Being a Referee

For the past 3 weeks I've been a referee for the games the Girls Basketball team have every Friday. The games are scheduled at 3:30 and are against local schools. Being a referee is definitely a new skill for me. I have refereed a few games in the past and since i've played basketball for about 4 years i feel that i was quite accustomed to it. The perspective of the game however is quite different from being a player to being a referee. Referees need to be more unbiased in calls and need to look at each call with a calm, focused mind. I'm also dealing with a issue of ethics. As I am refereeing Gecko games, I am quite biased towards my team. However as a referee I need to be objective as it is my responsibility to officiate the game with the utmost level of fairness. Being a biased ref would not only be unfair to the local teams but would also be a show of disrespect to the home Geckos.

Mother Tongue Service Project

 Hasara and I have met with the preschool and Grade 3 classes regularly.for the past 2 weeks. We meet with the preschool class every Monday and the Grade 3's on Thursday. The Sinhalese class is actually integrated into the classes schedules.

The Grade 3's seem to be quite successful at remembering almost all of the vocabulary we teach them. Studies have shown that at a young age children have the ability to learn languages quickly and more succinctly. We have just finished a unit on colors and animals. We are now organizing a unit on fruits. We are trying to organize and plan  lessons that relate to what they are currently studying in their normal classes. This week they are doing "Healthy Foods" and we feel that a unit on fruits will be perfect. 

The Preschool class seem to find it harder to remember a lot of the vocab that we teach them. They all seems to remember a few colors and even a few animals. They are currently doing a unit on farm animals. We met them last week and asked them to draw some of the animals that they had learnt. We then thought them the Sinhalese word and they seemed to enjoy the lesson. With the preschool class we try to incorporate a more fun work ethic and we ind that this works well. They are easily distracted and teaching them takes quite a lot of perseverance.    

This service project has really made me aware of the skill I have with talking to and teaching kids. I feel like since i'm still young, it is easier for me to connect with them and make the lessons enjoyable for both the kids and myself. I also feel that Hasara and I are dealing with a issue of global importance. The mother tongue service group is an interesting way to tackle the idea of "preserving culture through language". Which is a significant issue in our ever globalizing community.

"An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades. What is lost when a language dies?"
(BBC World)

Article: The Death of Language 

This Article really sums up what this service project is about. In today's world society languages such as English, Mandarin and French are being spoken all over the world. What happens when a new child is born and the only language he/she learns is English? In a 100 or maybe even a 1000 years how many languages will be lost? Teaching preschool kids may not me a sure-fire way to fight the loss of language, but it's a start. 

  

SAISA Volleyball Tournament 2014 Dhaka, Bangladesh

29th October-1st November

The OSC Geckos took part in this years SAISA volleyball tournament held in Dhaka. We placed 4th and lost to the host team in the semi final. They would end up winning the championship, The tournament was structured in a round robin setting and we played a total of 8 qualifying games. It was exhausting. I personally had to show a great deal of perseverance as my right knee was bruised up pretty bad and it was effecting my jump. After every game I had to ice every 20 minute interval to make sure I was ready for the next game. SAISA has never had a round robin setting before and it was a completely new structure that demanded a lot of physical and mental prowess. As Captain I had to make sure that my team weren't neglecting their injuries and were resting well.

Our last round robin game was also against the home team ; Tigers. The scores were dead even between 15 and 20 points. As captain I was shouting and screaming at my team until my voice would give in. We were up 20-18. Suddenly, we started falling apart. The score was 20-23 in an instant and we were playing like we had already accepted the loss. Volleyball isn't a game that anyone can win by themselves, it's not possible. After the 23rd point I brought my team into a huddle and spoke to them directly. I told them that we look like we've given up and we are not playing our game. It's against the rules to be in a huddle for longer than a few seconds without calling a timeout. We didn't care. I still can't remember what I said to my team but when we broke we had this new found adrenaline to fight. We ended up losing that set 23-25. I was really proud of my teams ability to come together in the end and play through that mental block. I was also really proud of myself for being able to inspire it. 

I'm currently starting training for the SAISA Basketball tournament 2015 that is going to be held in Chennai, India. 

Photo Credits- Gimesh Ragapakse                                                    OSC Gecko vs LAS Buffaloes 2-0 

Being Captain was an interesting experience that I learned a great deal from. I feel like it prepared me for being a leader in the future and most definitely prepared me for captaining the SAISA basketball team. 

Photo Credits- Gimesh Ragapakse                                  Osc Geckos vs AISD Tigers 0-2

Mother Tongue Project

Last week Hasara and I met with the grade 3s. We wanted to start this lesson off as a more of a introductory lesson rather than a teaching lesson. Handling preschoolers is certainly a new thing for Hasara and me. They are easily distracted and you need to keep them active and attentive. During this lesson we told them who we were and what we wanted to do with them. We learned their names and thought them a few basics such as "My name is" and a "Blue" "Red" "Yellow" and "Green". It was actually quite fun and teaching a class together really involves a lot of collaborating with your co-teacher. We are meeting them again next Thursday and we have a different class lined up for this Monday as well :)

Selfie I took with the class on my Iphone.

Endicott survey- SGA

Over the past 2 weeks the Executive Committee of the SGA has been looking over the Endicott survey results of the past 2 years. We have been comparing the areas in which OSC has been improving and where it has been depreciating. We brainstormed ideas of how we could make the necessary changes in school and what capabilities the SGA has to make those changes. We are currently trying to find a way to express the SGAs ideas and changes to the Board and HODs.

The SGA is also organizing more spirit days and a rally for the SAISA teams. 

Local Volleyball Tournament Hosted at OSC

Starting this Friday on the 17th and 18th of October OSC is hosting a inter- school volleyball tournament. We are hosting 4 teams and will be playing round robin games on Friday we will be playing the placement games. SAISA is only a week away and this tournament is a great chance for us to test our skill and our collaboration as a team in clutch situations. This will also be my first chance to be the captain of the team for a long period of time. We will be at school as a team for a total of 8 hours between Friday and Saturday, we need to concentrate on conditioning and being ready for every game. As captain it's my responsibility to make sure that my team is keeping up physically and mentally. Leadership is not a new skill for me but it is a skill that I have acquired over the past year and I still have many aspects in which I need improvement. I will be the Captain of the Basketball team in 2015 and I really hope I can carry my team to a medal.

Mother Tongue Project

This week Hasara and I went to the library to borrow a Sinhalese children's book. I am on par fluent in speaking Sinhalese and so is Hasara. I however cannot read and Hasara is at a grade 1 reading level. Therefore actually taking a book out, reading and explaining it was pretty challenging for the 2 of us. We did pretty well I think, reading Sinhalese is a new skill I wish to gain and I feel that this service project will really help my acquire it.

SAISA Volleyball Week 4

I've been selected as the Captain of the team.

This brings in a creativity aspect to my primary action. I'll be in charge of warm ups/cool downs and basic team management. This is a leadership role that requires a lot of responsibility and is actually a new skill for me as this the first SAISA team i'm captaining. I've taken up other leadership roles in sports day when I led Red House and in my Group 4 Project when I led my group. Being the Captain of a SAISA team however is a little different, it is a 10 week commitment and my captaincy stays off the court as well. I'm in charge of making sure my team does not get into idiotic trouble and organizing food for visiting teams. It's also added pressure on the court too, I need to be the one who keeps his composure and keeps the team together. I can't be having emotional outbursts despite my lack of performance and concentrate on keeping the team moral up. 

We are currently organizing our visa applications for Dhaka and have about 7 weeks left until we travel. The team is improving exponentially and I'm really looking forward to bringing home a medal. 

SGA- Treasurer

SGA organizes something for every school event. As treasurer I will be in charge of funds and making sure that we have ample money in the budget to support all the events we plan. Meetings are on Wednesday at lunch.

SAISA Volleyball

Last week was the start of SAISA Volleyball 2014. Practices will be on Tuesday, Wednesday,Friday and Saturday. I'm really excited for the weeks to come and to see the team at the end of the 10 week season, I feel we have a lot of potential. Can't wait for October.

CAS Goals

My CAS goals this year relate to 3 thing. SAISA, SGA and The Mother Tongue Project.

In SAISA,

I want to win one of the 3 SAISA awards for both Volleyball and Basketball. For volleyball I want to win the Most Spirited Award, I'm going to achieve this by communicating and collaborating with my team effectively throughout all training sessions and games. For basketball I want to win the MVP award, which has always been a goal of mine since I started playing SAISA. This being my last year is my only shot. I want to show perseverance and develop a lot of new skills to make me a candidate for the award.

In SGA,

A goal of mine is to be a reliable treasurer. As one of the 5 main SGA positions I not only want to concentrate on my job as treasurer but also have an impact on the SGA as a whole. For this I will need to work well with Shanthi Haaze, who is my co-treasurer.

In The Mother Tongue Project,

The goal is to become fluent in Sinhalese, which is my technical mother tongue. As growing up I never learnt it and I hope having a year long commitment to this service will let me achieve this. Another goal of mine is to teach another kid as much Sinhalese as I can to make sure he/she doesn't end up like me :)

Final CAS Reflection

CAS Reflection

This year for CAS I have done many different activities regarding CAS. For Creativity i’ve done Even Crew and Drama Stage Manager for Yerma. For Action i’ve done SAISA Basketball,Friday 3-3 Basketball and SAISA Volleyball. For Service I’ve been apart of Gecko Inc.

Throughout the year i’ve learned so much about myself and where I excel in and where i still need to grow. In basketball i’ve learned about how I still lack in mental preparation and staying prepared for all games. I realised this as well in Volleyball where my mental status got in the way of my physical game. My strengths unpredictably are my ability to take on a lot of work and still come through, something I learned through event crew.

Gecko Inc and Event crew were the two activities I did this year where I had to plan and initiate activities. I planned the adopt a team process and sportsmanship for Event crew along with some activities for the school that we are interacting with for service. I’ve learned that i am pretty resourceful when it comes to planning activities since i have good intuitive ideas along with a sense of responsibility.

I collaborated with a team in mostly all my activities besides when being a Stage Manager for Yerma. In both SAISA teams I really bonded with the team and worked collaboratively with them all to win every game we did and lose and reflect on the games we didn’t. In Even Crew I worked effectively with Greta to plan sportsmanship and the Adopt-a-team process, along with some key roles in both the opening ceremony and line judging.

Throughout all my sports activities i had to fight through a bad ankle injury and it took a lot of perseverance to get through to the end of each season. Event Crew really pushed me as i had to host 4 Dhaka players, do my EE along with returning home late every day.

Throughout every single activity i’ve gained new skills. I’ve learned to use my left hand in basketball, plan activities in Event crew, learned to be a responsible student in being a stage manager and learned new socialising skills when meeting new people in all the activities in CAS.

I hope to have a successful next year as I did this year.

CAS Reflection

My understanding of CAS goals was slightly off last year.

I haven't been sky diving, but I've achieved the other 2 personal goals. That's 2/3

Haven't achieved a 7 in econ or french but I did pass TOK. That's 1/3

Been fit throughout the year, made the starters list in both volleyball and basketball. That's 3/3

6/9 of my goals were accomplished but I feel that for the upcoming year I need to set goals that are more Creativity/Action/Service rather than personal,academic and athletic.

Goals set in August 2013

Personal 

To go Sky Diving. 

To improve in my thinking and application of knowledge.

To be more dedicated and contribute more to formative assessments 

Academic 

To get a 39 in the IB. 

To get a 7 in French Abnitio. 

To get a 7 in economics. 

To pass TOK.

Sports 

Make the starting 6 of the Volleyball Team.

Make the starting 5 of the Basketball Team and be the leading scorer. 

Be fit throughout the 2 years of the IB 

Event Crew : SAISA Batminton

April 25th-28th

I was part of the event crew for SAISA Badminton and it was a huge learning experience for me. Until now i'd always been a SAISA athelete and therefore never really knew all the components required for a successful tournament. Maybe now ill be more sympathetic towards the event crew in different schools. Throughout the 3 days I was a part of the Adopt-a-Team, Photography,Day 1 BBQ, Sportsmanship and a lot of other little jobs. I did feel quite stressed throughout the few days since I also had to host 4 AIS-Dhaka players. It took a lot of perseverance and dedication to come through at the end and to have OSC host an amazing tournament. With obviously a few mishaps that were controlled and evaluated by the talented event crew.  

Through this experience I also made a lot of new friends, in other SAISA schools and also in the event crew. People I had no idea were actually interesting. 

Senior Production Stage manager

As I mentioned in a post earlier I am the stage manager for the senior production. My job is to keep all props on the stage organised, the stage and anything else Mrs. Jackson wants me to do. This job takes a lot of my time but I actually enjoy it. (I also save on buying a ticket for the production :P )

I've been to the rehearsals on Friday and Saturday. Now the remaining rehearsals are on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I really feel like this is helping me get ready for university where i'll be trying to manage so many things at once. Recently i've been swamped with work for Environmental systems, Event Crew, the production , Extended essay, English and all this over the weekend. It's been hectic. I feel like I've come through though.

Anyway the Drama production helps me be more organised which was the key complaint in my 3-way conferences. Also I'm learning to undertake new challenges and be able to balance all my extra curriculars.

Which I guess is the point of this blog :D

SAISA U19 Basketball Tournament - Dhaka

March 11th - March 16th

Tuesday morning at 4am the Basketball team met at school. 3 hours later we left on a Mihin Airlines flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh. This was the second time I have ever been to Dhaka and on both occasions I was visiting for a SAISA tournament. The first thing we did was meet the athletics director of AISD, the host school. The AD told us to go to the American Club and relax. After a friendly game of pick up basketball with the team and a gigantic meal at the restaurant we all laid down on pool chairs and passed out for about 3 hours. 

We met our hosts shortly after the American club and this year I was hosted with the same family I was hosted with last time. This was pretty cool since I was already close friends with the host student Ajwad. Unlike last time however, he was on the AISD basketball team and it was pretty cool that we were both competing for the SAISA championship. Amazingly though we spent most of our time talking trash about the other teams.

We then got off to an amazing start in the tournament and went the first day undefeated. the second day we lost to Bombay but beat Lincoln in our crossover game. We made a big deal about the crossover game since the OSC boys have not won a crossover game in a while. We called it the "Curse". The curse was really interesting because in 2011 when the boys came 2nd they got a bye on their crossover since they were the first in their pool. So to win this game felt amazing.

We then lost to Dhaka in the semis and lost the conciliation final to TAISM. It was hard and there were times when our team really fell apart but as we've been told many times, "Maturity"and "peace of mind" are attributes that gecko athletes still have to achieve. Throughout this tournament we as a team grew so much and learned a lot about each others strengths and weaknesses and also a lot about our coaches. I think an area that I personally need to work on is perseverance and commitment to my work. When it comes to basketball I do have a strong commitment but I need to find a way to export this commitment to my other activities and school work.

Overall though this was an amazing SAISA and I cant wait to play in my last two seasons next year.                                                                            

WWW : Dryzone "The Paradox"

"The Paradox"- As Mr. Lockwood called it is a accurate name to how our trip went. We visited the dryzone of Sri Lanka which consists of the upper half (Trincomalee and Anaradapura) and it was completely wet! We spent two nights going to sleep while listening to rain and had to climb Sigiriya's sister rock by the name of Pidurantalagala while trying not to slip.

Despite the rain though the trip was amazing. It consisted of night walks, open-jeeps rides through the city, climbing and some relax time at a 5 star hotel. Throughout this trip there were many learning outcome addressed.

Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth.

Undertaken new challenges.

Worked collaboratively with others

Considered the ethical implications of their actions

So first off there were many instances on the trip where all we did was talk and get to know each other. In this time we got to know about everyones likes and dislikes, phobias and whatnot. This really showed when we were walking up through a forrest like area and you could clearly see a difference in personalities. One group would be talking and making jokes about everything around them while another group would be climbing up and jumping through rocks trying to make everything a competition. There was even a group that spend 80% of their time playing with stray temple dogs and giving them names.

There was a lot of challenging activities in this trip and its understandable when not everyone can do it. However the amount of people in our group who did things that they would usually never do was amazing. Climbing Pidurantalagala was a daunting task for even me. Taha even rapped on the way back which i'm sure was out of his comfort zone but it was one of the highlights of the trip.

There were a lot of instances where we had to work together with the whole group. For example trying to work through managing our luggage and trying to make sure we all make it to the bus in time. There was really no times when we were separated into smaller groups to work on anything since the total group itself was pretty small.

We had limitless discussions on ethics and it was really interesting since we all had a different religion and different mindsets to other religions. For example some of us would go to a temple just for the site seeing while others would go to take in the ideas of the religion and the culture(Not necessarily take up the religion). This seemed to be an issue but out late night evaluation sessions where we just talked as a group really helped in educating the whole group of the matter. There was also multiple discussions of free will and different dimensions that was inspired by Stephen Hawking book "The Grand Design"

Overall this trip was an amazing experience and I need to thank Mrs. Fert and Mr.Lockwood for planning it and actually making it more fun that any of the other trips in my opinion.

Not going scuba diving like we were promised was a bummer though :P

SAISA Basketball

So the end of our season is soon approaching and in a about a week we are going to be on our way to Dhaka. Training is getting more and more complicated as we are trying to introduce a motion offence. It takes a unbelievable amount of cooperation between our starting five, reserves and coach to reach the level of coordination and flow that we require to do any damage during the tournament. Throughout training we are trying to find out everyones weaknesses and find a way to use each others strengths to balance those weaknesses. I've been told that i travel before i start my dribble and i never changed it, later in one of our games against gateway the referee called me for traveling on 4 occasions and then i knew that i had to do something. So far i've been spending around 2 hours a day on my movement and even when i'm just walking around school i imagine that i have a ball in my hand and dribble before i lift my pivot foot. Coach said that he saw an improvement in my movement but i still have the tendency to travel. Guess it's hard to shake a habit you've had for 2 years. I need to show perseverance and commitment to this and i hope to shake this habit by next year, thats the goal.  One of the key outcomes of this SAISA is developing new skills and i've been trying to do that every time i play. I tend to do this by taking tips on different things from different team mates. Like i mentioned before.... we all have our own strengths :)

Secondary Production: Stage manager

I've taken the job of stage manager for the secondary production since i was low on creativity. My job will basically be sourcing materials and props for the play and also being in charge of having the each scene organised and set.
Just yesterday I was running through a marketplace trying to find rattan baskets and hand scrubs. Pretty interesting, i got to use my mediocre Sinhalese skills.  
I will also be running any errands that Mrs. Jackson needs. Currently the rehearsal times collide with my basketball practices, therefore I will not be attending any rehearsals until the SAISA season is over. Rehearsals will be on tuesday and friday.

Gecko Inc.

We've started going to this local school thats right next to OSC. The first time we went we played cricket and recently we went there and played a game of football. The learning outcomes expressed in these activities would be Planned and initiated activities and Working collaboratively with others. These activities were planned by our CAS Leaders and they initially had to request permission from the school principle for us to come and play with the kids. The discipline level at these schools are really high and the level of respect we need to show when visiting is a level that we are not used to. For example we were all asked to were long pants and play in such heat. this was a daunting task. The kids are really nice and they LOVE to play. You can see the how passionate they are about just having fun. It makes you think about how we are always over thinking things and being stressed about work and what not, where if we just concentrate on "having fun" we might be much happier. 

We are meeting them again today afternoon but this time they are coming here. We have planned a game of volleyball. When we asked them last time what they would prefer to play they immediately said volleyball. I guess since it's the national sport of Sri Lanka these kids might be able to annihilate us on the volleyball court. Lets hope we can teach then a few things though. 

Photography: Shanthi Haaze

Me standing in shade during the visit 

Photography: Shanthi Haaze

Group Shot of OSC Gecko Inc. with the local kids after a tiring game of football

Week Without Walls

WWW is coming up and i've selected to do the dry zones trip. The trip consists of about 8 of us going and exploring the ancient city of Ritigala. Activities include climbing the mountain NEXT to the famous Sigiriya, snorkelling, night walks and pigeon island.

There are ethics involved in tourism, especially when visiting an ancient city. We need to treat the area with respect and not be "drawing our names on the floor" as Mr. Lockwood says. Besides the city we need to also show respect to the hotel/rest house we are staying in and to the people running it.

Another important thing is to get to know the people in our group. Learn their strengths and weaknesses, learn now to use that knowledge to complete activities at prime efficiency. More importantly however, learn about my own strengths and weaknesses. I've been on a lot of school trips and learnt a lot about myself, but for some reason i tend to always learn something new about myself on every trip. I guess when i'm put in different situations i tend to adapt.

Anyway, i'm really excited about the upcoming trip and i think i need to go shop for some new stuff :)



Mr Lockwood's blog

The place we are staying :)

Saisa Boys Basketball

So this is season 3 and i'm doing basketball. It was pretty unsure whether or not i would be able to do this season because of my ankle fracture. Now after an 8 week out of action period and 3 weeks of physiotherapy i'm almost back to a 100%. Since i wasn't in school for the last 2 weeks of the last semester I was unable to register for a TSSL card. So I wont be able to play in the first tournament that our teams in. This actually might be a good thing so i don't rush my ankle into full contact play.

So practice is starting tomorrow and will be on Tuesdays, Wednesday mornings, fridays and Saturday mornings. I'm not planning on doing full practice tomorrow but ease into full practice over the next two weeks with clearance from my physiotherapist. I think this relates to undertaking new challenges and showing perseverance and commitment in my activities. The new challenge being to keep myself healthy for the next 3 months. The perseverance and commitment being the constant icing and taking care of my ankle after practices because it's going to be sore and not giving up on any practices and not letting the team down in any way. There is a chance that we will lose one of our star players and the rest of us need to step up.