The Ultimate CAS Project (SUO 2015)

Surat Ultimate Open (SUO) is an Ultimate(frisbee) tournament that is held at the end of the year. Ultimate is a non-contact game. It isn’t an official sport as yet, but is spreading fast all over India. There are no referees in the game and all the disputes are supposed to be resolved by the players that are playing. It is also, therefore, called a spirit game.

SUO has always been hosted by Fountainhead School (my school) and this year also by Tapti Valley International School (for their grounds), where teams from across India come to participate. This time the event was co-ordinated and put into action by Pranjal and me. To top it off, I also played. It all began few months back when we were returning from a frisbee tournament in Bangalore (BUO). There we were elected as Tournament Directors(TD). Another reason why I had taken up SUO was because I like to organise events and SUO was one of the biggest opportunity to organize an event on a national scale. Last year, 2 of my friends had taken up this and they had a lot of fun organising it. I know what my strengths are such as, I can easily manage things and talk to people but I need to learn to control my words in certain situations.

Celebrating after winning

Celebrating after winning

The event was supposed to happen on the 5th and 6th of December, but there was a lot of prior work that was to be done before the event. And the biggest obstacle was that Pranjal and I were going to play on both the days. So,we appointed Jayani and Yash, who’ll be responsible for the work while we are playing.

There were total 28 teams (Open- 22, Women- 6). Getting their arrival and departure details and making people pay money wasn’t easy. I was so glad Pranjal was with me and took care of the other half of the teams, otherwise I would have gone furious collecting updates (accommodation, transport, food) from all teams. Apart from that, we were not able to get  volunteers. Most difficult was to get volunteers for score keeping. We spoke to some of them and convinced them for score keeping. We could’ve have given them the task without consulting, but that would have been unethical.

Team line-up

Team line-up

As our midterm exams got closer, we drifted away from all that we had to do. I had one week before I was going on a holiday for 15 days out of India. I had to do all the work in that one week because as soon as I got back, I had 5 days till the event. Managing studies and doing all the work in that one week’s time before going on a foreign trip seemed impossible.

After I got back from my foreign trip and realised what a big mess I was in. There were 7 days left for the event. We got the shocking news that a massive flood had hit Chennai and they won’t be able to come for SUO, which was a major disappointment. All flight and trains in and out of Chennai had stopped.  We refunded their payments as it was ethical and the reason they couldn’t make it was genuine.

Women Tryouts For National Team

Women Tryouts For National Team

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Pranjal and I had distributed few activities and on some we worked on collaboratively. We had arranged rooms for every team. We allocated rooms as they arrived from 4th November. After dinner, Pranjal and I were playing frisbee in school, Pranjal slipped and she had to be rushed to a hospital and got to know that she had fractured her bone. It came like a shock to me and I couldn’t process that she wouldn’t be able to play any of the matches (she was one of the main players in my team and also the Spirit Captain). I sat with my coach to discuss strategies as we were one player down, which was not good for us. Around midnight, more teams arrived – I took them to their allocated place and asked them to take one mattress per person to sleep on. Soon, we got people coming to me and asking for mattresses and I realised that we were out of them. I panicked. I freaked out. This happened because few teams that had come without informing us, hence we were short on mattresses. I thought of all the possible solutions and decided upon utilizing the spare mattresses that the security guard has. After some time everybody was well settled, then Pranjal, Jayani, Yash and I had to look for a place to sleep. We called off the long, tiring day around 2 am in the morning.

 

 

 

Next morning, another glitch occurred where the Organising Committee(OC) members (scorekeepers, registration desk heads, photographers) were 30 minutes late which led rescheduling and postponing of all the matches. However, I ensured that the issues with OC members didn’t affect my game play.

I was able to maintain a balance between my game and management work. We had a match against the toughest team post lunch, which we lost. Last match was the easiest match of all, we won against Surat B team with straight 13 points. However, during the spirit circle we realised that players of Surat B had been offended with our behaviour during the match. They had thought that we were laughing on the mistakes that they were making and mocking them. But, honestly, that wasn’t our intention at all – all we were doing was enjoying the last game of the day and refreshing ourselves, we had no clue that they were hurt by that. All of us apologised with the bottom of our hearts and gave our reasons, they still didn’t look satisfied, so we listened to what they had to say and we accepted our mistake. We ended the day with distributing chocolates and dissipating the grudge between the two teams.

After losing the semi-finals on the second day and securing the 3rd place, I went to Tapti Valley grounds and helped there with score keeping. After the finals, we had the award ceremony where I presented the trophy to the winning teams, as I was the TD. Many people stood up and appreciated for organising SUO. It was a proud moment when people applauded me and acknowledged my efforts for making this event a success.
Sleepless nights, disputes and confusions, end minute hassles, misunderstandings – were few of the things that I experienced from the day one of the event. I was exhausted and filled with glory (irrespective of the fact that we didn’t win the tournament). I learned something that I would have never realised by reading or by watching other people go through it: time management, how to talk to strangers and making them feel comfortable; how to act calmly in crisis; to persuade people and make them do things they otherwise wouldn’t; how to not shout at people and control feelings when needed; and many more. According to me, the most important thing I learned was the importance of appreciating others. Appreciating always strengthens relationship bond and gives out a positive vibe. I’m glad that I took the opportunity to organise SUO’15.

A Day with Orphan Kids

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The aim of the activity was to spend some time with the orphan kids and entertain them and not make them feel that they have something less, so what we did was invite some of them to our school and did some activities with them like playing dumb charades or dodge ball, we danced, we made them paint and showed them movie and ended the day with treating them with good food.

I felt really great spending time with them, because they were so content of what they had irrespective of the fact that they have to live in an orphanage. They were always enthusiastic, what I earlier thought about orphan kids was that they might have really low self esteem but I was proved wrong, this again made me realise how incorrect my paradigms are. This activity was like a reality check, it made me feel that all I had was far more than what many people don’t have in their lives and I should be happy and content about it.

After spending the day with those kids I felt as if I’ve done something great and given them a new experience in their lives and added to their good memories, even though my responsibility was of a photographer for that day but I tried my best to conduct a few activities as well. Also, capturing their pretty smiles made everyone of us feel great because we were responsible for that.

In the beginning I felt a little out of my comfort zone because I wasn’t really open with them or danced with them, but soon I broke that barrier during the activity so that both the children and I could enjoy.

The most difficult part during this activity was that one of the children was really upset because of some reason and to make him smile was the most difficult task. He wouldn’t dance, sing, play or watch the movie but only cry. Ultimately, in the end all of us tried to cheer him and get him to express so that was on kind of an accomplishment.

I feel that this activity was just a one time thing, we just did it for a day and that’s the end. We never thought about the kids, even they would have wanted a commitment right? This is one thing I would wonder forever, and feel that we were a little unfair but we can definitely try spend more days with them.

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Athletics Tournament

I participated in an Athletics Tournament on 12th August 2015, the two events that I played were Shotput and Discus Throw. I stood 1st in Discus Throw and 2nd in Shotput. It wasn’t the first time that I participated in athletics, but it was the first time that I participated in Under 19 category. Due to which I had other people with whom I had to compete with. Usually it’s just 1 person that I need to compete with which makes victory easy, but this time I had to compete with 3 other girls and all of them were good.  We get three trials and the best measurement is selected, so what happened this year was that I was the first one to throw so I did not give my best because of which 2 others threw further than me, this happened because I was confident that the rest would not be able to do well. This surprised me, so the next 2 throws I got were the best I could do.

The challenges that I faced were to take out time from academics and work on my throwing skills, because I did not pay more attention to Shot put I couldn’t do well. During the entire process I tried to manage my time and tried learning new skills in discuss throw which really helped.

Through this activity I learnt that I should not be overconfident in whatever I do because that might not always lead me to victory. Also, I thought I that I required more practice because my performance wasn’t exactly my best.  To improve my performance I used to come early to school before the event which did help to a certain extent but could have been improved, by coming early I showed commitment by learning new techniques which helped me sharpen my skills.

          

3 on 3 – Basketball Tournament

I had to serve as the Transport Head in the Organising Committee of this Basketball tournament.

We had to start our planning as early as two months from the day of the event. I had some volunteers under me who had to be designated work as per their strengths. Being the Head, I also had to communicate with the school’s Transport Department in order to avail adequate transport facility, discuss routes and fix costs. We had also been lent the helping hand of UBER cabs for the transportation of outstation participants.

I had to collaborate with the:

  • Registration Department, for the quantity of transport needed
  • Transport Dept. volunteers, for efficient and effective work
  • Planning Dept. , for the bus timings
  • City Co-ordinator – UBER , for outstation participants

I identified my strength as being an able leader, which led to numerous benefits such as:

  • Buses running on time
  • Zero confusion within the volunteers
  • Minimal miscommunication with other Departments

I think that I have my own way of getting things done, but this didn’t help as I had the Tournament Directors above me who had given clear instructions on the ways thing should get done. This, I realized is an area where I need to develop as a person.

I take pride in being one of the initiators of this event although when compared to the inputs and work of the Tournament Directors, I stand far behind them. I was assigned the role of a Head because of my capability as well as my inputs.

For 60 days, I had to work with perseverance and dedication in order to put up a good show. Meetings at cafes after school time had become a common thing for us back then. In order to secure UBER as a sponsor, a lot of efforts were needed.

The ethics POV also came into the picture when I had to decide how much workload to be given to the volunteers under me and what work should I keep aside for myself. Also, I had to ignore the pleads of some OC members who asked me to fix routes which suited their place of residence. By this, I recognized the implications of ethics.

Overall, all the three components of CAS were fulfilled, as I had to physically drain myself persuading people and running back and forth, serving as a medium between School’s Transport Dept. and TDs. I volunteered for the post of Transport Head(so Service). I think the format of the tournament(3 on 3) was not common as well as tournaments such as these are rare in our context, so it also achieves the criterion of Creativity.12047136_561492697332283_4293683461464647153_n 12105826_561497117331841_3726946779071676768_n

School Games- Basketball Competition

I participated in an U-19 inter-school basketball competition which was organised by School Games Federation of India.

For the first time, I had made my way into the school basketball squad and got the honours to represent my school. I was absolutely thrilled to find my name in the roster for this tournament. I had been practicing a new sport(basketball) for a brief period of time and had improved my game to certain extent, justifying my selection.

We had to travel a good 50 km in the morning to reach the venue of the competition. It was fun to travel with my team mates as well as the school coach.

Earlier, I did not use to understand how players with fantastic basketball skills were not able to perform in competitive games but as soon as I was put on the basketball court, I realized that the pressure to perform existed across all of the sports.  I understood and identified my strength as a rebounder and played accordingly. It was a challenge upon me to perform on my school debut. I had also zeroed on my weaknesses that were pointed out by my well wishers and hence decided to work on them.

I recognized the significance of playing fairly, safely and within the ethical borders. I had cut my nails, removed my wrist watch, and gave the respect the opponent players deserved. I had put playing with integrity as my top priority, even if we we were on the losing side. I intended to avoid physical contact with opponents and was fairly successful in doing so.

The format which was followed was of knockouts. We won three games on the trot to book a spot for ourselves in the final of competition. We all had a fair chance to demonstrate our strengths to the selectors present there. We also had planned out strategies and tactics and exhibited them to a satisfactory level. Unfortunately, we lost the finals but had got a huge chunk of things to go home with, such as: our strengths, co ordination, game skills, etc.

It was an amazing experience overall and I hope to continue grasping more and more from this sport.

 

 

Walking up to take positions in offense.

Walking up to take positions in offense.

 

Going for a rebound.

Going for a rebound.

Training- Gym

I, along with a group of classmates, started attending the school gym on alternate days for a period of 4 months.

In this period of 4 months, I learnt life lessons that I couldn’t have otherwise. I was excited as soon as I heard that training in the school gym was a possibility and I grabbed the opportunity with both my hands. In the first quarter of the time, I focused on strength training for 2 days, and cardio for 1 day. With time, I moved to strength training on all the 3 days after realizing that cardio is done anyway when I play sports.

I had to wake up at 06 hours in the morning, for which I had to make many changes in my rather unorganized routine. I had to improve my food habits to actually see the results of training. I had to spend time nurturing my body and give it enough rest to recover from the micro tears it had suffered. I learnt to channelize my limited energy into the right direction, in the right proportion. I understood the deeper meaning of: ” Early to rise and early to bed makes a man healthy and wise”. One needs a lot of motivation and commitment to wake up early in the morning without cursing his/her life but, I chose to feel sore today and not sorry tomorrow.

I got a reality check when my muscles didn’t inflate like balloons do, and no where were in comparison to that of any of the celebrities. I understood the importance of perseverance as I realized that you actually have to challenge your own self for a long period of time, constantly and consistently, to get balloon-like biceps. Although I did not manage to end with huge muscles, I surely had gained a lot of confidence and felt good about my body.

Some of the exercises I performed were :

  • Chest seated rowing
  • Barbel rowing
  • Barbel curl
  • Dumbbell curl
  • Bench press (flat+ incline+ decline)
  • Skull crusher
  • Barbell squat
  • Leg press
  • Leg extension

Summary of the results that I achieved were:

  1. Stronger leg muscles(calves, hamstrings and quadriceps)
  2. Stronger Back Muscles
  3. Broader Shoulders( 17.5″ to 19″)
  4. Healthier food habits
  5. Better BMI

Hammer Curl

Leg Press

Tree Plantation- Vansda

Tree Plantation in the town of Vansda was my first CAS activity. Because of the same, I was thrilled to be a part of it. The Govt. of India had initiated to build an artificial forest which would be named “Janki Van”. We had to plant saplings for the same.

We started off at 7 in the morning and left the city by school bus. We reached the place of plantation at around 10.30 AM and started to work after a short break.

It was the first time I was planting saplings and found that it is not as simple as it seems. Planting saplings was quite laborious and I had to get out of my comfort zone to do so. One of my IB subjects is ESS, which teaches us the negative impacts of deforestation at the global level.

It was a  huge challenge for me to dig up mother earth to plant the saplings. The process to do so was quite elaborate.

  1. Digging up the ground with a heavy and huge axe in an awkward and endurance-testing position.
  2. Planting the sapling exactly perpendicular to the ground level.
  3.  Carefully watering the sapling.
  4. Adding right amount of fertilizers
  5. Covering up the sapling

This process had to be repeated continuously for 5 hours, in addition to walking back and forth to fetch the materials.

I realized the role of ethics as there were many “if” and “then’ situations running in the back of my head. For example, when my back pained, I thought ” If I don’t water this sapling, then this plant won’t grow”. I then thought of the importance that one single plant would hold in the future, sucking up CO2 and giving us oxygen. Therefore, I decided to align by actions which were not ethical and did not have a negative impact on the society and the future.

By this, I fulfilled the component of Activity(physically excruciating) as well as Service(volunteering for a good cause).

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Pep Talk

I was invited by school faculty to deliver a lecture on ” How did I manage to score 6 A* and 1 A in my IGCSE exams?”

I started off by introducing myself and the subjects I chose. I talked about how in order to achieve something you have never achieved before, you need to do something you have never done before. I realised how it was difficult for me to talk about my strategies as I never documented them in a systematic manner, but followed them because it was natural to me. I was stunned at their innocent and frank way of querying, which resulted in this formal ‘lecture’ turning into an informal ‘talk’.

Some of my strategies that I shared were:

  • Sort out your priorities.
  • Revision for the win.
  • Key points of a concept are the ‘key to success’.

I told them how important it is for one to not cheat in their exams or take any sort of shortcuts to score good marks. I also urged them to act with integrity as studies balanced with principles can overtake any kind of shortcuts you might be lured into taking. I also talked about how one’s aptitude can determine his or her career and therefore should perform up to the optimum level.

In the Q and A session that followed, a student asked me to share my notes with them. For a moment, I was baffled because I didn’t really make any kind of notes for most of the subjects; I only tried to address the concepts in a non-written manner. I understood how the international issue of everyone being unique had been touched upon. I promptly responded by saying, ” The notes you make for yourself are the best notes for you”. I also advised that scoring marks is not quintessential and one should not ignore their health, family,etc. I think this is a major issue of concern as scoring good marks is put next to winning in life, which is not the case every time. I believe that kids are like fresh, wet cement; the impression you give them, stays forever.

The faculty was duly impressed with my comprehensive approach and also praised me for abiding by “Honesty is the best policy.” I ended the talk with thanking the faculty to give me such a wonderful platform to address younger, dynamic minds.

 

An informal group photo at the end of the lecture.

An informal group photo at the end of the lecture.

With my fellow classmate , while delivering the lecture.

With my fellow classmate , while delivering the lecture.

 

Teacher’s day

I have never been able to handle kids because I am not a person who can stand all the whining, crying and the noises that they make. I have no idea how our teachers handle them every single day. It takes tremendous mental power and a calm attitude to be able to do such a job and that is what I learned to do on the teachers’ day.  All of us were paired up and assigned classes that we had to teach. I was paired up with Muskaan and we were given the class Sr kg Dazzle. We had a set of activities ready for them however when we got there, all our plans went down the sink. Interacting with the kids was very hard and we had to devise creative ways to keep them occupied and make them have fun. I realised that day that I am a very impatient person and that I had to learn how to be patient and this is something that I took up as a challenge that day. I also had to work collaboratively with Muskaan which turned out to be quite fun. Over all I think that I acquired the skill of being patient and learned a lot that day and especially to value the art of teaching.

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Reflection on cooking:

It’s been a year of learning cooking, once a week in my school. It was an activity that I took as my arts special classes. As I already knew how to cook, there were instances where I was the only one been praised for my perfect work (“practise makes a man perfect”). I had learned many recipes. We had been taught about +50 recipes.

I knew many of them, but the challenge in here was to do it in a different order then I usually use! For example, in the beginning we were given the task of making perfect round Roti (Indian bread); and the tools which I used while making it at home and the technique was all different, which resulted in taking lot of time and also there were times when it use to get it torn from the middle, because of applying a lot pressure (physics everywhere, when will it leave our backs!!!).

In the initial days, we didn’t have our kitchen ready and were given a temporary space (a space for only two people to work, whereas we were about 15) to work. There also were times when we all (15 people) had to cook together and many of us had no work to do except for watching (which is a tedious and insipid job!). At this point, many of us started to have issues with each other as we all wanted to work and learn more than the other gets to, but at the each end of the class when we are done with cooking we feel good about it and these fights don’t seem to be a problem (coz as we say, “When ends well, All’s well”).

By the end of the year, others (my companions) had left the class because of their exam preparative leave and therefore Disha (my friend) and I were the only ones left to learn. At first we used to think how we will be able to manage but then it turned out that because of their leave we had more work and we could learn more and connect better. There were a few recepies that I had also tried at home after learning in the class. The best part about it was that they were easy to cook and as delicious to eat.

At the end of the year, we have to showcase our skills and knowledge learnt throughout the year. So for this year, we (all the students learning cooking in art special classes) decided to keep live kitchen, where we will sell food (Frankie, Mexican Bhel, and watermelon juice) that we had learnt during our classes, and this all was recorded and projected on our dinning area’s LCD screen, with it visitors were also allowed to have a walk inside the kitchen while we were working. For the same event, we were given chef coats, and name tags (this made me feel like a real chef! It had felt so good!). I was assigned to cook Frankies with my juniors. At the time of rush hours, I was actually working with two pans, 10 ingredients, and a lot of pressure of piling orders for Frankie.

I had loved this experience more than any other and felt good after doing so. IMG_20160124_154849 IMG-20160208-WA0095 IMG_20160214_103148

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