TRAINING

The training for our SAISA Track and Field competition started in November and went through to February. We had mandatory practices three times a week but I made an effort to go to at least one additional morning practice and afternoon practice a week as well. During the December break I had to ensure that I was staying fit and training in my own time in preparation for the oncoming competition in the American International School of Chennai.

TRAVELING

After months of preparation, the top 30 athletes of our school ranging from 10-18 year olds set out to the airport to Chennai. As a captain I had a responsibility to take care of the younger students on our trip but additionally the team was split up into travel groups with a travel group leader. Therefore, I had the responsibility over 6 kids, holding onto their passports, filling out forms and getting them to places on time. As well as that, once we reached Chennai Alex and I hosted with the four 10-12 year old girls we have on our team. Once again we looked after them by making sure they were packed and ready for each day of the competition.

DAY 1

Day 1 started out with the 1500m races, as I wasn’t competing I was helping my teammates warm up and prepare for their race. Throughout the races I was cheering them on and helping people recover after their races. After a strong start in the 1500m races, we participated in the opening ceremony.

Straight after the opening ceremony I had to begin warming up for the 100m prelims and the rest of the day. Over the years I have performed better in field events compared to running events and I really wanted to make it into finals this year. thankfully, all my preparation paid off and I narrowly made it into finals at 6th place with a time of 14.57, a personal best.

After the 100m I had discus, I threw a distance of 18.52m and came in second. Although I was happy with my placing I still had not gotten my personal best and therefore was somewhat disappointed.

Then after lunch I had the 100m finals, here I was hoping to move up a place into 5th but unfortunately I remained at 6th and did not get another personal best. Despite this, I was very happy with my performance in this sprint as I normally do not make it into the finals altogether.

After the finals I had long jump, for this event I came in 3rd place with a distance of 4.11m. Once again I was happy with the result but I was unable to achieve my personal best like in practice.

Finally, we finished the day with the 4x400m relay. As my strength is neither running or endurance, running a 400m is daunting for me but especially since Sheruni, our fastest 400m runner got injured and was unable to run. Therefore we decided that Mali, a girl from the 10-12 age group, should run with us so we can at least try and score some points but we knew we each were going to have to pull our weight. After a hard race we managed to place second with a time of 5:04.

DAY 2

For day 2 my only event was shot put, therefore I allocated my time to helping others with their events as I only had one for the day. After cheering people on it was finally time for shot put. After struggling with my glide I moved to the shuffle and managed to get a 6.57m, better than beforehand but still far from my personal best. This placed me in 5th. Then we watched the coaches relay which is always exciting before going back to our host house early.

DAY 3

For day 3 my events were high jump and the 4x100m relay. Once again, I allocated my time to helping others with their events as I only had one individual event for the day before preparing for high jump. Normally, I would consider myself a high jumper as I have performed well it the past years but unfortunately this year I only got 1.20m and fourth place, significantly less than my personal best. This was extremely disappointing to me as it is normally an event that I do well in. I decided to momentarily forget about high jump in order to focus for the relay. TAISM and OSC had a very similar point total so it all came down to the relays to determine who was the champion. As Sheruni was injured, this time we had a different 10-12 year old runner, Liesl. We all ran our hardest and got a time of 59.18 and in fourth place, achieving our goal to be under 1 minute.

The competition ended with a nerve-wracking final awards ceremony, we ended up coming 2nd by only 2/3rd of a point, OSC with 595.83 points and TAISM (Oman) with 596.50 points, the closest finish in SAISA history. Though the end result was disappointing, I am ready to continue pushing myself next year in order to compete more consistently to get personal bests at SAISA.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• I improved my athletic skills, strengthening for my field events and doing training for my running events
• I learnt leadership skills when leading warm-up and cool-down stretches at SAISA and during practice.
• I improved my responsibility through taking care of my younger teammates that I was also hosting with