TRAINING

Although our school training starts in August – three months before the competition in October, I normally begin training over the summer in Vietnam. After not swimming for almost a year it was a struggle trying to regain the swim strength and fitness that I had the previous swim season, therefore I did mainly kicks, drills and continuous long distance swims. Despite my training over the summer I was unprepared for the exhausting swim practices at school. For the next three months I attended mandatory training on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday and came to both the optional trainings on Monday and Wednesday morning. Once in a while we would compete against other schools or swim clubs in small meets and time trials pushing ourselves to improve our times every time. Then before I knew it, it was travel day. Our team came together for one last practice before getting on the buses to the airport at 11:00pm that night. Along with being chosen as the co-captain of the swim team with Aidan, I was also a travel group leader along with Ritheek. Therefore, when traveling from Sri Lanka through Delhi to Nepal I was looking after five younger swimmers on the team. After two long delayed flights we arrived the next day and went to lunch at Fire and Ice before walking around and exploring small shops in Kathmandu. Finally, we met our hosts and when we got to their house we immediately fell asleep, exhausted after the traveling.

COMPETITION

DAY 1

After the whole season of training, finally, the competition day came. On the first day I was taking part in three events, the 50-meter freestyle, the 100-meter backstroke and the 200-meter freestyle relay. After the opening ceremony and warm ups, I was anxiously waiting for the prelims of 50-meter freestyle, not only my first race but also the first race of the competition. After the prelims I was placed in third place with a time of 29.09. Then I did the 100-meter backstroke prelims where I was placed in fourth place with a time of 1:15.30. In the afternoon I participated in the finals where I came third once again in the 50-meter freestyle with an improved time of 29.00 whereas in my 100-meter backstroke I dropped down to fifth place with a slower time of 1:16.11. To finish the day, I did the 200-meter freestyle relay with Alex, Ashvini and Anargi coming in fourth with a time of 2:14.65.

DAY 2

On the second day I had four events, the 100-meter IM, the 100-meter freestyle, the 200-meter backstroke and the 200-meter medley relay. I began the morning with the 100-meter IM placing sixth with a time of 1:17.52 and then the 100-meter free placing eighth with a time of 1:06.97. Then in the afternoon I started with a timed final event of the 200-meter backstroke where I came sixth with a time of 2:46.36. After this the finals started, for the 100-meter IM I stayed at sixth place, but my time was slower at 1:19.17 then the 100-meter freestyle I also stayed at eighth place with a similar time at 1:06.99. At the end of the day the 200-meter medley relay took place and we came in fourth with a time of 2:28.51.

DAY 3

On the final day I had three events, the 200-meter freestyle, the 50-meter butterfly and the 400-meter freestyle relay. I began the day with the 200-meter freestyle which was a timed final event where I came in tenth place with a time of 2:36.39. Then I did the prelims for the 50-meter butterfly where I came in eighth place with a time of 35.51. In the afternoon I had the finals for the 50-meter butterfly and despite getting a faster time of 34.51 I moved down to ninth place. Finally, we finished the tournament with the 400-meter freestyle relay where we came in fourth place once again.

TEAM

As a team we worked hard in order to support one another by cheering each other on and individually fighting to contribute to the point total of our team. In total we got 33 medals, 10 golds, 10 silvers, 13 bronze and broke 2 SAISA records and managed to come in third place by a narrow 11.5 points.

REFLECTION

Throughout the competition I was faced with a lot of disappointment in myself as the results of this year’s competition were a lot worse than previous years. It was difficult to overcome this disappointment but I came to realize that I shouldn’t measure my success only by my place in races but by the new personal bests I set and the work I put in. Therefore, although I did not meet the CAS goal that I set for myself, I still worked hard to try and improve myself as a swimmer and to take on the responsibility of becoming co-captain and travel group leader.