Basketball 3/3 Tournament-Let’s Shoot_25-9-15_Activity

“Always make a total effort, even when the odds are against you.” -Arnold Palmer

I am really passionate about playing basketball, so I made new goal to explore different formations and participated in one of the competitions that was being held in school, Basketball 3/3. Although I have been playing Basketball since a long time, 3/3 was a new concept and experience for me as the team consisted of only three players a side.

Some days before the match, during our physical education classes, we had practice time to gain some insight about how this formation will be played and what strategies we can use. My team members and I assured to show determination that will go in each practice mainly because of these reasons and also to know the rules which are to be followed, so that while playing the game we do not take any actions against the rules and follow our moral values.

                  

As it was a league, we played around four matches. While playing these I was able to identify and exhibit my strengths/ my skills correctly. Due to having only three players, each player had more work to do then that in a usual five-sided game.  Mainly, one thing that I learnt while playing was how to cooperate with my team members.

Being the captain of my team, I had to form new strategies to improve our game to the next level. Despite of losing almost all the games, we enjoyed playing the game. I was really satisfied how my team performed and was able to spot their strong points easily. Also, our practice sessions were showing its fruits in our game, and that made our participation worth.

During the game, we faced many challenges, however, we gained experience which will make us learn from our mistakes and play other tournaments with much more accuracy.

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What’s the good word? (Lit_Hum fest 2015)

“What’s the good word?” was a competition in the literature and humanities fest 2015 ( 22nd-23rd august ).

It was undertaken by me and Maharsh. This competition required a lot of planning and coordinating which helped me achieve LO3.

In the first stage, we had to gather participants and constantly mail them about the details of the meetings. We had a few problems in organizing the meetings as we could not co-ordinate the timings of all the participants as they were from the 7-12th grades and also, since the art fest was going to take place at the same time.

But we took help from our mentor teachers and found solutions to these problems, which helped me achieve LO2

After we had 3 meetings to explain the rules of this competition, our next phase included publicity where I made a poster and posted on the blog urging people to participate, as this was a fresh and very interesting game. Next, we held the semi final rounds and selected 1 team from each house for both the middle years and the higher grades.

We then proceeded to find words and prepare for the competition day by arranging for the chairs, mikes and other requirements. The competition was fun and we received great feedback from the audience as well as the participants.

Overall, even though we had a few problems in the beginning, we overcame the challenges because Maharsh and I had systematically divided our duties and tried to be perseverant and committed so we got our work done quickly and also owing to the fact that the other art fest coordinators had been very cooperative with us.( addressing to LO4) I am currently working with Maharsh on another activity as well.

The organization of this competition helped me identify my strength which is leadership and also helped me learn how to plan an event as it was a new experiences for me which in turn helped me achieve LO1. Along with that, I learnt meanings of lots of new words while researching for the competition, which helped me develop my vocabulary which are helping me while I’m preparing for SAT. I also enjoyed making the posters and have made posters for other events after this one. These skills helped me accomplish LO8.

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One lesson that I learnt is that in an event like this…it is important to have some fun activities planned for the audience as well so that they don’t get bored.

To conclude, it was a fun event and I’m really glad we got voted as the best organized as well the most favourite event.

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Making posters for the Literary fest

Literary and Humanities Fest was something that did not happen before until this year. This year this concept of having an event related to literary and humanities was introduced to the students from grade 7 to 12. This event was a student-led event and consisted of varied activities. All the student were told to select to activities from individual and group activities each. The idea of participating in the events was just not competing, but there were many fun events too. I was very excited to attend this fest and have a new experience. Literature and Humanities Fest was not something that was always done to celebrate something related to language. This fest was a step towards it, and everyone had their doubts and excitement ready for this event that was going to be held. Like, everyone, I was looking forward to this event, and all of a sudden, the event coordinator approached me and requested if I could make some posters to advertise the literary and humanities fest. Considering my art skills, I accepted the challenge of designs the posters and made the poster informative and attractive so that the students have an idea about the details of the event and do attend the event. Making a handmade poster and displaying the same things at various places was not a practical idea for me; therefore, I opted for something that I never had tried before. I decided to make online posters and get them printed so that I don’t have to make the same copies of posters on my own and display them. It was sure that I was good at arts, but now the challenge was designing the poster on the computer, I was not good with the IT skills. So, first I  searched for some good websites where I could create the posters. I finally found one and started designing it. At first it was uncomfortable to create the poster as I wished it to, due to lack of IT skills, still I manage to learn them and made some drafts of the posters. While I got it checked by Mam, she gave her feedback and suggested some changes. The tricky part was to include all the details, manage the font size and Putting the school logo on the poster. Even after all this difficulties I designed a poster with the a little bit help from one of my friends, in understanding the editing process. I never gave up in the process of designing the poster and completed my task. It was overall a good learning experience for me to enhance my skills through IT.

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Football Subroto Districts_16/7/15

Subroto Cup Football has always been a tournament the whole team is awaited for. The format of this tournament is a little different from others. Rather than individual players getting selected for higher level, in this tournament, the whole winning team is selected to play at the higher level. What i learnt from this format was that We win as a team, we lose as a team. This one was very special for all of us as this is our last year we will be playing this tournament as the age limitations are there. Very less teams participate in the district level. We cracked this level and now, the whole team is selected for the state level where we will represent our district and face 32 other teams. We will represent Surat Rural District. The tournament was also special because this was our fourth win consecutively in these years. What i learnt in this tournament was, i need to work more on my stamina and endurance. Skills was not a big problem. But dribbling and cutting is something i need to put more efforts as I did not play from a long time. I discovered that i am pretty comfortable playing any position given. District win was not my aim. I aim to win the state level again for the third time as their will be experienced teams and even they must have worked very hard for this. I aim to improve on my fitness and help the team win and crack this stage to reach the national level, where we will represent our state, Gujarat. Football has been a little challenging for me. But, i figured out that i learnt a skills which will also help me in my life off-field, that is being committed to your responsibility and working hard to achieve goals. I go for camps early in the morning and practise the game to improve on my skills. This brings improvement in my game, and that improvement results in the benefit of the whole team. I am usually very aggressive in the game, but football has taught me to keep calm. I got angry, but i did not become violent because that could result in a yellow or a red card which was not something the team can afford. so the ethical implications like rules and regulations were followed by me this year. This way, it also helps me to stay calm in real life situations as well.

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Ndtv Workshop

I had attended the NDTV school TV workshop which was an engaging and fun learning experience.The workshop was  a 3 day workshop. Where in we were divided into groups and were taught the skills of movie making ( photography,videography,editing , compiling) and then were further asked to produce a short film of our own. During the course of the workshop I Identified my own strengths and developed on my areas of growth by means of learning new skills and improving on previously possessed skills.Also my areas of strength were further identified while we entered the movie making process as I then clearly understood where I stand in a variety of areas. However I faced many challenges when I had to edit the video as that was a new skill and I had never worked with high tech editing softwares. I have always been with the camera and hence it was a challenge for me to leave my comfort and work with the computer.Also one major thing that i learnt was the commitment and collaboration are the 2 main keys to the making of any movie.Commitment because one cannot just leave the movie whenever they feel like, and also that one has to do a scene as many times ( retakes ) as required and not be reluctant to not doing them . Also collaboration because even a small difference in  the coordination and teamwork of the crew can lead to a disastrous movie. Furthermore   I also understood the ethical implications that need to be kept in mind while a movie is being made as it should not hurt the sentiments of any person living or alive as then it can lead to huge controversies.This workshop based on creative aspects not only gave me a  lot of new skills  but also taught me life long learnings.

Tree plantation activity at vansda

The moment I came to know about this CAS trip I was ready to go. I love getting dirty in mud and with planting trees it came hand in hand. This trip actually made me realize how hard it is to labor and that it’s not at all easy to work in sun all day. I thought it would be really fun and plain sailing but no it wasn’t. We had to dig in some places and place the plant there. We also had to carry the plants from one place to another which was really tiring. Carrying that heavy axe made me ponder upon how much strength is needed to just plant and how they might have managed all of that. It made me sensitive towards workers and brought more respect for them as they worked so hard to earn. I also interacted with workers and treated them equally and came to know about plants and manure from them.

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We worked collaboratively and tried to reduce the work by working in a team so when we had to carry the plants from one place to another we stacked and then passed the plants from one person to another so we did not have to move which made the work less tiring and also consumed less time. I was euphoric and felt satisfied after the work was finished and I am also looking forward to planting tress in my own garden.

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Plantation activity

I now understand the saying- until you experience it you don’t actually know it. Having never done plantation before, I thought that it was an easy task. I mean there was hardly anything to be done other than digging a hole, keeping the plant in it and filling it again. I did not realize how wrong I was until I actually experienced it. Me along with some of my friends took up the challenge to experience a day in the life of all the workers in Janki Van. We reached Vasnda and divided into two groups,  each of which would go to different places and plant mehendi plants. All of us were drenched in sweat within the hour, our city bred selves couldn’t handle the intense heat and the extensive work. I got to know how hard the workers there had to work to earn a day’s meal.

Apart from planting trees I also learned about the importance of doing what they did at Janki Van. I already knew that our enviornment has been degrading day by day but never did I take a step forward to do resolve this issue. I realised that I had to start acting on these issues instead of just being aware of it.

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Activity 1: Subroto Cup Football Tournament (District Level) | Activity

I participated in the district level football tournament on 16th July 2015. Although I have been playing football for a long time, this was a completely new experience for me as I played as I played a position that was new to me. Usually, I play football as a defender, but in this tournament, the coach asked me to play as an attacker. This experience taught me about the pressure that attackers feel when they are under a lot of pressure to score a goal. I used to think that defenders played under a lot of pressure, and that attackers always got second chances if they missed goals, but this experience taught me otherwise and made me realise that everyone on the team equally shares the responsibility of winning or losing the game. 

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The activity helped me fulfill Learning Outcomes 1 and 2 particularly well as I was able to identify my skills as a footballer, and channel them into a new aspect of the game.  I think was able to handle my new position well because I ended up scoring two goals for my team and assisting several other key goals.

Learning outcome 3 was also fulfilled as football is a team game in which you will never win if your cannot collaborate successfully with your teammates.

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An ethical dilemma arose in the tournament when we had a match against a team of very young children who were playing in the tournament  meant for girls under the age of 17. We were conflicted whether to be tough and play our game or to go easy on the kids. In the end, we decided to play an easy game, i.e. with minimal body contact, so that they wouldn’t not get hurt, but we did not compromise on the level of our game so that they could learn from us.

Winning this tournament has now given the team a chance to represent our district in the state level tournament, something that everyone in the team is eagerly looking forward to.


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Activity 3: Participation in Harvard Model United Nations India 2015 | Creativity

IMG-20150820-WA0000I participated in the fifth session of Harvard Model United Nations India that took place in
the city of Hyderabad as the delegate of South Sudan in
General Assembly I: Disarmament and International Security Council. Although I did not win any awards in this event, this conference ended up becoming extremely rewarding.

While preparing for the conference, researching about the country that I was representing, South Sudan, enabled me to get a deeper understanding about the conflicts and problems that newly made, war-struck countries face. The topic area that my committee was discussing, “Asymmetric Warfare and National Sovereignty” was, in the beginning quite difficult to understand, but after further research, I discovered that although ‘law’ seems like a universal, eternal concept, changing global scenarios and advancement in modern warfare techniques has caused the foundations on which the concept of ‘countries’ has been built to become obsolete. Therefore, this conference helped me connect with issues of global significance.
IMG_3927This conference also gave me the wonderful opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life. I made friends who came from different countries and backgrounds and not only learnt about their perspectives on international politics, but also realized that the world today has become so flat, that no matter where we come from, we are all able to dance to the same songs and laugh at the same songs.

This conference taught me the importance of working collaboratively and the need to be patient and tolerant because in a committee of nearly 200 people, resolutions can be formed only if people work together. This conference also inculcated in me important lessons about compromise and leadership while working in a bloc (a bloc is a group of countries that has the same position on a topic). My skills were tested when I had to use my research and knowledge about international relations to come up with creative, yet pragmatic solutions for the topic area.

Overall, I am really glad that I attended the conference, and I hope I’ll be able to attend and maybe even win next year.

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Activity 5: Organizing ‘Ads to Add Up’ in Lit. Hum. Fest | Creativity and Service

CaptureI was the segment coordinator for an event called ‘Ads to Add Up’ in the Literature and Humanities Fest. Using the activity, I was able to provide my peers with a platform to exhibit their creativity and persuasive skills.

Organizing this event was a unique experience because I have a tendency to micro-manage everything that I do, but in this event, I tried to be a little more liberal. In the beginning, the chaos that was ensuing in the room was agreeable to me because I like order, but then I realized that I need to let participants make noise and have fun for them to truly appreciate the event.

I was able to connect the event which required participants to make advertisements about ‘a pen that only writes the truth’ to what I’ve learnt about marketing in Business Management and what I’ve learnt about advertising in Hindi and what I’ve learnt about persuasion in English. Out of all the advertisements that participants made, the one that used the elements of humor seemed to be the most popular, because it was directed at a target audience that consists of school children. The best advertisement also used the 4 P’s of the marketing mix (Price, Product, Promotion and Place) which was evidence that following the theory that we have learnt in Business Management will lead to better results in practical life.

This activity really helped me work on my tolerance and patience simply because it tested my tolerance and patience at every step of the way. It was extremely difficult to manage so many students who were making so much noise. I learnt that the best way to get people to listen to you is not to speak loudly, but to become quiet. When you stop addressing the crown, individual participants come and ask you their doubts, which leads to better communication.

I also took a feedback session about the activity, and found that most participants enjoyed it. Some of them did not quite enjoy the topic that they had and I think that’s something I can work on the next time I do such an event, i.e, I can do ‘market research’ before setting up the event (More BM connections!).

Overall, I am satisfied with how the event turned out, and I was able to use my creativity in terms of coming up with the topic, rules of the event and the poster for the event to provide a service to my peers.

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