Creativity: Event Crew

I joined the SAISA Badminton event crew in the hopes that I'd be given a task which would increase my creativity of CAS and challenge me in a way I am not used to. I was put in charge of HOUSING as well as other smaller tasks when possible. The housing task was the most important for the tournament, without placement of houses the athletes would not have a place to stay throughout the tournament. The first thing that was to be done was to find enough houses to host at least 56 athletes and 8 coaches. This was more difficult than i thought it would be as when announced a couple times, we had no more than 8 houses. This process took a long time, and was not completed until the week of the tournament as a lot of people in this school community had things going on which prevented them from being able to host. The second thing that had to be done was getting all the names and information from the traveling schools and putting them together in an excel document. Although this wasn't super challenging, it was time consuming as the information had to be  typed in individually in each column and couldn't be copied and pasted. The next thing was to be able to match up the athletes with their host based on gender preferences. Then, we had to double check the athlete pairings with pets and allergies to find the best matches. This was difficult with the limited housing options we had. As well as that, the information from one of the schools was sent into us very late which made it very difficult to be able to match up the houses. After this long process, the athletes and coaches were finally placed with appropriate hosts. The next thing to be done was for me to call the mothers or fathers of each family to confirm their ability to host and whether appropriate transportation were going to be provided. This was a huge responsibility and I am super relieved that I were able to, my myself and some advertisement help from others, complete this task. 

Even though this took up most of my time, another thing I was put in charge of finding cell phones in order to give to the coaches. Even though I was not given specific instructions, I myself went and organized the information of each school into one of the phones, and after receiving sim cards, was able to give the phones to the event crew before the first teams arrived on campus. These phones are for calling the hosts where the athletes will be as well as to use for emergencies. We thought it'd be effective for us to provide these as it is always a challenge and expensive to use their own phones and find the information themselves. 
This was all work that was completed before the actual tournament, once the tournament starts i will be involved with Line Judging as well as helping other members of the event crew with any tasks they might have difficulties with. 

ACTION BASED

Since I was not involved in any of the Saisa this or next sports season, I still had to find a way to fulfill the Action based part of CAS. Therefore, I got a membership to a gym called "Lifetime Fitness" located 2 minutes from my house. There they have great equipment and at least 3 trainers to come around and help you as well as train you based on your goals. I have been going regularly twice a week with ixana, a friend, and sometimes a third time if i have free time on the weekends. My sessions last between an hour and 90 minutes. During this time I do all sorts of things from cardio to muscle building and exercises for joint problems I have. I am very satisfied with the personalized work out created for me and the motivation given to me at the gym. i plan to continue regularly for the next year. 

GECKO INC LOCAL SCHOOL VISITS

The Gecko Inc. thought that it would be good to build up a relationship with a nearby local school. One not even 2 minutes away from colombo. As a group we travelled there two times in the hopes of being able to communicate and teach local students. To our surprise we were greeted by the cricket team training at that time. This was an unfamiliar situation and both our group and the cricket team felt a bit uneasy. We decided that this session we would have the cricket team try and teach us some basic throwing, catching, and batting skills of the game of cricket. This was definitely a risk to take for most of us as communicating with local boys older than us didn't particularly fall under our comfort zones. An amazing job was done by Jack, who went off on his own to talk privately with two of the cricket players the entire session and learn more about the sport without being shy or holding himself back. This was definitely a good example for everyone to follow. This session was simply to introduce ourselves and get familiar with the school. The second time we went we were again, only given time with the cricket team. But this time we decided to split up into mixed teams and play games of football and frisbee. We really felt as if we had the potential to build up a relationship with this school and wanted to invite them to the OSC campus for the next session. 

Here are some pictures of the second session taken by myself

Although, the next session, our hopes of being able to build a relationship with this school were put down when we did not get a visit from the group we'd been working with, but from the principle and athletic director. 

They came bearing a list of equipment and decorations that they wanted us to buy for them for an event they had coming up, prices on the list added up to over 200,000rs. 

Of course we did not agree to this request and decided to cut off communication with this school and try and move on to a new one. This was a disappointing yet great lesson for everyone in the group. To teach us how certain actions we may see as helpful, can be perceived very differently from the other side. Which is why now we are working on finding a new local school with which we can do educational and fun physical activities with for the remainder of the semester. 

WEEK WITHOUT WALLS

For this Week Without Walls I was put in the Jaffna group. This was my first choice and I was very satisfied with this placement. The group was very small, merely consisting of two teachers, four 10th graders, and seven 11th graders. The goal of this group was to travel up north to Jaffna and broaden our knowledge about the civil war that ended only recently. This trip was mostly history and english based. In a way where our learning and knowledge inference would be revolved around history and what the history classes were learning about the world wars in relation to this civil war. As well as applying a creative input of the information learned up in Jaffna through writing, and visual representation. I definitely enjoyed this trip and learned a lot. It helped me learn more about the history and culture of Sri Lanka and helped me understand the situation much better from a different point of view compared to simply learning and hearing "facts" back in colombo. 

Group getting ready for our afternoon trip. 

We travelled to Jaffna from colombo by plane. This was a new experience for me and most other students on the trip as I had never taken a flight within a country in a smaller plane. The plane however landed in Trincomalee from which we were picked up in a bus and were brought to Jaffna. 

Before reaching our hotel, we stopped at our first landmark which was a natural bottomless well. The area around the well was beautiful, nature incorporated with human infrastructure. The water in the well was very blue and there were various types of sea plants and fish present in the waters. This well had and continues to have a lot of history relating it as it was also referred to as "the water of suicide". The story behind this was that for years people have been coming and committing suicide in this body of water. This is because the well is bottomless and continues on to either underground waterways or the ocean. I then began asking the question of:

-What state was this well in during the civil war

-Was this well used for war purposes

These questions weren't able to be answered at the time asked which allowed me to interpret the information at the end of this trip to make assumptions about the answers to these questions. 
After this we travelled all the way to the northern point of Sri Lanka called Point Pedro. Here we walked along the tip and talked about the historical aspects of the name of this town, its colonization, its state during the civil war and relation geographically to india. The sight was absolutely beautiful and it was definitely a beneficial learning space very much different from learning history in a classroom. We were also able to interact with some fisherman who were working there on fixing nets.  
After this landmark we continued on to the hotel because everyone was very exhausted from all the traveling  The hotel was small yet very luxurious which surprised me because I didn't expect Jaffna to be as developed as it actually is. We settled in and had lunch at the hotel right before continuing on a short walk to the dutch Fort which was only 5 minutes away from our hotel. We didn't have time to go into the fort on this day as the sun was going down but we were able to talk about its history a bit. The fort was built by the Dutch before being taken over by the Portuguese as well as used by the LTTE and SLA. The walk to this fort was really interesting because we were in one of the suburbs greatly affected by the war. It was very bare, not many trees or greens visible, many open spaces and damaged houses and buildings. We discussed different effects on the war on children in the area and families and how the lives of innocent civilians were disturbed. After the fort we took a detour on our way back to the hotel in order to see the famous Clock Tower, built by the british and the Jaffna Library which if i remember correctly was either bombed or taken over during the war. It was very interesting to see these historical landmarks and imagine how the area was used during the civil war. 
We went back to the hotel and discussed what we had learned that day and formulated more unanswered questions we had. We then updated our twitter account (https://twitter.com/osc_jaffna).  This twitter account was continued from the group who started it the previous year. There were some really interesting tweets from the previous group as well as our own. 

The second day was a long tiring but educational day. First we visited these natural springs. They are believed to be healing waters based on an old legend. This day was really dedicated to the historical aspect of Jaffna and when these things were created. There were two springs, one for men, one for women, with green blue clear water. People believed that swimming in these waters would cleanse their souls of bad, and heal any wounds they might have internally. The girls had a chance to actually dip our feet into the waters. It was a magical place. The springs were surrounded by various temples with pillars of gods. The whole area seemed to be a peace sanctuary. The springs were also right in front of the ocean. Here we got a chance to experience the beliefs of others and what they live by and believe in. I definitely learned a lot more about religion than I knew before. 

After this we visited Nagadeepa Island. Which was an island where legends believed Buddha visited. On this island there were two Bhuddist temples and one Hindu temple. We first visited the bhuddist temple and learned more about the history of its creation and that Buddha visited in order to bring peace between a tribe with two family members fighting for a throne. The architecture and decoration of the temples were absolutely breathtaking. Especially the Hindu temple with all its vivid colors and animal gods. On the boat there were people of all ages visiting these temples to be able to pray there at least once. I learned about the importance of religion in some people's lives and the scarceness of being able to make this life changing journey for them. 



The 3rd Day of this week without walls was less intense. We started the day off by going to the beach. On our way to the beach however Ravin and I focused on the garbage islands that had formed on the outer bounds of Jaffna. Since we are both in Environmental Systems and Societies Class we were able to talk about this issue in a different way from the others in the group. As well as the way at which fish and prawns were caught. Once we were at the beach we had some relaxation time before being attacked by crows and jellyfish. On our way to the beach we were able to see some war distraught sights and some trees that Jaffna is famous for. It is definitely heavy to drive past empty broken down houses with bullet holes in almost every wall and tree. Mostly because it makes one think of who was here at the time and who was affected, children perhaps? 
After the beach we went into town in the heart of jaffna to roam the shopping streets. As tourists we were given a hard time but we learned a lot more about the culture of Jaffna and how they have developed since the war. 
This was our last day in Jaffna and we had still to visit inside the fort, which we did in the evening. 
Walking into the fort was very interesting for me as it was built by the dutch and a lot of the buildings and walls reminded me a lot of structures in my home town. Walking into the fort felt familiar to me whilst for the rest of the group they felt the affects of the war. The fort was bigger on the inside than it looked which was really intense because I couldn't have imagined how badly this would have been used for war purposes. There was a lot of debris from broken down churches 

Day 4 was a busy hectic day, we had to get up really early to leave for Trincomalee. On our way there we were going to be passing through Kilinochchi which was another place really badly affected by the war. We first stopped at the bombed down water tower which was destroyed by the LTTE. I had already once visited this site but it was still interesting seeing the group's reaction and comments on learning about it. We then went to what most of the group will agree was the most breathtaking monument we visited. The LTTE swimming pool now held by the SLA. It was a giant pool, more than 23 meters deep. It was once used by the LTTE for suicide scuba training. In the bottom of the pool were small windows where the training would be watched from. It was terrifying seeing this and thinking about how once it was still used. It was also hidden deep in a forest and once covered by a roof with leaves so that it was not able to be seen from the air. The language used on the signs around this site was also really interesting and maybe not appropriate since it was all bias. 
Next we went to the war museum where we saw many guns of the LTTE, submarines, boats, flamethrowers, and even cages that hostages were kept in. I didn't particularly enjoy seeing these things, though they were interesting because I felt very uncomfortable around all the equipment. Eventually we reached the hotel in Trinco and were able to have lunch and relax until the evening where we had our daily discussion and shared our thoughts on the trip and our experiences. 

The final day we left early to drive back to Colombo from Trincomalee. Everyone was exhausted but we still had a few sites to see before we went back. First we visited a natural sanctuary where there was a war memorial. Around the area they restricted infrastructure or any type of development as they wanted the nature, or what was left of it, to stay in that state and not had anything build over it. We then visited a couple more war memorials about soldiers of the SLA who sacrificed themselves for the nation. Lastly we drove past the mine field which also shocked everyone. They were still working on de-mining the field present day and as we were driving past. We spoke a lot about the affect that this had on the people living there and how some of the de-miners were being forced to do the work which was really sad to hear as they were putting their lives in danger. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this trip. It was super insightful and I learned a lot more about Sri Lanka and its history than I knew before. Jaffna is an extraordinary place and I would love to visit again



Week Without Walls Jaffna group Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Doo2LjRPYU

CERTIFIED PADI OPEN WATER DIVER

The Scuba Diving course is finally completed, with in total three pool training sessions and four ocean dives taking place over two days. The course took longer than expected and should've been completed before the winter holidays, but due to some delay I was only able to complete it January 19th, 2014. The first trip to the ocean was quite nerve wrecking But i knew I had to be more open minded  about how far I wanted to stretch my comfort zone while I have all these great opportunities available to me. By the second dive I felt more comfortable working with the equipment underwater and being able to handle the breathing and buoyancy control under water. There were so many beautiful corals and fish to see on the reef that I got inspired to get more involved with programs working to save coral reefs. The day was tiring but I felt accomplished. After doing the first two dives in the ocean we were required to take the written task which was made up of 50 multiple choice questions purely based on your knowledge.  The questions included knowledge about the equipment, safety regulations, physics factors underwater and finally calculations for breathing time and oxygen control under water. I passed this test on my first try and felt very comfortable with the knowledge I gained. 
The 3rd and 4th dives were much easier in my opinion because I was more experienced at this point. I was able to put my equipment together with no difficulties and successfully complete the dives receiving my open water diving certificate.
After each dive the diver is required to fill out a dive log based on the water conditions, the sights seen and much more. This gives the diver a chance to reflect on the dive and be able to determine what knowledge was gained and what new things there are to explore for future dives. 
I look forward to being able to go diving in different countries and being able to see new beautiful coral reefs and sea creatures such as those in the Maldives and in Jamaica. 

Creativity, Action, Service: Semester 2 Goals

Semester 2 Academic Goals:

The goal that I have been striving for continuously is to be able to raise my grade point average to be able to receive the honor roll. I have only been off by 1 point for both the intern report card and the first semester report card. After the intern report card, having received a 4 in economics, I was determined to work harder and improve my grade. I was able to achieve this at the end of the first semester and manage to have a report card fully of 5s and 6s. Although I improved the grade that was keeping me from achieving my goal, I also went down in spanish from a 6 to a 5, which i was very disappointed about. But I know that that was my own fault for slacking off and that I need to get back on top of things to ensure that my organization and work is top notch. 

Because of this, my goal academically for semester 2 is to be able to maintain my 5 in economics, bring up my 5 in spanish and hopefully either maintain or improve my other subject grades as well. 

Creativity Goals:

I have realized that most of the activities and programs I am involved in don't focus much on creativity. Though I have my Gecko Inc service leadership to account for the creativity aspect of cas, I would also like to do more activities to try and get more creative. I have two ideas that will help me achieve this. One of them being volunteering to be a part of the SAISA Badminton event crew in april. I have been part of the event crew for track and field a previous year and got a lot of different responsibilities for managing the event and making sketches of certain ceremonies or layouts. I think that another opportunity like this will definitely get me more involved in creativity. 

Another idea I had, which I am not sure I will be able to achieve before next year was to start my own after school activity. I know that a lot of primary school students are interested in tumbling and gymnastics, and me having done gymnastics for 7 years have the basic skills and knowledge to be able to teach young kids basic skills as well. My idea was to have this activity once a week for an hour. Planning out lessons and completing the class could definitely give me more creativity aspects. Not only that but it would help me be able to improve my leadership skills and communicate with children not of my age group in a caring but helpful way. Hopefully I will be able to pursue this next year. 

Action Goals: 

I will not be able to be involved in any SAISAs this semester due to many different injuries and health problems, but in order to continue physical activity, I have planned to go for swim trainings once or twice a week. I would train by myself but this would be able to keep up my fitness as well as prepare me for the next SAISA swimming in august. Mr Janaka and  Stanley who work at the pool would supervise this. 

Another action goal I have for myself is to regularly attend a gym and get a trainer to help me get in shape. I have already got a membership to "Lifetime Fitness" In thalawatugoda and I will try to get 2 hour sessions after school once or twice a week. There will be a trainer there to supervise my activity and progress over this semester. 

Service Goals:

The trip for my Gecko Inc service group is coming up soon and I hope to take that opportunity to step up as a leader to ensure that the trip is a success and that we make a positive contribution to the local community up North. I also want to try and get the members of the service group more involved by getting involved with some local schools here in colombo before the trip. This will give them a chance to practice their communication skills and hopefully they'll be able to reflect and improve in a way that the trip will be beneficial to them and the kids we will be working with. I know that the service group hasn't had a clear goal so far because the trip had been so far away but we are slowly working towards defining a clear goal not only for the trip but for the preparation time as well. 

SAISA Girl's Basketball Tournament 2013

The time finally came round for the SAISA basketball tournament of 2013. The team gathered at an early hour the morning of December 3rd and set off to the airport to go to Dhaka. The tournament had been in Dhaka the previous year as well so the returning players were not as excited as the new ones. The majority of the team was made up of students that came new this year or students that didn't participate the previous year due to age or prior engagements.

SAISA Basketball Team picture taken at OSC by Mark Shipley

Though we arrived in Dhaka Tuesday morning, the tournament did not start until later that week on Thursday. So for those first two days, the team stayed in the Summer Palace Hotel near the American International School of Dhaka. Prior to the trip, after the last game the team received the feedback that we were not close enough as a team, which shocked most people because we thought we got along perfectly fine. Those two days at the hotel changed that view completely. Though we ranged from ages 14 to 17 we all stayed together. During meals and discussions, we were never in little groups or separated, we stuck as a group of 10. The night we spent on the hotel was the night that changed the way we connected as a team. We all gathered in one of the hotel rooms and pushed the beds together to watch a movie we all enjoyed. 10 girls laying together in 2 beds was quote "a crazy thing to see." During this time everyone can agree that we bonded. In a way that we had not bonded earlier in the season. The girls on the team showed a lot of Care  and compassion for each other for the rest of the trip. We all cared for each other as if we were a family. This was definitely one of the goals and outcomes for this sport season, not only to travel on SAISA and bring back a championship, but to be able to go through the tournament together, as a real team showing the best sportsmanship imaginable, without effort simply through friendships and caring approaches. Our meetings were filled with supportive comments and feedback amongst us, reminders not to blame each other and to enjoy playing and participating since we will not always have such opportunities. 

DAY 1:

Our first game of the day was set to be against the home team AISD. This was a very nerve wrecking situation as the entire Dhaka school would gather to support their team and the odds were not in our favor. Though constant reminder to block out the chants and screaming it is difficult when the gym is filled with excited, eager, angry teenagers all betting against you. We started the first game off really well. Everyone on the team got a chance to play and we kept up a lead of at least 4 points throughout the game. We obviously shocked both the bystanders and the dhaka team with this defeat. Although we beat them in this first game, we could tell that they were not playing at the best of their abilities simply because they underestimated us. We left the gym leaving the rest of the teams feared and us walking away with a satisfying win of 24-14 in the first game of the tournament. Though the first game wasn't as important, this was a great motivator for us and gave us reassurance that we'd be able to bring home the championship, especially after beating one of the strongest teams in the tournament. 
Livestream Recorded game OSC vs AISD
Me and Wenuri were hosted by a girl who was also competing but for the Dhaka team. Though in an awkward situation we both congratulated each other in the end carrying through great sportsmanship on both sides. It is a great experience being able to compete in an environment where you are close to the opposing team. 

My host and I hugging after the first game of the tournament.

The remainder of the time between our first and last game of the first day of the tournament gave me a chance to both interact with my team more as well as old friends from other teams. As well as that I had a chance to meet more new people which were great company throughout the tournament. 

Our second game was against KAS which is the Karachi American School. We knew that this would be an easier game but we did not want to let it get to our heads too much incase we didn't play as well. In this game especially I got more chances to play and try new things. I am personally really proud of this game and feel like individually I met a lot of my personal set goals. For example, in this game one of the proudest moments I had was making a 3-pointer. This had been one of my goals from the beginning of the season. I never knew i'd be able to find the strength and skill to make this shot and to be able to have made it in a game situation during the tournament really pumped me up and gave me more confidence. I felt like I finally contributed to the team in a way I had not felt before. We ended the game with a great score of 41-5 and ended the first day of the tournament with fantastic results. Pride was amongst all of us and our excitement but fear grew as well. 

Livestream Recorded game OSC vs KAS 

Karachi taking a free-throw at the beginning of the game (I am #15) 

Me taking a free throw during the OSC vs. KAS game

That first day we also had our SAISA Social. This was different from anything I had experienced before. The school had planned for all the schools to go to a Mall to a bowling alley. This was really new to me but ended up being really fun as well. Though the teams did not socialize with each other as much as everyone expected them to, the night still ended up to be fun for everyone with great memories. 

DAY 2:

During saisa every team is assigned to one of the primary school classes. These classes become your "fan club" during the three days of the tournament. We were assigned to the 3rd graders and were welcomed with posters hung all around our team tent and a parade of little children with gecko hats and pompoms. It was adorable. The kids were all super excited about the tournament and came to the majority of our games during school days to cheer for us non stop and chant out cheers. They even went out of our way to make us little hearts of paper and good luck charms and came to give us hugs between breaks. There also came a time where we were able to visit their classroom. This was a really interesting experience that I had never done before. We began with an interview where they asked us all kinds of questions about our school, our team, about basketball and we got the opportunity to ask them things too. This was a nice bonding session. Before leaving they asked us for our autographs and pictures and it was wonderful.

 Our first game of the day was against Ls, Lincoln, which was the last team in our pool before going on to mix pools to earn a spot in the semi-finals. This was one of the tougher games we had played but we were still able to walk away with a win of 33-18. This was the third game we had played and the third game we had won and we were all anxious to find out which team we'd play from the other pool. 

Livestream Recorded Video LS vs. OSC

Performing a gecko cheer after the game against Lincoln. (I am #15)

The second game of the day was against LAS, Lahore. Even though we were not overly worried about losing the game based on the results of Lahore during their first day, we were still a bit scared because this team played very rough and aggressive and had very physically strong players on their team compared to us. As well as that our team had been having trouble with being fouled and if receiving too many fouls, the player can be disqualified from playing in that specific game. We were able to pull through with a score of  40-17. This concluded the second day of the tournament with great results of two more wins for the geckos. That friday was dedicated to studying so we were brought to our host houses earlier than the night before. 

LAS vs OSC Livestream Recorded Game

DAY 3: 

The third day was most hectic, we had now placed into the semi-finals and found ourselves facing lincoln once again. We had a team meeting and discussed our attitudes toward these next two games. We knew that lincoln would play harder than they did before as this game was crucial to the tournament. Lincoln played outstanding during this game and made some beautiful shots which impressed all of us. Even though both teams played extremely hard with a lot of heart, we ended the game with a score of 38-25. I did not participate this game as much as I had before but I didn't let it get me down or take it personally too much as we were all a team and the coach had to do what he thought would be able to get the best results. I used this time to cheer on the players playing and make sure to be there for supporting my team. With this win we earned a place in the finals of the tournament having to face what we thought was the strongest team in the tournament, the home team of Dhaka. 

Team Photo at SAISA, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

We had been undefeated so far with fantastic results but we didn't want to take this for granted. We had watched as dhaka improved their game by a lot since we played them 3 days prior. We were all nervous and did not know what the outcome of this next game would be. Of course, since the home team was in the finals, when the time came around, the gym was filled again with the majority of the secondary school and teachers, and once again, the odds were against our favor. 
We started off strong with a great lead but towards the 3rd quarter Dhaka didn't seem to back down and came at us strong, making the game tie. The score zigzagged a lot and it was a very close game until our star player managed to get one more free throw in at our overtime. We were told this was the first time ever in saisa that a finals game went into overtime. It was all very exciting and when the buzzer went off screams and tears came from the geckos and gecko fans. 
After a routine dance and a lot of hugging and pictures we were allowed to, as a team, cut off the basket we scored our winning point in. 
The award ceremony was also very exciting when the champions were announced and the sportsmanship award which we also received. This was a great end to a fantastic SAISA tournament. 

SPORTSMANSHIP PIN

There is a new tradition in SAISA tournaments involving sportsmanship pins. Each team, for basketball at least, is given three sportsmanship pins, one to give out each day of the tournament. The pin can either be given to a team or an individual athlete who showed either great athleticism, sportsmanship, or other qualities admired by you. We gave our sportsmanships to two teams who supported us throughout all our games and sat in the stands cheering for us each time. 
The gecko team, as a whole received the most amount of sportsmanship pins with 2 team pins, and 4 individuals. 
I received an individual sportsmanship pin from the Lincoln Snow Leopards team on the last day. One of their players, as well as a friend of mine was on the floor in the hallway crying due to an injury. I carried her to the nurse's office and stayed to make sure she would be okay. Though I simply did this out of friendship the team appreciated my caring gesture and found it should be rewarded. I am greatly appreciative of this pin being awarded to me that day and hope that I will be able to do more things for others simply because I want to help.