Archery

I do archery every Saturday morning from 9am-12am. At first sight it may look like an easy sport but its not easy at all in fact it is really challenging. In order to hold the bow right you have to have a certain posture (a slouch) this is something beginners find really hard to do but I found that I naturally had that posture and this is one of my strengths . I am aware that the slouching posture would not be good for my back when I grow older and continuing archery might worsen the situation but I am working on not slouching when not doing archery. In doing archery I also undertook a new challenge as this was a sport I had never done before and also one of the sports I have wanted to do for a long time. IN January there is going to be an archery tournament, I am in the under 18 rank and the things I need to improve on before the tournament in archery is to improve consistence. (shooting the target at the same spot not necessarily a bulls eye) and try to shoot the arrow 30 feet away.

Trip to the RCCI center

Last Thursday the RCCI ( Rehablitation Center for the Communication Impaired) community visited the RCCI center. This was a change of scenary because usually every thursday it is the RCCI kids that come to OSC but last thursday we payed a visit to their 'home' We went there with cricket ( sport) equipments and refreshments and the kids were really excited to be able to play with us. This visit was an eye opener. The RCCI center was not spacious, there was only one class room for all 32 kdis to cram in, No black/white board in all the conditions were terrible. This made me realise how much this community and service is of global importance I asked our community and service supervisor whether there was anyway we could help the RCCI center and some of the ideas we planned and initiated for our next visit were:- > Buy or fix the playground equpments > Turn the epmty shed in the RCCI center into a second classroom > Donate some plants to the school.

RCCI( Rehablitation Center for the Communication Impaired) is a service group, supported by Overseas School of Colombo, which was started to help adults and children with communication handicaps, whether it be caused by autism, Down’s Syndrome, strokes...etc. Our goal is to help the children interact and get the children to be more active as it would be good for their health. The RCCI kids come to OSC every Thursday. They come here with great anticipation to play and have fun, this may or may not be something they get to do on a daily basis. I have been in RCCI for almost a year and half now this shows perseverence and commitment to the activity. This service also allowed me to collaborate well in a large group setting which is also one of my goals. Last Thursday the Kids could not come to OSC because of the heavy rainfall. ( Thursday 1 November 2012)So, Instead our RCCI service group started to plan and initiate activities for our upcoming trip to the RCCI center on November 15. Some of the activities we planned to do are:- > Take Cricket ( the sport) equipments as the kids there really love to play the sport > Take puzzles for the girls as they do not like to do sports. > Take refreshments and Drinks for the teachers and the students

IB Orientation Trip

From august 28 to august 30th the class of 2014 took a trip to Kithulgala. This was the IB orientation trip. The purpose of the trip was for us to get to know each other more, take risks and most of all work together. During the course of the 3 days I learned a lot and overcame many challenges. On the first day the moment we arrived in kithulgala we were all geared up and put on a raft. We were going to raft our way to the camp. This it was a challenge. To be put into a situation like that so suddenly we had to transition quite quickly. We rafted to a small area where we played this game where we had to jump over the rafts. This was quite challenging to me especially. First of all I don’t like being put on the spot, second I had the feeling that I was going to slip and fall and I might get embarrassed. But I did it anyway.Rafting alongside 6 other people helped me work collaborativley with others The first day was nothing compared to the second day. We were faced with harsh rainfall, had to hike to a waterfall, climb down the waterfall and THEN hike in the cold to a cave in order to get to our TOK class. Starting with the hike, I have low stamina. I get tired really easily and one of my goals is to build up my stamina so I can play sports better. On the first day I undertook a new challenge The abseil down the waterfall was also challenging because I am deathly afraid of heights so I took a big risk there. I remember being halfway down the waterfall I started panicking as I looked down but then I realized that it was me who was going down the waterfall and no one else can do much for me, so with this new realization I managed to reach the bottom. Even though I loved the feeling of completing such a task I don’t think I’ll do that again. As I said before I have really low stamina and the hike back down and up again to the cave was long , hard and cold. I had just finished an exhilarating task of coming down a waterfall I pretty much used up all my energy there I didn’t think I’d be able to continue to the cave but working collaboratively by helping my peers out I managed to get to the cave.

Something that came out of the trip that stuck out to me the most was I became more aware of my surroundings. I am quite day dreamer but because of the setting and circumstances of the trip I had to be more aware of my surroundings. This could be a good skill for the IB because I tend to zone out during class so becoming more aware will be proved to my advantage.

Goals for grade 11

CAS is a course in the IB diploma program and every IB student is required to do it. It stands for Creativity,Action and Service. CAS is a way of breaking away from the academic part of education as it involves physical activities and other extra curricular activities. These are also areas of education one way or another. I will use this blog to reflect on my CAS programs throughout out the course these next 2 years. Here are some goals I set myself for grade 11, the first year of the diploma program.

•   Get on a Saisa team and actually commit to it. I have a tendency of not continuing things I have started. this has happened a lot in the past and I would like to change that. I want to atleast try out ( without quitting in the middle) whether I get in the team or not. I want to try out for Saisa girls basketball and Football. 
• Archery- I have started this new sport just this August. This was something I wanted to do for a long time. It is a sport where I have to concentrate alot. I have to have the right posture to hold the bow and arrow properly. Because this sport is also a dangerous sport. ( an arrow could hit you) I have to be always be aware of my surroundings. This activity helps me learn a new skill.
• Help out more in RCCI ( Rehabilitation center for the communication Impaired) This is a service project I have been involved in this program for almost two years now and  I have found out that we could do a lot to help the children out. I have already suggested to go to there school and possibly buy some play equipment's for the school. I have also been chosen as the co-Tresseruer for RCCI. This CAS also helps me work collabroatley with others which is a good thing because I am quite reserved.
• Learn to play the violin. I played the violin when I was in grade 1. That was a long time ago and I have forgotten almost everything about the violin except for the fact that it is a beautiful musical instrument. This will help me develop a new skill. I want to at-least learn one song before December. 
• Build my stamina. The reason why I usually drop out of most of the sports i join is because I don't have alot of stamina. I could grow tired after a warm up excersie and this is not a good sign at all as my family has a history of heart diseases. So as I become more aware of that I decided to run for 30 mins and every other day do strength training exercises. 

I will do my best to achieve these goals. The IB is a tough program and achieving all of these might be a problem because of time management but I will do my best to achieve them.