By Sondos Nesaif (YES 2017 -2018, Bahrain, placed by CIEE in Olathe, CO)

Since returning home from my year in Colorado, I have sustained my passion for sports media as a presenter for the Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship. Handball is a game played by seven players per side, including a goalkeeper. Each team tries their best to score in the opposing team’s goal and vice versa. The games consist of two 30-minute halves. It is an incredibly fun game that means a lot to me since I play handball on the Bahraini national team.

I was chosen to announce the Asian Men’s Junior Handball Championship three consecutive times because of my passion for announcing sports. Working in media has been a hobby of mine since childhood. Handball has a special place in my heart because the players in my country make it extremely exciting and intriguing to watch. If you couldn’t already tell from my words, Bahraini players are excellent. I recommend watching a few of their games, you’ll love it!

This experience will help my future within the media field because it increases my social skills. It is helping me already as I was chosen to present an upcoming championship (9th Asian Men’s Youth Championship) at the end of August due to my experience. It has become an important part of my life. The interviews I have participated in helped me get out there more, which even resulted in me being featured in the newspaper!

Presenting matches includes some challenges which I now find easy. For example, pronouncing Korean and Japanese names correctly was challenging when I first began. Over the years I’ve learned how to pronounce difficult names, but I’m still learning every day. We all face challenges, but challenges help us improve ourselves and make us more confident in our abilities.

Being abroad in Colorado for almost a year was difficult, but when things got tough I tried to find the bright side. Time went by super quick, especially when I didn’t want it to! The lessons I learned while abroad taught me to have patience and be calm. Anything can have a great outcome if you aim for it. While I was in the U.S. my English and my accent got way better which helped me have more confidence and fluency during championship presentations.

The group of people I work with are amazing and fun to be around. I always look forward to presenting these championship events because I have so much passion for them. I highly recommend that anyone who hasn’t played or seen handball try to experience it at least once in their life.