ISSO was an event held in Pune for students of International Board schools all across India. It was a competitive experience where students competed against each other in various sports such as Table Tennis, Athletics, Lawn Tennis, Taekwondo, etc. This event was a great opportunity for me as I qualified for nationals as a part of the ISSO team. It was exceptional to see the support provided to the players and how the players showed sportsman spirit throughout the event. I went through the process of winning and losing and learned that there is always a scope of improvement.

LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth

• After every game, I used to reflect on all the points and figure out my mistakes so that I wouldn’t repeat them in the next game. I would also find my strengths so that I could play the next game mainly based on those points. I had to play three games with each opponent, whoever wins two games out of three wins that match. Therefore, identifying my strengths and weaknesses played a major role in ensuring a win for me.

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken developing new skills

• Every game is different because everyone’s got different techniques and styles. While practicing for the event and while playing the matches, I sharpened my skills and learnt various new techniques and serves such as forehand and backhand flicks, backhand underspin serve. Also, I had always played with a smooth rubber as most players do, but the opponents in this event had rackets with short pips, long pips, and anti-topspin rubbers. It was a challenge to play against opponents with such rackets as it required a completely different set of techniques which I had never experienced. Due to management issues, the event happened all over again. I was in the finals the first time it happened and to compete again was very discouraging. I was already very tired, but I was determined to win.

LO4: Commitment to and perseverance

• I had been practicing for over a year. I used to play table tennis everyday before school for an hour to develop my skills and be ready for the event. It was difficult to do so as I had a lot of deadlines to meet and as a result, used to sleep late every day. 

LO5: Demonstrate skills and benefits of working collaboratively

• Despite being an individual sport, it requires a lot of guidance and motivation of others, especially in the team event. A team of three or more participants compete with various other teams. During the team event, the support of my team members was very crucial as they helped me realise what went right or during after almost every point. They really boosted my confidence so I could give my best. I actually won a game because of my team’s help.

LO6: Engagement with issues of global significance

• Globally, sports are given very little significance in comparison to academics, but they are essential. Not being fit actually leads to multiple diseases. Sports contribute to well-being and regular participation ensures health benefits. Well, my subjects are burdening and I don’t get a lot of time to work out or play sports. This gave me an opportunity to stay fit and maintain my well-being.

To conclude, I learnt being balanced is quite necessary for everybody. It taught me that determination and persistence often lead to positive results. It was a wonderful experience and I learnt quite a lot through the process.