Final Reflection My School Time

For attending this school for 9 years of my life i can say that i am really happy to be finished with school as i have learnt a lot throughout these years not only about myself but also about others around me in my school. What i have learnt from my Community and Service is to appreciate what we have in our lives and how lucky we all are to be attending an International School and to be living the lifestyles we do.Community and service has helped me recognize that not everyone in the world is the same and that there are way worse problems that exist then the ones i make a big deal over that would be about me. So i learnt to take in what i have been given and what i can do to help instead of ignoring the problems or being selfish and only thinking about myself. In the sports category of my final year i feel a little disappointed as i was unable to travel for saisa football due to financial problems and the first semester i couldn't travel for volleyball either due to the choice of picking football and basketball as this years sports. However i did travel for the basketball team that went to Nepal in march and we came 5th out of 8th. Out of the experience of playing for the basketball team i learnt many things that were not only about sports but about the general things in life. After playing four years of basketball for OSC i can say i have learnt many things that has helped me understand and recognize important things in my life. I learnt that with communication everything functions much better, the confusion levels are low, we understand each other and what we are trying to achieve, partnerships work better and have a lot better chemistry from any type of partnership. I also learnt that to have patience can be very important when it comes to making the right decision and doing things correctly, instead of rushing things and having to fight with the task on the last day. To be enthusiastic about things as it shows that you are interested and care for what your peers have to say as they would pay you back with the same respect and will listen to what i have to say.

Musically i have developed great skills over the past 3 years i have taken up music and started to learn how to play the drums, OSC gave me the first opportunity to perform live on stage with my band and help get our names out there in the youth music industry  i also met other musicians that gave me there knowledge that has greatly helped me improve my skills and allowed me to become a better performer. We Sent in a video of our concert during music makers to the radio station TNL rocks to compete in battle of the bands and we got accepted into the competition which is rather hard to qualify for but we were unable to join this competition as we later found out that most of the members of the band will be out on summer break visiting there families or going on holidays so we were unable to compete. I was disappointed with the unfortunate events of not being able to perform but it showed me and my friends that if you practice a lot and put a lot of effort into something its highly likely you will get very positive results and you can be proud of yourself and what you have been able to accomplish. That is what i realized as i always thought i was the underdog for many things and i greatly lacked in confidence for many things throughout years, but this was a great experience to me and formed me more as to who i am and to knowing what i am capable of. 

Here are a few things that i am taking with me from OSC that have helped me be aware of many aspects of life.

If i am confused with something just ask for help and admit i don't understand instead of staying quiet.

Be open to different cultures as you have a lot more to experience.

Lying never works

Prepare for future tasks,as its highly likely i will score better.

Have a Balance in life between work and pleasure

To relax and take one step at a time. 

Thank You OSC its been a great 9 years

Battle Of The Bands

This year we participated in the battle of the bands event hosted by the cleft lip pallete project to raise money for young children that were born with a cleft lip. Our Band name is Still Thinking and it consisted all of students from age 16 to 18. A total of 8 bands played and out of 8 bands we came second which i was happy with but i would have obviously wanted to come first rather than second as anyone else would to. I was however happy with my own achievements as i had finally nailed the really hard parts in the last few weeks of practice and thats when i started to get excited about the battle of bands as we could feel major progress and had more confidence, i also enjoyed this performance a lot as we this time had two vocalists singing instead of one which was really making it a memorable performance as two voices are stronger then one. After a month of practising the day came and we played a rocking show with an electric audience that only wanted more by the time we were done. I was very happy at the end of my performance and thought we put on a really good show for the crowd.

 

 

 

S.O.S Participation Semester 2

After the december break i continued to to participate in SOS project. We continued our routine of 5 to 10 minutes of presentation time educating the kids about the different countries around the world as each member of the group from OSC makes a slideshow presentation on a country. It can consist of information about the culture, sports, food, landmarks, history, clothing, festivals, ect ect. To educate the children beyond Sri Lanka is good as it opens there minds up to a bigger world and there knowledge is greater off the countries that are in this world. So its not only based on swimming instead we divide the time for educating and then swimming as we can give them two things to leave with rather then one which can be Fun and Education. Since the first semester i also have noticed some very goog progress from some of the children as they are becoming very confident swimmers in the water and each time they come for a swim they push themselves just a bit further, they also have learned how to feel more comfortable around me as they have learnt to trust me when i teach them something new with swimming and how they could improve there stroke efficiency without loosing energy and so on. Out of this program one of my aims is to have these kids be comfortable and confident in the water as then they are prepared for any future situations that have to involve swimming and they would have also learnt at a young age so they will not have the fear of water in there coming future years.

 

 

 

 

Saisa Basketball Semester 2

I have officially played in my last saisa tournament ever, which was in Nepal, Kathmandu. I wanted to go on and win the championship but we were not capable of doing so and in the end we fought for the 6th and 5th place and we won our final game putting us in 5th place overall out of 8 teams. I enjoyed the time i spent in nepal on and off the court as i manage to meet many new faces in this tournament, and some from pervious tournaments. Something that had changed during this trip was my chemistry with my teammates as we learnt how to communicate and work together a lot better during this trip, even if it was just social interactons off the court we were comfortable with each other and manage to trust each other on and off the court. This was a great thing to overcome during the tournament as throughout the games we developed more and more and finally started to play some really good team basketball. A goal i had was  to be able play an overall good game of basketball by passing the ball around and getting assits, playing good defense and getting some steals, and of course scoring some points. During my last game ever i was able to achieve all these things and was very happy with myself by the end of the game. If i had the opportuinity to continue playing basketball in the future i definietly will look into it as it is one of my favorite sports and its a fast pace game that is very good at keeping me in shape.

S.O.S participation during the First Semester

 

When it is raining we also have the availability of the gym so the kids may play basketball to make up for the pool being out of use. When its lightning and thunder its more recommendable for them to play in the gym and teach them just very basic fundamentals of the sports and allow them to develop new skills. There was one girl that i taught how to shoot properly and for a beginner in her first try she made 4 shots in a row which i found rather impressive. I enjoy teaching these kids something new as they don't always have the easiest life and from a global point of view we are from two completely different worlds but its always nice to help, play and teach something new as there access to facilities like ours are limited as the local children don't have that much for themselves. What i learn from this is that i have my own areas of strengths to grow and they are as a few years ago i wouldn't even try to communicate to the local children because i didn't know how but over the years i learnt how to get over this habit and just give them my attention and help even if language can be a barrier a smile can always say enough.

S.O.S Service

In the first semester i participated in S.O.S Service where we interact with children in the pool teaching them basic swimming techniques and we also play water sports after the first 30 minutes so the children can have some type of activity to interact with us and their classmates. This is a great way for us to help them gain their confidence with water and are not afraid of swimming. Allowing children to grow up with the comfortability of being in the water. This can relate to health and social education as it makes me think how am i changing and what am i doing to give a hand and make a difference somewhere.