CCe-SG

KILANI'S VOLLEYBALL JOURNEY
Kilani Daane may not hold a Singapore passport - not yet at least - but this teenager is already set to fly the Republic's flag in one of the world's most competitive collegiate tournaments.

The 17 year-old beach volleyball player, born and raised here, has committed to Tulane University in the United States after earning a scholarship to play for the Green Wave starting next year.

The New Orleans university compete in the top division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships, making Kilani the first volleyball player from Singapore - indoor or beach - to compete in the prestigious tournament.

Kilani's breakthrough is all the more notable, given that she only made the switch to beach volleyball in late 2015.

Said Kilani, who started playing indoor volleyball when she was 12: "I've always known I wanted to play volleyball at the varsity level, and I made a promise to myself that I would do everything I could to be the best version of myself."

Added Kilani, who father is Dutch and mother is a Canadian of Chinese ethnicity: "I knew I was way behind everyone else and that I needed to work harder than I ever thought I would, to get to where I want to be."

Even if that meant setting up a badminton net in her driveway, practising every day after school, or being in the gym at 9pm on Friday nights.

It bore fruit - the 17-year-old finished in top place at the National Beach Volleyball Series last year, a three-leg Open tournament.

Despite the doubts of naysayers who doubted a beach volleyball player from Singapore could make it to the NCAAs, the Daanes hope their experience would rub off on other hopefuls.

Said Kilani: "People kept telling me, 'You're not going to make it. No way you can make Division 1 (in the NCAAs) from Singapore'."

"And what a great lesson that was for a 17-year-old."
Adapted via Straits Times, 12 Feb 2017

Gillian's 7 techniques of goal setting.

1. Express goals positively: “To improve my spelling” is a much better goal than “Don’t spell with so many mistakes.”

2. Be accurate: If your child set an accurate goal, putting in dates, times and amounts so that achievement can be measured and can be satisfied at achieving it.

3. Set Priorities: When your child have several goals, give each a priority. This helps them avoid feeling overwhelmed and helps their attention to the more important ones.

4. Write goals down to make them more meaningful.

5. Keep Goals Small: Urge your child to keep their immediate goals small and achievable.

6. Set Goals that your Child Have Control Over: There is nothing worse than failing to achieve a personal goal for reasons beyond your children control.

7. Set specific measurable goals: If your child consistently fail to meet a measurable goal, then they can adjust it or analyze the reason for failure and take appropriate action.

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