Reflection on Grade 12 semester 1 and reviewing of the Goals

Another semester of CAS comes to an end and this is another time for us review back to the August when the our Goals for grade 12 were written up and see where we stand now in terms of which goals we completed.

Creativity

At the beginning of the semester, one of my goals was to learn a total of 10 beats by the end of grade 12.

Continue to work on all the beats I learnt the previous year and apply these skills to this year to show that I can learn a further 5, more complex beats. With the 5 beats I have learnt the previous year (4/4 beat, 3/4 beat, cha-cha, mamba and hustle), this would mean that a total of 10 beats has to be perfected by the end of this year. 

I feel confident that I have certainty been able to achieve this goal as well as exceed in this task as well. I have been able to learn 6 more new beats and also 2 more drum fills with another beat, the 'Baila' beat, currently being learnt as well. I feel that this is a great personal triumph for me because I did not expect to learn this much before the year had even ended. I do know that I was very passionate about drums and I showed perseverance and commitment throughout this learning process, since the beginning of grade 11 however, and buying a new drum set really helped me learn more beats than I expected. I feel that the pursuit of this goal allowed me to increase the awareness of my strengths and areas for growth. One of the greatest challenges I faced during this learning process was switching between drum beats and fills (this can be seen by the video I had previously posted). They all vary in terms of the rhythm and pace, but I have been able to overcome this challenge and I hope to perfect all beats flawlessly by the end of grade 12. 

My second goal deals more with the creative aspect.

Prove that I can compose a range of my own drum beats without the help of my teacher; this goal is a continuation from that of last years, which I plan to accomplish by the end of this year. The goal is to compose 1 or more drum solos (non-stop drumming with different beats played one after another) and present them via video, accompanied with a reflection on how it I got to that point.

This was a chance for me to really test my creative side and to really see whether I had the making of a drummer. I have been able to compose a few beats of my own and I have also posted a video of me drumming everything I have learnt since the beginning of grade 11 to half the first semester of grade 12. The new beats I composed can be seen in the video as well, though of course they need more work done on. I have never composed any piece of music before and so I feel that I have certainly developed new skills. I am not sure however, whether I have truly posted what makes up a drum solo, since I stopped after each beat in the video while usually in a drum solo, all beats must be played without the drummer stopping. This realization has allowed me to increase the awareness for my strengths and areas for growth and so I will continue to work on these beats and hope to perfect them by the end of the year. 

Unfortunately, I could not achieve my third and final goal for creativity yet. 

Play at a few school musical events and/or musical events in or outside school and reflect on my experience and what I accomplished from that experience. Then, compare and evaluate how I was in the beginning of grade 11 and and how I will be by the end of grade 12 in terms of my drumming skills and my confidence in the creative aspect.

This was probably my most challenging goal and as of now, I have not been able to perform in any musical event. Do to the amount of work we were getting since the beginning of grade 12, I feel that I was not able to commit to this goal at all. I had been given the opportunity to play for a couple of school concerts but due to the assignments I had during the time these offers were made, I could not attend any of the practice sessions. Hopefully, there will be another event that I may have the chance to perform in if I feel that I can allocate the time for it. 

New Action and Creativity activities!

I joined the after school sports activity, Badminton and Cricket since the beginning of the semester.

I have taken up a leadership role in Cricket. So, because of this I would not be playing Cricket necessarily, but rather coaching. I would have to plan each lesson with my other two co-leaders, Shwetank and Shubanshu. Both of them have been doing Cricket since last semester as well, so this time, instead of resuming their leadership roles entirely, they have appointed me as the leader and they would act as my mentors. The reason is, I have more experience playing Cricket than they have because I have trained in a Cricket club called NCC for 2 years. I know some strategies which we can apply while in the field and my plan is to teach these strategies to the kids during the Cricket sessions.

I also chose Badminton because I hope to join SAISA Badminton which is to start in Season 4 (January). I have played Badminton before as well but not as rigorously as I play Tennis. By joining the Monday Badminton session, I am able to gain some more practice and hope to develop new skills.

Goals for Cricket:

- Design a proper lesson plan with the help of my co-leaders and show that I possess good leadership skills    in Cricket.

- Reflect on a semesters worth of leadership in Cricket and analyse all the new skills I learnt as a leader.

Goals for Badminton:

- Show that I have greatly improved my skills in Badminton and prove that I have the ability to play at a          competitive level.

- Get chosen for the SAISA Badminton team and reflect on my experience in Badminton at a competitive        level.

Me (in white) umpiring a Cricket match

Me (in white) and Shubanshu (in yellow) giving the kids catching practices

Shwetank helping the kids at the Nets

Me and Shubanshu helping a kid who is a beginner to bat the Nets

Drums: New Drums

On the 9th of November, I went and purchased a new Premier drum kit! With this new kit, I am now able to play drums whenever I want and practice far more often than before (I had to wait till we have lessons to actually practice drums). Also, with more independence I am able to search and try to play different beats than the ones I learn in class. This is very significant for me because this helps better me to accomplish my goals in the Creative field.

As of last year and this semester, this is how the beats learnt compare:

Last year:
- 4/4 basic Rock beat and 2 different drum fills.
- 3/4 Waltz beat
- Cha-Cha beat
- Mumba beat
- Hussle beat

(I completed my last years CAS goal, which was to show that I can learn 5 beats)

This year:
- 4/4 basic Rock beat and 4 different drum fills
- 3/4 Waltz beat
- Cha-Cha beat
- Mumba beat
- Hussle beat
- Bosonova beat
- Oriental beat
- Tango beat
- basic Punk beat*
- 'Funky' beat*
- Variation of the basic rock beat. 

(* indicates beats I learnt on my own)

By getting a new drum set, I was able to undertake new challenges and learn drum beats on my own. It also helped me understand and increase the awareness of awareness of strength and areas for growth, such as in the new drum beats and fills I recently learnt. I have developed new skills, as can be seen by the new beats I learnt and I showed great deals of perseverance and commitment during this very significant learning process. This process wasn't just the learning of new beats, but also the fact that I am able to learn new beats and fills on my own using other resources, other than my drums teacher.

Given below is an unedited video of me drumming (beats from last year).

Tennis matches

Today I went to another session of tennis at SSC, this time, we decided to dedicate the whole lesson to play matches. This was done so that we get enough practice in proper tennis match situation and so that we learn the different techniques, such as good movement around the court, areas where you should stop to play a
shot as well as areas where you should aim to hit the ball in terms of your current position of the court.

Since I was one of the senior players in my class, I was partnered with a someone who was not as experiences during the matches. This helped him to improve his and me to plan and initiate a game plan.

By the end of the matches, I had successfully worked collaboratively with my partner to win most of the matches, and this was due to us showing perseverance and commitment to the matches and with a goal of having a maximum amount wins and in the process, improving out tennis skills as well.

Tennis: Outsiders

On the 21st of Saturday, our coach Mr Chandaka called over two kids from another Tennis group to come and play a few matches with me and my partner Hemeka. This meant that I was given the opportunity to undertake a new challenge, since I have never done this kind of thing in class before. Since I was once again going to play doubles with my partner Hemeka, it gave me the opportunity to work collaboratively with others. The two kids, one of age 17 and the other of age 14 have had far more experience playing Tennis compared to both me and Hemeka. They also practice 12 hours a week according to my coach where as I only practice 2 hours a week (I hope to increase this time later this year). Because of this, playing a match with them was a great learning experience for us since it allowed us to challenge our self and push us to the limit. Both Hemeka and I showed perseverance and commitment during the entire match, which allowed us stay focused and play well. We also learned how to move faster around the court whilst playing and play much stronger, more confident strokes.

The final score was 6-4, with a win to them (we only played one set due to the lack of time). Although we lost the game, I was really happy with the final score because as I said before, these kids practiced a lot more tennis a week than us. To be able to win 4 of the games played was to me a great achievement. My partner Hemeka and I both thought that with more practice per week, we may be able to do much better in the tournaments to come, than we did in the previous tournament.

My CAS Goals for Grade 12

CAS So Far...

It has been a year since I started CAS as well as joined the IB programme. Through out grade 11, I have been able to develop my skills at both keeping up with my CAS Goals and making sure to upload my experiences and my reflections on each of them to my CAS blog. I hope to continue to always keep time for my CAS activities and to keep up with my goals since I feel it was a very worthwhile and helpful experience and that it has helped me to grow both as a person and as well as an IB student. This year I hope to take part in more sporting activities and spend more hours on my creativity activity (drums) as well. As I did the previous year, I will continue to attend all Service sessions (SOS Orphanage) this year as well, and also try to take part in another Service activity. At the moment, I am learning to play drums, attending Tennis practices and taking part in the SOS Orphanage service activity.

Creativity:

• Continue to work on all the beats I learnt the previous year and apply these skills to this year to show that I can learn a further 5, more complex beats. With the 5 beats I have learnt the previous year (4/4 beat, 3/4 beat, cha-cha, mamba and hustle), this would mean that a total of 10 beats has to be perfected by the end of this year. 
• Prove that I can compose a range of my own drum beats without the help of my teacher; this goal is a continuation from that of last years, which I plan to accomplish by the end of this year. The goal is to compose 1 or more drum solos (non-stop drumming with different beats played one after another) and present them via video, accompanied with a reflection on how it I got to that point.
• Play at a few school musical events and/or musical events in or outside school and reflect on my experience and what I accomplished from that experience. Then, compare and evaluate how I was in the beginning of grade 11 and and how I will be by the end of grade 12 in terms of my drumming skills and my confidence in the creative aspect.

Action:

• Compare and reflect on my skills at tennis by the end of this year with the skills I had when I started out the diploma programme.
• Take part in more competitions this year which include contenders with high amounts of skill. The previous year I completed my goal of taking part in a competition organized outside class where my doubles partner (Hemeka) and I made it to the quarter-finals. This year, I hope to take part in that same tournament-which is an annual event. I hope to reflect on my experience as well as evaluate my skills in Tennis and in all the competitions.
• Obtain a place in the podium by the end of a tournament and then by the end of the year, reflect on my overall experience that I had in Tennis during the course of two years and show the transition from how I stood last year and how I will stand by the end of this year.

Service:

• Prove that I can follow the examples of the leaders in SOS Orphanage and achieve tasks with my best effort applied to them. Then, reflect on my experiences and of all the self accomplishments in the service sessions.
• Formulate my own service activity either in school or outside, or take up a leadership role in an already existing service activity.
• When the second goal has been accomplished; reflect on my first days' work as a leader as well as prove that I am capable enough to continue my leadership role.
• Reflect on my overall experience of service work by the end of this year and show how I have grown as a service volunteer as well as how it has affected me.

Tennis: SSC open grade 'A' tennis tournament

On Saturday the 18th, My doubles partner Hemaka and I played our qualifier match for the semi-finals. This gave me the chance to work collaboratively with Hemaka. I have successfully been able to address one of my CAS goals which was to take part in three tournaments, so this makes it 1 out of 3 so far.
We were up against some very skilled players as we had expected. Of course, we did not expect to win against them because the amount of time and practice they put in to the sport is much much greater than we put in to it. Yet we showed perseverance and commitment to the match and improving our techniques as we played. We did lose heavily unfortunately-although coming very close at certain points such as having three deuces  in the first three games. Since this was my first ever tournament, I was under a lot of pressure and while playing, I could see myself making very stupid mistakes that I usually do not do when playing matches with students from my tennis lessons and I also saw my partner not performing his very best either. However, the important thing is that we gave it a shot, we hit the ball hard, served to the spot most of the time and at the end of the day of course, the better team won. The two players we were up against even gave us some pointers after the match to do better in the next one, this was very helpful and so I really tried to take as much of their knowledge as I can so I can use them in my next tournament/match.

What I learnt:
So over all, this was merely my chance at experiencing some real world tennis first hand and challenging my self to take on the pressure. As this was my first tournament, I was very nervous during the match and as I said before, I did not perform the best that I could. However, as we played on the pressure slowly began to fade away and I started to feel a lot more comfortable with the environment. This increased my awareness of my strengths and areas for growth, both in my physical skill and mental capability for improvement. I feel that this is a great achievement for me because I am now able to put aside my fears of all the eyes looking down at me and taking on competitors who I have never met before. Though we lost very badly, We kept our heads up high and soon, even began to laugh about the whole thing. I hope to continue showing dedication to the sport and to always show sportsmanship during a competition.

The tennis court at SSC, as seen from the balcony

Reflection on Grade 11

I joined OSC at the beginning of this year through the scholarship program. This was a huge transition for me because in my previous school, education wasn't as free and very open-minded as it is in OSC and in the IB Diploma program. At the start, I barely had any clue as to what CAS or even TOK encompassed and I had a hard time trying to come up with CAS goals, writing up blogs etc. However, after about 2 months or so, I finally began to understand what CAS really asks from its diploma students.

CAS is about pushing the IB student to take part in activities that help both the student to grow as an active human being, as well as doing an activity that provides a service to the community we live in. Service allows to us to take in to consideration the different religions, the different races as well as the different communities that are in our world and to get an understanding as to how they live their day to day lives; these aspects help us to get out of that bubble we live in and to really see how those that are under privileged than us are living their own. Of course, if the service one takes part in is directed towards the environment, they will be able to understand the natural environment that surrounds us and why it is so important that we must do our best to preserve it. Since I was took part in both 'Recycling and Sustainability' as well as 'SOS Orphanage', I had the opportunity to experience both these learning outcomes.

Action allows us to bring out that animal inside of us! In most other high school education programs, the action aspect is almost completely forgotten and they would focus solely on the academic aspect of education instead. I feel that this would only make us very lazy human beings. Sports or any other action activity such as Dance is something anyone can enjoy and something anyone will enjoy if they remember to give their 100% to the activity that they are even mildly interested in; for me this is tennis, which I have shown interest in over 5 years now. I really like to play tennis because it not only allows my body to push itself to undertake a particular challenge but also. my mind as well. I would never give up tennis for anything, ever because it is simply an amazing feeling to win a match or to know that I gave my 100% to at least make it a good match if I lost. Over this year only, I've been able to refine a lot of my strokes, such that to making me feel confident enough to actually take part in a tennis tournament that will be happening over these few weeks.

Finally, Creativity. Being a very math and science oriented person, I would say that I thoroughly lack the creative side of me. I am definitely not a very artistic person which I learnt through my time in art class over the past few years and so I decided to simply stop it. However this year, with the introduction of IB and CAS, I thought I would try to improve the creative side of me which I know is there within me somewhere! but, through a different medium which is music. Music is something I love and I know that I would actually work hard towards learning music as well as possible if I was to actually do it. That is why I started learning how to play Drums; which has been both very difficult to do as well as really fun to do. As I have said in my previous posts, this learning process is quite slow for me. Nevertheless, I am improving my drum skills even if it is at a relatively slow process. So, I hope to improve on this and hopefully be able to grasp beats much more easily and quickly in the coming future.

Overall, CAS is about doing something important or worth while that could really encourage us to work hard on getting these activities done and in my opinion; I would say that CAS is that one thing, that separates an IB student from any other student and would love to continue doing CAS more and more in the coming year.

Tennis: SSC open grade 'A' tennis tournament

The Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) is holding a tennis tournament open to anyone who wants to take part in it at the SSC tennis courts. The Junior divisions (ages 8-18) began its qualifying rounds on the 6th of May for players taking part in the Singles matches. I will be taking part in the Doubles matches which will begin later on next week (the schedule is made the day before the matches for the day that follows so I would need to check in with the official website for m matches).

This would be a great opportunity for me to address some of my CAS goals, which is to take part in a tournament as well as try to gain some kind of position in the podium. Since I am taking part in a doubles tournament, this gives me the chance to work collaboratively with others, undertake a completely new challenge, and show perseverance and commitment to try my best at the tournament.

tournament schedule and other info can be found in this link: http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/event.aspx?id=5F193CA1-E3D5-4E35-84B8-FF35350E5C4B&event=10

New Community and Service activity: SOS Orphanage

At the start of this new semester, I decided to change my CAS activity from Recycling and Sustainability to SOS Orphanage. The reason I switched was because; since Recycling was based on service to the Environment, I wanted to try out an activity program that provides service in the Human aspect. This change would allow me to increase the awareness of my strengths and areas for growth, since I would be seeing how I would cope in a different environment entirely.

In SOS Orphanage, we bring the kids from an orphanage and we basically try to teach them various skills such as; Swimming (which takes up the majority of the time spend in Service sessions), English and also teach them about different countries, in order to give them a global perspective and to actually give them an insight as to what is out there, since these kids have never had the opportunity to travel to other countries like we have. I try to plan and initiate activities during the group sessions, such as by making sure teach them new words on one day, and maybe grammar the next. Because there are a large number of kids who come here; we are divided in to separate groups consisting of at least one of us from OSC and two of the kids from the orphanage. This way, we have the chance to get to know them better and teach them much more easily and effectively as opposed to teaching them all together at once. Fortunately in my group, I have a partner, Hyung Suk, to help me in teaching the kids. I am given the opportunity to work collaboratively with him, in order to teach them effectively. My group consists of Me, Hyung Suk (from OSC), Sandaruwan and Madu.

During SOS sessions, we are meant to stay with our assigned kids from the time they arrive to the moment we get in to the pool; in the pool we are to attend to all the kids due to safety reasons. Hyung Suk and I teach them English through ways they like to learn, and this is through drawings. I have asked them draw a picture of their liking and then after that, label all the objects that are seen in the picture in English. Since I can also speak Sinhala like them, I am able to teach them English words quite easily.

After this, we go down to the pool area where we teach the kids some basic swimming techniques. We try to teach them to be confident to take on the open water, as well as assure that they learn all the techniques needed for swimming as well.

I feel that I have made a good decision by joining this CAS activity because it is something that tries to educate under-privileged kids in an international community, we teach them things that are outside Sri lanka and also where our country is in our world. Kids being orphaned is an issue of global importance, and being able to work, teach and simply have fun with them in the pool would surely mean a lot to them, since they are not given as many opportunities as we do.

me (on the left) helping out one of the kids to swim

group photo of the OSC students in SOS

Drums

I have now been learning drums for about 4 months now-since I've started in October. However, during this time span I have only played about 8 hours of drums since a lesson is just 30 minutes long and I can only go once a week. This is a very short amount of actual time on drums whilst over a large time span and so because of this, I have decided to go for lessons at least twice a week and also make them 1 hour sessions each by the next month. In order to this I would have to start lessons outside school and with a new instructor. For my part, I would say that this is showing perseverance and commitment to drumming because I have really learnt to love this instrument and I want to do more.

So far, I was able to successfully learn how to play 4 beats, these are: the 4/4 basic beat, the 3/4 Waltz, the Cha Cha beat and the Latin American Mamba beat. I still have a few difficulties with the last one; such as the drum roll part (this is played after the regular beat usually when changing between different beats), however, I am able to to play the other three beats with no difficulty including each of there drum rolls and I would be posting a video of it by next week during the next lesson or before it begins (I don't have a drum set at home yet). So overall, I'd say have definitely developed new skilled since I have never been able to play anything in drums before.

Looking back at what I'm able to do in drums now, I certainly feel that I have learnt a lot over those short sessions much more than I expected I could and I have constantly gotten better with hand and feet movement after each beat I've learnt, but, I also feel that I have the potential do much better and maybe I will be able find out whether this is true after I start going for extra lessons. Mr Roshan; my drums teacher, told me that he will bring in a few songs to the next class so that I can actually play along to them rather than just playing the beat, stopping and then starting again. By doing this I will be able to gain more confidence and improve my concentration in order to play beats without stopping or messing up.

WWW: Day 4 - The Big One

Thursday was our last day Biking in the East coast, the next day we simply departed back to Colombo and overall it was an uneventful journey.

Stopping for a quick rest after biking half way, I'm on the left
(Photo credits: Mr. Shipley) 

On Thursday we were to bike over 60 Kilometers to a Hindu temple located near the outskirts of the Yala national park. Prior to the trip to the east coast, a group was made consisting who were in charge of cooking food for the entire WWW group on day 4 of our trip. So, on Thursday morning, they cooked us an entire lunch to take with us to the temple. After we arrived to the temple and after being hungry for hours, we were finally able to eat the delicious food they had cooked for. After that, some of us had the choice of either biking back the 60 Kilometers or going back on the bus, I decided to go back on the bus because I was feeling really worn out after the initial ride. 

Taking a quick picture before going over to Yala
(Photo credits: Mr. Shipley)

The bike ride on that day really was the most tiring and most exhilarating one of all the days. On the other days, we would always stop for a rest after about 10 kilometers from where we started, however on day 4 we stopped for our first rest after biking for 25 kilometers, this may have been the hardest part of the journey because we were still trying to break in to our bikes since the day before. A few of us stopped after 10 km but I decided to keep going because I really wanted to challenge myself and try to push myself to achieve something that I have never done before. The road was flat and  barely had any bumps or turns, until we reached Yala.

A small technical trail that tested our ability to take
quick decisions
(Photo credits: Mr. Shipley)

The trail in Yala consisted completely of mud, dirt, rocks and a whole lot of bumps and holes. We had to maneuver our bikes so as not to fall in to these holes and always stay clear of sand trails because it is almost impossible to bike straight on one of these. This went on for rest of the journey to the temple. 

I feel that day 4 of the trip really helped me in improving my biking skills but not only that, it also helped me to take quick decisions when necessary- which would be very useful to me in the future- and also to find the best decision; this is really important because although one trail might look easy, it doesn't mean that you should just speed through it without another thought, you should plan your action and then go at the appropriate speed. 

The trip to the East coast of Sri lanka was the best trip I went to and I'm really glad that I went with an amazing group of people. Throughout the trip, I have shown great deals of perseverance and commitment to biking, as well as worked collaboratively with others, which include my OSC friends and also the kids at the local school we visited.   

WWW: Day 2 & 3 - The School

Me (dark blue shirt) teaching the students
about exothermic and endothermic reactions
(source: http://oscwww.blogspot.com)

On both days 2 and 3, we taught the students at the school everything we prepared for them. The work was divided in to two days simply because of the number of students that are in just the 9th grade is over 50. About 10 students per hour were sent to each group; science, bike repair and sports. As a group we were able to successfully plan and initiate activities during our visit to the school. It was very hard for my friends and I to communicate with

the students since they couldn't speak English or Sinhala, only Tamil. There were three teachers from that school present at all times to translate and help us teach the students. This was a new experience for me, not just teaching kids who speak different languages but teaching itself. This definitely increased my awareness of strengths and areas for growth. I was nervous at first and I did make a few mistakes while teaching the theory, but by the end of the first group, I became completely comfortable with teaching the students and even the fact that they spoke different languages soon didn't bother me. Also, the fact that I had to repeat what I taught to the next group and next-was a sort of practice for me, so this enabled me to improve on my delivery and be more fluent with the theory that I was teaching. So by the end of it, I would say that I had developed new skills, in the area of teaching and communication in general.

On day three, after we all (science, sports and bike repair) had finished teaching the last group of students, we were told to go down to the canteen area where we were served some refreshments. When it was finally time for us to leave, the students of the school lined up to place hand-made flower necklaces around our heads (this is a tradition in Sri lanka), after that, the principal of the school gave his thank you to all of us and told us how much it meant for him that we took our time to come their school and teach the students-as well as give to them donations. This made me realize the importance of our trip to the east coast of Sri lanka and helped me to consider the ethical issues; we have strengthened the relationship between us and the children at the local school we visited and hopefully, they have changed there views of us in a better way. I hope to visit more schools in an area such as Arugam bay and to interact with them as well.

The WWW science on two wheels group with the principal of the
school (in blue shirt and black trousers)
(Photo credits: Yo Kubota)

Week Without Walls: Day 1 - The arrival

The amazing view of the beach in batticaloa
(Source: http://oscwww.blogspot.com)

On the 27th of January, we left Colombo from the main train station at Fort (Colombo 1) to Batticaloa. To be honest, I was both excited and a little scared because that was the first time that I have ever traveled in an overnight train in Sri lanka. However after a few minutes upon leaving the station, my worries were completely gone and I was able to have fun with my friends despite the train having a few technical difficulties half way through (the engine broke down and we had to wait for a new one). After 11 hours on the train and another 4 hours on the bus ride to Arugam bay, we finally reached the hotel where we would be staying at; 'Stardust beach hotel and restaurant'. This was truly an amazing and very peaceful hotel, and I think everyone  including me was pleased with the service there as well.

A 'Cabana', a small hut-like room accommodated
with 4 beds (I stayed in this type of room)
(source: http://oscwww.blogspot.com)

Since it had been a long journey, we were given the chance to just chill out and play some sports for about an hour before we headed out to the Komari school and to ride our bikes. We played some softball, Frisbee and Rugby. It was a good way to warm up for our 25 km bike ride. I also took the time to prep for the journey, including packing a full water bottle and getting my gloves ready.

Students and there teacher who greeted us when we
visited their classroom
(source: http://oscwww.blogspot.com)

After lunch, we went by bus to the Komari School; where we would be teaching the ninth graders Science, Sports and how to repair bikes the following day and the day after. This was our chance to engage with an issue of global importance, since most of the kids in this school are very under privileged, and just being able to interact with them and exposing them to our lifestyle, enables them to broaden their perspective of this world. I was in the Science group and so while we were there, we setup all the equipment we were going to need for the days to come as well as plan who is going to do what during the teaching hours, We already planned what we were going to teach them when we were still in our school so this part of the process did not take too long (Sid and I were going to teach the kids Chemistry). This was definitely an opportunity for me to start taking part in an active service role for an audience that I'm not familiar with, the kids could not speak much English or Sinhala so it really was hard trying to explain to them the concepts of what we were doing. After all the prep work, some of the seniors in the school gave us a tour around their school campus. They did not have many teaching material in their class rooms or in the IT and science labs and yet, despite the lack of equipment, the students were happy and keen on learning with whatever they do have. This made me feel both sad and proud for these kids.

We said good bye to the kids until the next day and we headed back to hotel. While there, we played some more sports and chilled out for another couple of hours, then, Peter-our bikes guide- came to the hotel with all our bikes and helmets. We were all very excited to finally go on the bikes; we got our things ready, warmed up a little and we headed on out of the hotel to Kumana national park.

Stopping for a quick rest
(source: http://oscwww.blogspot.com)

It was a challenging journey, no doubt; we went through some very rough terrain at times, then over lose sandy trails which really threw us of with our momentum and also over some large puddles here and there. I am fairly good at riding a bike so I did not have any casualties, however a few people in the group wasn't so lucky, fortunately they only got a few minor cuts and bruises when they fell but nothing too severe. Despite the injuries, we all rode on as a single unit helping each other where ever we could. I decided to go ahead of some of the weaker riders and give them a heads up in case there is a difficult obstacle coming up or so. We went through some beautiful areas with amazing scenery, it was a really good ride and we had lots of fun. I felt that was able to successfully apply the skills that I already knew, as well as learn some more on my own as well.

Tennis

On Saturday the 19th of January, I had my 2nd tennis session since new year. Our coach had decided to extend the lesson time by 15 minutes so that all of the warm up drills are done in 15 minutes or less which would leave us with 2 hours to play matches. During the warm up session, we went through a new set of drills, these include; the half court volley, the return lob shot and the cross court drill. This was my opportunity to undertake new challenges and hopefully do well in them as well.

The half court volley is fairly difficult as you have to hit the ball before it touches the ground with enough power and a good angle as well. I noticed that I need to a lot of improvement in this shot (as do I need for the Volley shot as well). For the return lob shot, all you have to do is run right to the back of the court and return the ball which is travelling at a very high angle and as long as you are able to run fast enough, this shot is quite easy to play. Also, Most of us were already familiar with this shot so we were able master this drill in a very short time. The cross court shot is similar to the lob shot, except during this drill, we must run from one side of the court to the other to hit the ball. This shot would be more effective if we are able to slide and play the shot, so this is something I should try to improve upon. However, by the end of the new drills, I would say I did develop new skills since I am now able to play three new shots/techniques that I had not been able to do before.

After the drills as per usual, we paired up and played doubles matches. We switched around partners to see who would be the best pairs. The scores for the matches I played were 2-2, 2-2, 3-1, 3-1.

What I learnt:

• There is still space for improvement, half the matches I played were ties so I'm going to want to try and get a 3-1 score for every match next. This is important for me because I'm going to be playing in a proper tournament later this year and increasing my winning average will definitely help me to do well in the tournament.