On the 8th of September we were one of the chosen finalists to perform on a big stage for Tournament of Minds infront of all of Sydney! 10 teams, including us, were chosen out of the 200 teams! As we all arrived, we picked a spot and started rehearsing our performance. The feeling of anxiety flamed through our limbs, we had been practicing the performance for 6 weeks, every single day. We had the choice to break or prove our effort. One mistake could break all our effort into a million pieces. If we are resilient and work hard in the performance, we will prove how much effort we put to the judges. 

Our rehearsals were going really well, the visual examples collided with the verbal performance. The shiny, vivid props filled our eyes; Cardboard fish, a diorama, paper mache and a 3D printed earth. Each prop was a symbol of all the effort we put in. Our verbal performance was impeccable, even parents with students from other groups were clapping. The feeling of jealousy danced through the tummies of other students. The characters sharply contrasted with one another, just like the people in our group. 

It was finally time to perform and watch the other performances. We were pumped with fear and excitement, we had never performed in front of such a big audience before. 1000 people! The colossal stage was obsidian black, devouring all the light. We watched each group perform, we doubted ourselves, props and performances more after each passing second.

“Team Chips please make your way up to the stage.” A loud, deafening microphone echoed through the stage. It was finally our turn to perform! We walked across, shaking as we got up on the stage. My parents and sister were at the very front of the audience and so were the other parents of my group. Each getting ready to take a video of our performance. One small whisper echoes through the whole auditorium. We had 6 minutes at most to perform. 3 minutes in, everything was splendid, no mess-ups and we were all enjoying ourselves. “What could possibly go wrong now?” I thought to myself.****

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My parents were shocked and impressed by our performance, they couldn’t take their eyes off us, they were sitting at the end of the row, right next to the entrance backstage. My sister curiously entered the backstage gate, my parents didn’t even notice she was gone! She entered the pitch black curtains as she heard my voice, she followed the sound. Seconds after, my sister was cuddling my legs, wanting me to carry her. My parents dropped their jaws, wondering how she got up on stage and how they were so careless and didn’t notice. “NAVYAA!” she screamed, piercing everyone’s ears. She was so embarrassing, all the eyes were on her and me, looking confused and curious.  

The clock was ticking! We couldn’t stop now because of my sister! I rapidly picked her up and continued my lines. She even helped me hold up props. Everyone’s mind went blank for a couple of seconds, still surprised about what just happened but we didn't stop! Unexpected challenges did not stop us! We finished the performance and everyone was so impressed with our resilience and performance! The other competitors looked frightened and lost hope of winning. “You guys were so resilient and brave, you have truly proved the amount of effort you put in this performance, every second of your performance was brilliant!” The judges praised.

We went and sat back down, anticipatedly waiting for the results to come. “The winner is TEAM CHIPS, please come on stage to receive your trophy, for showing extraordinary resilience and in your performance!” The judges announced. I brought my sister on stage to receive the award with my team. She tested our resilience during the performance, teaching us more than just winning or losing.

On that day, we learnt that we should go with the flow, be resilient and not to let unexpected, EMBARRASSING challenges stop us.