SAISA BASKETBALL EVENT CREW

On February 5th, 6th, and 7th, SAISA girls basketball took place here in colombo. There were 7 teams that participated which included ASB (American School of Bombay), AISD (American international school of Dhaka, AISC (American international school of Chennai), KAS (Karachi american school), TAISM (The american international school of muscat), OSC (Overseas school of Colombo), and GC (Gateway College). Even though I did not participate, I joined the event crew which is a group of students who help organise the event and ensure it runs smoothly. My role in this was mainly communication between the event crew and the coaches of each team, updating them with announcements, with results, important notices/reminders, and ensuring there were no complaints/problems unattended to. This was challenging to me since I am usually a very shy person, however, I was able to step out of my comfort zone and be able to show more leadership qualities as well as being a risk taker taking on this responsibility to be able to contribute to the success that was this tournament.

The event crew is a very busy stressful but amazing experience. Unlike student leaders in any other SAISA school, all coaches are always incredibly impressed with our event crews. In the event crew students do not only help but organise the entire event themselves. It gives them a chance to be a leader and learn to deal with responsibilities crucial to making an event work. We learn about the importance of teamwork and efficiency, of contribution and dedication and learn about the consequences of our laziness or actions by problems coming about throughout the tournament. We learn how to attack problems head on and problem solve ourselves without the help of other teachers or adults. In the end the sheer joy of completing the tournament and all the compliments are incredibly rewarding. I think it is important for all students to be a part of the event crew at OSC at one point in their lives just because they will be able to learn so much about responsibility and problem solving. Throughout the stress of all the responsibility, the event crew for those three days of the tournament are like a family. We are able to have a great amount of fun doing all the tasks which takes some of the stress away as well as with our Athletics Director, Mark Shipley who ensures that we all stay motivated and determined to do our jobs.

Below is a picture of myself, Tulika, and Elizabeth watching the opening ceremony as well as the SAISA GIRLS BASKETBALL 2015 official logo:

Photo taken by Amruta (SAISA event crew photographer)