SAISA Volleyball Tournament

I participated in the SAISA Volleyball tournament during the weekend of October 7-9. It was a difficult tournament and we ended up getting second place, losing to Dhaka by only a few points. We played seven games, winning against our toughest competition on the first day, Lincoln and Dhaka, teams who got third and second respectively last year. This was OSC's first year playing Volleyball in a number of years and we were absolutely shocked that we won both of these games. On the second day of the tournament we played against Chennai, Bombay, and Lahore, winning two out of three games. We expected to win against Lahore and it was a struggle against Chennai but, unfortunately, we lost against Bombay. We were really bummed about this because it was the first match we'd lost and we had done so well until this game. It didn't really affect us in the tournament though as we ended up coming 1st seed, which meant we'd only have to play two games on the third day. Those two games would be decided on the games played prior to ours. We played against Bombay for our first game and won. We were wary of playing this game, as Bombay was the only team we'd lost against and losing again would be a major factor affecting our standing in the tournament.

There was a lot riding on our last game, we made it to the finals and we were facing Dhaka, a team we’d previously beat but who had played really well that day. The people I was hosting were also on this team. A large portion of our school showed up to watch that game, there was a lot of pressure and I still think we could have won. As a team, we’re less experienced than the other teams and hence we’ve had less game time. I think the stress affected how we played, not in just this game but throughout the tournament, at points we got stuck in a rut and we could not get out of it. It was a tight match and losing was incredibly disappointing. Dhaka was a good sport about it though, as we walked into the Award Banquet the whole team stood up and began applauding for us. I thought that was great of them, they acknowledged that we were tough competition and that it could have gone either way.

My biggest frustration throughout this tournament was not having enough playing time. I did not get put in very often and this really surprised me because I truly thought I’d get quite a bit of playing time in however I spent a majority of the tournament on the bench. I believe I showed perseverance and commitment for Volleyball at this point as I was so ready to give up after not being able to play time after time. The worst part about this was not only that it crushed my confidence when I did get subbed in but it also made me feel as if I hadn’t earned my spot on the team. I was really disappointed because I’d invested so much time into practice and I know I’ve improved in this sport but I did not get to prove myself. I felt like I deserved to be playing and this really frustrated me.

This tournament helped me see my own strengths and areas for growth as I was told multiple times by Mr. Shipley, to calm down and not get so frustrated on court when I made a mistake. He said he'd seen this in me with soccer as well as he was my coach for soccer and when I really think about it, it is a recurring issue with me. If I make a mistake I get angry at myself and this causes me to play worse afterwards. What made this even more difficult was that I only played for a very short period of time and was not able to redeem myself when I made a mistake.