Action - Badminton continues...

I believe that badminton is my most consistent activity. For the last one and a half years, I have regularly attended weekly sessions with my brother and played against many relatively more experienced players (with relatively few exceptions). My commitment to this activity is fueled by my passion for badminton and sports. 

August and September have been very special months for me in terms of badminton. I attended all my sessions punctually during this time, except for the one on 23rd September due to Extended Essay works. By spending much time over summer, I had further improved many skills and developed new skills in variation and fake shots. Thus, in these months, I mostly played very rigorous matches against strong, agile and physically fit players. I was successful in posing a challenge, however, not very consistent in winning the matches. By reflecting upon my play, I have identified my strengths and areas of growth. My strengths are being committed and skillful, i.e. playing smartly and nicely responding to my opponents shots in both offensive and defensive manners. On the other hand, my strength and agility can be further improved through more practice and more action. Thus, I intend to continue my sessions in a similar fashion!

Below are a few photographs taken during the badminton session on 1st September.

Me playing a backhand shot.

The scorpion position is very important for agility in the game.

Reaching for a drop shot. (I am on the opposite side of the court.)

Placement helps me to easily tire 'easier' opponents.

Victory!

Me serving in a doubles match against more experienced players.

Hitting a cross-court smash!

Grade 12 - CAS goals

Major objectives for the year and goals for the 1st Semester

 
This post marks the beginning of the CAS programme for my final IB Diploma year. Returning from a refreshing summer break, I now plan to broaden the horizon for co-curricular activities by taking the previous year’s activities one step further.

 

Creativity:       

My main goal is to further develop my Guitar skills through continued lessons, learn new techniques to enhance and develop my music playing range, and increase my performance experience. 

Thus, I am going to continue learning to play the Guitar by attending hourly classes every weekend with my teacher Mr. Netaji and practicing on a regular basis. In this, I will:

• Be punctual - Attend classes regularly.
• Practice regularly.
• Enjoy the learning process!

To become a confident player, I will start recording some of the music I learn to play. For the first semester, I will upload at least 5 such videos onto my CAS blog. In addition, I will take part in at least two performances, either inside or outside (or both) of school. Both these tasks will be new challenges and shall help me to achieve my main objective.

Action:
The main goal I aim to achieve is improving my physical fitness level by increasing my stamina and improving my physique through Badminton, swimming, and regular exercises at home.
  

Hence, I am going to continue to attend Badminton sessions at the D.S. Senanayake twice every weekend. This activity has helped me to improve as a player as well as a sportsperson. Thus, I wish to continue these sessions as they provide a nice exercise environment between busy school days. They will also help me to fulfill my ‘Action’ criteria comfortably. By attending these sessions, I will become a more tactical and physically capable 'skilled' badminton player. The timings for these badminton sessions will be:

• Saturday – 7:00 am to 8:00 am
• Sunday – 7:00 am to 9:00 am 

For this activity, I will:

• Be punctual - attend class regularly.
• Utilize free time to do light exercises.
• Participate actively.
• Learn more and enjoy.

In addition, I will take part in at least one competition inside or outside school or attempt to represent my school in SAISA badminton.

Also, I plan to attend hourly sessions at the Thurstan College Swimming Complex at least twice every month. This program will continue to help me to improve my swimming as well as achieve my goal, i.e. to improve my physical fitness. I will always:

• Be focused.
• Be active.
• Raise the bar, i.e. try to do better every time.
• Work hard and have fun!

Service:        

My main objective for this domain of the CAS programme is to be well-involved with a particular service program at OSC and give my best efforts. I will achieve this by initially understanding the ethical implications and global importance of my actions, and subsequently taking responsibility, helping my peers, and planning and initiating activities in collaboration with them. 

Therefore, I will take part in the school’s Recycling service activity supervised by Mr. Ian Lockwood. The following tasks must be accomplished in order to succeed in accomplishing my goals:

• Be punctual and committed.
• Be focused.
• Participate actively.
• Help my peers.
• Take up new tasks and challenges.
• Learn and develop new skills.
• Enjoy!

In addition to these tasks, I will post monthly reflections with constant updates about my CAS related activities.

I look forward to a busy final year with lots of new experiences!

Grade 11 - CAS Reflection

My first year in the IB Diploma programme has been a great blend of academics and co-curricular activities. I have taken part in a variety of activities adhering to the CAS programme and have gained experience to further develop in these spheres in my final IB year, i.e. Grade 12. The activities I participated in this year share three common achievements of mine. These are punctuality, commitment and perseverance towards the objective, and becoming aware of my own strengths and areas of growth.

In the Creativity aspect of the programme, I have now spent approximately 8 months learning to play an acoustic guitar. With a few overlaps and blends, my knowledge is divided into two parts. These are: using chords accompanied with different techniques of strumming to play any type of music, and using chord progressions and music tabs to play classical notations. I have excelled to an extent such that I have become an independent player. However, I have yet to become a good classical notation reader and a fluent player of classical notations using plucking techniques. At many instances I have learnt from my younger brother who has a 4-5 year experience in playing guitar. Thus, with the help of collaboration at instances, I have developed many skills in this new hobby (also passion) of mine. The most challenging experience for me was to take part in multiple team performances during a class programme in the Russian Cultural Center. I will practice more during the summer vacation and will aim to take part in more programs to gain both, experience of playing in front of a crowd as well as confidence in my skills.

Action has been the main highlight for me this year. I have attended a one hour session every Saturday morning followed by a two hour session on Sunday mornings. These have not only helped me to become a better player, but also a better sportsman with more understanding of the sport. I, in collaboration with other players, helped in organizing these sessions gaining experience of planning and initiating activities useful for my future. In this time, I have learnt mental strategies as well as useful techniques for offence from other more-experienced players. I wish to be able to exhibit my skills soon by either joining the school SAISA team or by taking part in other competitions. In addition to this, I have been attending swimming sessions (at least 2 per month) as a moderate swimmer at the Thurstan College swimming complex. It has also been an overall success as I have increased my stamina in both stroke swimming and underwater swimming, and achieved my main goal.

The final part of the CAS programme, i.e. Service, went very well too. I took part in the school's Library Service activity for the complete year. I became a co-leader for the activity in Semester 2 and was quite successful in guiding my team of 'Guardians of the library' to success with the ethical implications of our actions in mind.

I feel that all the broad objectives I set in the beginning of the year have been achieved even though a few minor tasks were unsuccessful due to time constraints and other issues (such as taking part in the Badminton after school activity was not possible due to transport problem). It has been a successful year in terms of CAS and I hope to extend my co-curricular base next year by broadening my boundaries, and showcasing my experience in events and competitions.

Action (May - 1st June) - Last, but not the end!

Badminton has become a regular part of my life. It has a reserved period in my weekend mornings and I take it very seriously. I enjoy the sport very much and am prepared mentally and physically to play at any given time :) The month of May has been packed with numerous highs and lows for me in my badminton sessions. Playing against far more experienced players than myself, I have been able to learn through the journey even though the results varied between wins, losses and many down to the wire matches.

This month, I played more doubles matches than usual in comparison to singles. I was puntual and committed in all sessions and collaborated and communicated well with other players, both inside and outside the court. My communication with my partners was key in many doubles matches where the opposition was recovering with surprises. However, minor new challenges were always part of the journey. These included difficulties during the matches such as judging the partners call when it may be wrong and reading each and every player's body language. 

The sports sessions this month especially motivated me this month as at the ends of matches, I was always able to share and celebrate the spirit of sportsmanship with other players. This may not really be considered a new skill, however, sportsmanship is crucial for one's growth, both as a player and a human. Also, it is the best way in which players share each others experience and learn from each other. Hence, the moral of sports will always be preserved within me as considering ethical implications associated with learning from the game and fellow players, primarily summarised by the term sportsmanship.

On the other hand, I was unable to attend swimming sessions this month due to the short preparation time remaining before the examinations in the last week of May.

This month marks the end to all the Action in this school year. However, I will continue to participate regularly in badminton. Also, I will resume my swimming schedule and enjoy the sessions during the summer break.

Creativity (May - 2nd June) - Guitar - No breaks needed when having fun!

This month, due to various holidays such as Poya day and Victory day, my weekly Saturday guitar class schedule was altered slightly. I had a single class in the first weekend, a double class in the second weekend, no class in the third weekend, and a single class in the third weekend. I punctually attended all the classes and was able to spend at least 1-2 hours per week for practice even though the dark clouds of exams were shadowing my time schedule. The main reason for this was that I enjoy playing the guitar and thus, spent my breaks practicing. Hence, I am wholeheartedly committed to becoming a nice and independent guitarist with the help of regular practice.

In my classes in May, I mainly learnt two new techniques. These were: using familiar chords while playing classical notation to play fluently, and using bass guitar chords and chord progressions for 'beginners' improvisation. I have been able to keep up with these and am satisfied with my progress.

As this month marks the end of Semester 2, this school year's Creativity programme (a part of CAS) also comes to a close. However, I am not going to miss any of my enjoyable guitar sessions during the two month summer, and am additionally planning to practice more in order to become a confident guitarist, strong enough to take part in school programmes next year. Also, I will be performing in a second programme with my guitar class peers during the summer and will be working towards that as well.