Since I’ve started NYAA GOLD, initially I found it very challenging to balance my school work, my service work and healthy living. Yet as I started sticking to a routine and maintaining consistency in effort and reflections, every session I attended of volleyball and softball slowly changed from time away from academics into a fun time with friends where I can improve on aspects of my character outside of academic proficiency. Furthermore, as I started committing to my goal – “I want to become a more supportive teammate in whatever sport I play, less focused on being singularly outstanding.” –  this time with friends now had even greater value, as their was a perceivable and measurable goal. I realised that each session provides a great opportunity to hone my techniques and build respect among the team, and in doing so I became much more collaborative and communicative as I always looked for a chance to improve. By learning to appreciate how setting goals can add value and importance into seemingly less important moments, I started finding pride every time a teammate would have the confidence to set the ball to me or place me as 4th batter.

.

With this in mind, I’m grateful that NYAA GOLD had motivated me to the point where I wanted to continue pursuing my goal of becoming more supportive and reliable even when the nation went into lockdown and the seasons of sport were over, as I wanted to continue playing and improving with my team next year. The respect I gained for and from people had instilled me with a great sense of drive, and I had found myself trying to achieve my goal through indoor fitness. Yet once again I was challenged as I never really did the exercises and training in pilates and fartlek regiments. But having felt the reward of pride that comes with pushing through earlier challenges, I wanted to persevere. So I started committing to a daily routine which was focused on increasing stamina. This was another revelation for me, as I learnt that when having large goals set over a long period of time, there are many ways to work towards achieving those goals. Whether it was through improving technique in sessions or training my stamina at home.

Finally as the new seasons for sports approaches, the lockdown was lifted and in light of me wanting to constantly keep increasing the difficulty, I started doing weightlifting in the gym to further improve a physique for team sports. More specifically, my goal orientated mindset led me to first research the most important muscle groups to train for volleyball and softball specifically. This eventually led me to have a consistent routine working out my chest, triceps, back and legs in order to return to my team having furthered my goal outside of the time we play together.

In conclusion, NYAA GOLD’s healthy living section has taught me much about the value and pride that comes with devoting time to aspects of your character besides just academic ones. I’m even more grateful for learning to appreciate goal setting, and its ability to add value and sentiment to anything you do, as I can apply this lesson to any pursuit of mine – even if it’s non-physical. I am so glad I was encouraged to take part in more physical activity, as I found it to be extremely rewarding to continuously improving my self through learning to build team chemistry and a rapport with coaches. I feel that it is also important to mention that I simply really enjoyed spending time making friends in sports and building my friendship with my gym buddy.