SAISA Volleyball 2023

I’m going to start this blog post off by saying that this was definitely the best SAISA yet. The trip started off on a Wednesday morning, the 1st of November bright at early at OSC. As we loaded the buses and said our goodbyes to the parents and teachers, our coach Mr. Turner gave us a talk. Since he was unable to come with us to Katmandu, the most memorable moment from his talk was when he told us that because he was sad he could not make it, we needed to bring back a trophy to him. These words are what I believe was one of the most important moments of motivation for the entire team. Later we got onto the plane and there was nothing but nerves of excitement that made me look forward to every moment of the trip. As we began to approach Katmandu, we were able to see the Himalayas all around us and the feeling really was surreal. We got to our hotel and met up with all our other friends from other teams around Asia and later on we had the best sleep. Bright and early day 1 began. The opening ceremony was wholesome as we walked with 3rd graders as we were their adopted team and would later go on to make lots of memories with them in such a short time. By the end of day 1, we had won both our games which against AISC which was close and we wiped out Bombay in 2 sets. It truly was an amazing feeling as it felt like all the hard work we had put into this was finally paying off. We went back on a great note and kept our heads high for the next day. 

I woke up to a day of playing Lincoln school’s first game in the morning and then later moving on to playing Lahore. The first game against Lincoln was intense and competitive. They came 2nd last year but lost to our team who came 7th. I was hoping that luck was on our side but looks like someone on the other team was wishing harder. Overall, Lincoln put up great competition and they were an amazing team, but the Geckos did not play their best volleyball. We just kept our heads high for the rest of the day and moved on to Lahore. This game was definitely the least competitive for us, but we got into our heads that this would be easy and ultimately didn’t play very great volleyball as we made way too many mistakes. Later on, we found out that there was a 3-way tie in our pool. This was with AISC, Lincoln, and OSC. OSC had beaten AISC, AISC had beaten Lincoln and Lincoln beat OSC. It’s confusing but once this confusion had been sorted we were 2nd in our pool. This sent us into the quarter-finals. The next morning we got our heads into the game since this was the last day we were able to redeem ourselves. We played ACS first thing in the morning. We beat them in 2 sets which put our spirits high. Into the semis, we went as we played our toughest competition, TAISM. The previous champions of SAISA Girls volleyball. We got our confidence up and headed into the game, TAISM was scared to play us as we heard their team talk of being nervous. But as we stepped onto the court, we didn’t play as well as I knew we could and we lost with a 2-set wipeout. Of course, this sent us into a spiral of moods, especially me since I am very competitive and I give myself a hard time whenever I lose in something. But anyway, we had our last game of the season, fighting for a medal against Dhaka. This game was also 5 sets, this was my first time in 3 years playing a 5 set volleyball game. Not to mention that our main setter was sick before this game so we had to make sure that we put whatever we had left into this final game. My strength, endurance, and mental focus were about to be tested and I had to make sure that I prepared myself mentally and physically for what we had coming for us. 

As we stepped on the court, we were determined to win. We won the first set with not many difficulties but we had to make sure that we didn’t get too ahead of ourselves. Dhaka somehow managed to win the second set which put us in a competitive spot. We took the 3rd set and they took the 4th. It was now down to the 5th and final set. We had to give everything we got. Ms. Kelly was watching me from the side as I heard her say “Zoe, I need you”. This automatically made something click in my brain and I gave this set everything that I had left. Towards the end no matter how hard we had worked, we were down 11-13. Some people on our team had started to lose hope, but I know that each and every one of the girls on the court was still determined to play until they couldn’t anymore. Maelle was serving and scored us the next 2 points. This put us at a tie and we just needed 2 more to win. As it was now 13-14 to us, the adrenaline pumping through our body was too much to contain. When the next ball was served over and we played the point, the ball on the other side touched the floor in what felt like slow motion. I was so emotional that I almost burst into tears with disbelief and utter relief. We had finally gotten the medal we deserved and we were able to fulfill Mr. Turner’s wish of bringing back a trophy. The feeling of going back home was bittersweet. 

I would like to first of all thank the coaches, Ms. Kelly and Mr. Turner who believed in us from the very beginning and gave us endless opportunities and encouragement to always work our hardest. Their efforts and the time that they put in to make sure that each and every single one of us played our very best is what made us the team that we are today. I’d also like to thank our chaperones Mr. Hentz and Ms. Kristin who were another round of support to us. With encouragement every day and always having our backs. And most importantly, I’d like to thank my team. To me, they were more than a team but a family. This SAISA will be one that’s in my heart forever and I wouldn’t have spent it with any other group of girls.