with Nay and then we headed back into the restaurant. Nay and I were sharing a room so we got upstairs and settled into our room with insanely comfy beds. I showered, turned on the TV and unpacked whilst Nay took a nap. It was around 9 am when we arrived at the hotel so we fully had the whole day ahead of us. After chilling for a bit our team decided to take a walk along the beachfront to see a mall. It was a bit of an underwhelming mall but it was a fun adventure. We had a very yummy lunch at a beautiful restaurant. At that point, I really wished I had taken a nap because I could feel my lids closing on me. Once we walked back we went back to our rooms and I ended up taking an afternoon nap and it was SUCH a good nap. Once I had woken up dazed and confused we went down to the pool to see my friends from the other teams that were staying there. We hung out there for a bit and chatted with some people from the other teams. Then my best SAISA bud Rhys came to visit the hotel and I gave her the biggest hug and we talked for ages. The team ordered some pizzas to the hotel and we ate by the pool together. We then switched scenes from the pool to the sunset on the beach which was breezy and beautiful. After a full day of team bonding, we were ready for the competition the following day.
Day 1 we tried our best to wake up. I decided to take a shower because I wanted to be ready for the day. We ended up being late for breakfast because my lovely roommate Nayara was taking AGES to get ready. Because of this delay, we had to rush to eat our breakfast and hop on the bus. I have been to Oman a few times but the mountain view from the school never ceases to amaze me. Once we had settled into our chill room and said all our hellos to our friends it was time for the opening ceremony. We were led out by 2 TAISM students from the green gym to the main gym (blue gym). The opening ceremony consisted of a nice speech from the student government president and a lovely welcome song and dance by a traditional Omani group. At this point, everything was starting to feel real. The tournament was split into 2 groups and our group had, AISD (Tigers), LS (Lincoln) and AISC (Raptors). We decided to watch the first games to scope out the competition and get a good idea of what the game was going to look like. At half-time, we went outside to the outdoor court for a quick team talk and we started warming up. Our first game was against the Tigers, we were a bit nervous since it was our first game and we knew they were pretty similar to our team when it came to height and skill level. We pushed our hardest and played really well but we ended up losing by 1 point. This was disheartening but it was a good game to play for our first one. Our next game was against the raining champs Lincoln School. We were very nervous for this game but we had some lunch and started getting into a game-ready head space. This was a very hard game and very intense for us. we ended up losing 27-10.
Waking up the second day we knew we wanted to win some games. After 2/2 losses the day before we had a fighting instinct within us. This translated into our next game against AISC where we won 25-16. The pools were very confusing when it came to placement because the results were all over the place. But we had done enough to get second place in our pool. This meant that we would be playing 3rd place in the other pool which happened to be ASB. We were very fired up for this game because we knew if we wanted to place as one of the top teams we had to win this game. Which we did! We won 21-18, it was a very intense game where we were leading for most of the game but then they were starting to catch up to us, even becoming level with us which took us into extra time. But we took the win and the next day we started mentally preparing for our next game which was against last year’s 2nd place and the host team TAISM. We were all super focused for this game and were ready to put up a good fight. Unfortunately, even though we tried our best we lost 23-12. We were doing all the right things and shooting so many shots, but the shots just weren’t going in the basket which was super frustrating. I was in a bad mood because I was so tired and I was never subbed off in this game so I was exhausted. It is hard to accept defeat when you play your hardest and your best but we move. Our final game was against ACS battling for 3rd place. I was quite nervous for because they were a very strong, physical and fast team. We ended up getting absolutely demolished in this game, losing 38-12. I’m not too sure what happened but once it got to a point where it was hard to come back from I thought about how it was my last SAISA basketball game and just started to enjoy myself. I can’t do it next year because the days of the competition overlap with our exams :(.
The trip back home was quite stressful because we were leaving for the airport straight after the closing ceremony and we were going on a bus with LS. Our flight took off in 4 hours and we weren’t sure if we were going to make it. Luckily we sped through immigration and all the bag checks and had some time to chill inside the shops part. I bought some snacks and a Coke to see myself through till the flight. All of us were tired and grumpy so it wasn’t the best time to be making conversation. But luckily one of my best SAISA buds was there too (Zoe from LS) and so I was able to give her 1 final hug and say goodbye. We suddenly realised we may have spent too much time in the shops and trying to get everyone in the same place in a massive airport is very hard so we ended up running down to our gate and we were the last ones to check in. But all was well as the flight was almost empty so there were SO many free seats. I ended up having a full row of 3 seats to myself so you already know I lay down and fell asleep straight away. It was super late and we were going to arrive in SL at about 5 in the morning which is a very awkward time when it comes to sleep schedule. But when we landed the runway was so wet from the rain that we weren’t able to park and were on the runway for 2 hours (after they said it was going to be 20m) BUT fear not because I was able to go back to sleep and add those hours to my sleep time. It was relatively smooth sailing from here except for when we couldn’t find our bus driver. At this point, everyone was grumpy, tired and just wanted to go home. I was absolutely parched so I bought a huge crispy cold water bottle from the shop and chugged it down. Once the bust FINALLY arrived we all absolutely cloncked out until we got to school and I followed suit as soon as I got home.
Overall this was a very fun trip where I was able to see all of my friends from the other schools and even make new ones. I had to say goodbye to my senior friends which was sad and even extra sad to think that that would be me next year. But I’m very glad that this was how my final SAISA basketball turned out. I think we became so close as a team and we were able to play in some very good competitive games. A special shoutout to our coaches Mr Hentz and Ms Kelly and our chaperone Ms Sue who made the whole trip possible and more memorable. Especial thanks to Mr Hentz, he made my last SAISA basketball so so special and he is one of the best coaches I’ve had. I had so much fun being coached by him and spending the trip joking and laughing as well as being serious on the court, so thank you so much. The highlight of the trip was definitely when we played against AISD and Amy ended up putting a girl in a neck brace. It was so funny because if you know Amy you will know how out of character it is for her and she felt so bad so it has been so much fun teasing her about it. Along these lines, I also ended up taking down someone whilst trying to block their layup. In the quotation of Rhys, “That’s not basketball that’s WWE”. I will be sad to not be doing any sports until after summer but I’m sure I’ll find something to do. After summer its volleyball season ….