Upon a year at the school, I was introduced to Honours Day. A day where significant achievements of students are recognised in front of the entire school.
The first Honours Day I attended, I was awarded with the title of 'Most House Points Collected' in both my Year and the Lower Secondary divisions. I got two certificates and a plaque for my achievement. I hadn't been working towards this, but it was still a very good feeling.
Plus, the plaque had my name on it.
Which was kind of a bonus.
It was also that year that I discovered that there was an award for Sports Boy/Girl of the year and the second I saw it, I wanted it.
There was no award that I wanted more than that one. Not even the certificates awarded to those who placed first, second and third of their class could tempt me.
There was only one award I had in mind and it was a cheap, shiny, plastic cup.
I started joining more sports teams and getting more enthusiastic during PE classes. I took as many sport related extra curriculars are they'd let me.
Years went by and during Honours season, I'd perk up at receiving the notification letter that was to be taken home to our parents to tell them that their child was receiving something and they should really go see them and look proud while sitting in a hard chair in the hot basketball court. But as my eyes scanned the list and didn't find the award I was looking for, I wasn't excited anymore.
During my Years 8 and 9 I think I managed to sweep four to five awards, no problem. But they weren't the ones I wanted. House points seemed to like me a lot, so I always got something for those.
There were also the Community Project recognition certs that I secured and then plenty more for taking part in this and that with a couple UNSW English paper certificates.
Nothing really spectacular.
Those weren't the awards I wanted.
Nevermind. I kept my head down and continued to work at what I was doing. I went to FOBISSEA. I ran on Sports Day. Took part during the Field Events. I won medals. Never gold. But I was consistent. I played hard and played well. As part of a team and individually.
Then came Year 10.
They changed the format this year. Instead of giving us the list of awards that we won, they gave us a piece of paper that stated that we won something but wouldn't tell us what or how many awards we should expect.
Props to them for keeping everything under wraps. No one really knew what they were getting even after given our seating plans and running through the ceremony a few times.
As the practice runs continued, though, we managed to piece things together.
My seat was next to Brian's seat this year. Brian was THE sportsman from our year, excelling in almost every single PE class we had.
When I found out that I was seated next to him, my belly did a little flop.
Was this the year?
I'd never told anyone about my desire to have that trophy with my name printed on it. I figured it would be too embarrassing to talk about especially if I didn't get it.
So when I was working this out, I was alone in my quest.
During one of the final run throughs, the awards all came out and we found out what it was that we would be getting.
"And for Sports Girl of the Year, Amanda Shiew!"
I think one of my kidneys exploded in excitement.
It was a great feeling that was only intensified on the day itself. The trophy had evolved over the years and was no longer a cup. But It still shined and more importantly, it had my name on it.
And it was the best feeling ever.
Most of you who know me may think that I'm not a big believer in 'hard work pays off'. I do have the tendency to look for the easy way out of things.
But I'll tell you this.
If that school taught me ANYTHING, it is that hard work is rewarded.
Sports was something I was good at. I was good at it and I liked to do well. I wasn't the fastest, or the strongest, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that I put everything I had into every game.
Which is all that mattered.
Which is all that does matter.
Hope you're all well.
:)
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