Last weekend we had small swim meet against the Asian International School in Sri Lanka. It was quite tiring since we all hadn’t done a meet in a while, however it definitely got me to realize how and what we needed to improve on for the actual SAISA competition/tournament (increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth). For example, I definitely needed to work on getting the backstroke-to-breastroke flip turn correct for the 100IM, so I worked on that Wednesday morning with the help of my teammates and I was able to get learn it after practicing for half of the session (develop new skills). Since we don’t have that many trainings left, our coach focuses on getting our stamina up. Thus, in our own free time some of us try to get in extra practices to do turns and dives (show perseverance and commitment in activities). So this Wednesday morning a lot of us were working together in order to help each other out in the specifics of a race (turns, dives, touches, etc.) (work collaboratively with others).
Through the local meet, me and the rest of the team were exposed to our weaknesses and we were able to try the races that we would be participating in for SAISA. While it was tiring, it definitely helped in preparing us for the real tournament. Hopefully I can aim for faster times during SAISA.
I also noticed that there was a huge difference in our attitudes towards the local meet in comparison to last year. Last year we all felt so unready for the local meet and we dreaded, since the local schools train all-year-round and are very fast. However, this year, even though we knew what the outcomes might be like for the races, we just went for it without complaining about a race we didn’t like. It makes me realize how much we have grown as people, but as swimmers. Knowing our strengths, weaknesses and limits; accepting them and just doing the best that we can with the ability we have (and then improving for the next time) (increase awareness in strengths and weaknesses). It’s a bummer that this will be my last year to swim with this team because since several of us have been on the team together for a few years, we’ve grown into a family that not only takes care of each other but helps each other out as swimmers and working together to reach our own personal goals.
Below are the photographs from the meet.
“We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere” 