Since childhood, I have always been interested in sports, not to be a professional, but just to play, to extend myself, to use full of my body with the mind, and to enjoy the thrill that comes with playing sports. I got to know about pickleball in this year of 2024 itself, and checked out the sport by going on different pickleball courts with my friends to play the sport, the sport is a mixture of table tennis and lawn tennis according to me and I enjoyed it more than lawn tennis and table tennis, it is a great sport and in no time I got interested in it. Later one day, my friend Hitansh told me about a pickleball tournament organized by grade 12 students, he asked me to partner up with him to play the sport, compete against other duos and so that one activity for CAS is completed, even though I had a busy schedule, to compete in the sport and to complete a CAS activity, I did not hesitate to take part.
Learning Outcome 1: Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.
The pickleball tournament helped me identify my strength and develop areas for personal growth both before the tournament and during the tournament. Firstly, before the tournament as I registered for the tournament with my partner Hitansh, we knew we had to practice to win the tournament. To practice for the tournament, before the tournament I played pickleball for some days on different courts to identify my strengths and sharpen them. After observing myself and my game, I identified my strengths successfully. I realized that I have very good agility and reaction-time in the game which helps me in moving around my part of the court quickly and react to the shot of my opponent easily on the perfect time, making my shot more efficient. I realized that my serve can be improved and it is something which I worked upon by practicing more of the same before the tournament. Now during the tournament, my agility and reaction-time helped me get points, however, I always felt like I could do better during the three games I played and also after the games were over I always felt like I can be more faster. My serves were better through practice, however, I felt like a scope of improvement is needed and that my serves can be better. After the tournament was over, I realized the scope of improvement in me, I realized that my serves, which were not good earlier were better now after practice before the tournament, however, I can still be better and I realized that even though my agility and reaction-time is fast, it can be enhanced further to be better at the sport.
Learning Outcome 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
Before enrolling in the tournament, I knew that my serves were bad and my coordination was also poor as I had played pickleball before, knowing my weaknesses, I decided to enroll for the tournament and improve my serve and coordination for the same which was a challenge that I took for myself, to improve my game. In my practice sessions, I put extra attention to my serves as it was one of my leading weaknesses which could have made our team lose a lot of points, I practiced serves a lot and learnt an efficient way to serve as well which I implemented in my game in the tournament. My serve was a lot better than before, however, in the back of my mind, I always felt like there is a scope of improvement for my serves which I think is good because it helped me extend myself and be better during the tournament and it is something which will help me in the future as well to improve my game. Moreover, for my lack of coordination, during my practice sessions I was calm because there was no pressure, but during the tournament, in the first round, I was angry with my teammate for not playing up to my expectations and for doing several mistakes, I did shout at my teammate, it was very hard for me to control my feelings and remain calm so that I could focus on my game. This was a challenge for me, it was a challenge for me to remain calm. After the first game ended which we lost, I understood that I should remain calm, let Hitansh play his game and focus on my game, so during the next game, I continously was focusing on my breathing which made me more calm, and using it in a sport to remain calm, to reduce my anger was something that I never experienced, it worked really well and I was able to develop a new skill, I was able to prevent my anger, be more calm and focus on my own game which led us to a victory in the second round.
Learning Outcome 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.
Along with the thrill of the sport, along with the thrill that comes with competing against other duos, I took part in this competition for my CAS. I needed to involve myself in any kind of activity for my CAS experience and as soon as I got to know about this, I knew that this was the perfect opportunity where I complete one of my CAS activity and also compete in a sport that I like and want to improve myself in. Even though I had a busy schedule filled with school assignments to complete, school academic practice to do, and extracurricular activities, I knew that I will have to give some time for this competition, to practice and improve myself so me and my partner made a plan for week where we would practice. We both had a hectic schedule, however, we still managed to communicate well and decide to train on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The plan was made, we practiced well on Monday and Wednesday, but unfortunately, we could not make it on Friday, hence, we extended our practice session on the Saturday to cover the same. While I was planning all this, I thought that managing this tournament, school work and extracurricular activities in my schedule would be very hard, but it went smoothly because with my time management skills I completed all tasks that I had in mind, all works that I had to do from time to time quickly without wasting time which is why everything went smoothly and my school work and extracurricular plans were not affected by this tournament.
Learning Outcome 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.
While practicing for this tournament, doing school work and extracurricular activities from time to time as planned in my schedule without wasting time, I did not always have the motivation I had while planning the schedule, sometimes I felt like postponing my school work or extracurricular activities for the next day when I was tired by practicing for the tournament, while the other times I felt like skipping practice session because school work and extracurricular activities were more, however, I did not let my mind control me, I showed commitment by choosing not to listen to my mind and instead follow the plan that I have made for myself so that I can manage the tournament, extracurricular activities and academics all without having to sacrifice one for the other. The possibility of playing bad in the tournament because of lack of practice made me continue practicing for the sport, the possibility of missing out because of more focus on tournament and academics made me continue doing my extracurricular activities and the possibility of lacking behind in academics if I just focused on my tournament and extracurricular activities made me do my academic work. This is why I showed commitment to following my schedule and managing all three things together. With this commitment, I showed perseverance by continuing to follow my schedule no matter how hard it might be until the tournament is over.
Learning Outcome 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
Before the tournament, while creating a schedule for training sessions for the week, I communicated with my teammate and we both figured out days and time when we both were free which were Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, together we were able to understand the schedule of each other which benefitted both of us to manage this tournament with our other work like academic work and extracurricular activities. On Friday, we both had unexpected plans, things were not working out for both of us on Friday due to our plans and hence, we came to a conclusion of extending our practice session from 1 hour to 2 hours on Saturday. Through collaboration we were able to practice well due to the plan we made and we were able to manage our tournament with our academics + extracurricular activities. During the tournament, in the first round of the tournament, because of the pressure and because my teammate was not playing up to my expectations, I was angry with him, I shouted at time during the match so that he could play better. We were about to lose the match and I was upset and angry with my teammate during the match. We lost the match and I realized that I will have to let my teammate play his game, I will have to encourage him and focus on my own game more, so in the next round, we collaborated in a better way, my teammate encouraged me while focusing on his game and I encouraged him while focusing on my game, this led us to an amazing victory in the second round, making me experience the power and benefit of collaboration and teamwork.
Learning Outcome 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.
Our choices and actions have consequences, it is something that I have always heard and I experienced it during the tournament. During our first game, I was angry with my teammate for missing shots and for incorrect shots, that led to our bond being weak during the match, I shouted at my teammate expecting him to play better, but that did not happen and it only weakened our coordination, making us lose our first game. My choice of being angry and my action of shouting at him resulted in our loss. After the game ended, I realized that what I had done was wrong, I recognized my actions and realized that I shouldn’t have been angry on my teammate and shout at him during the game because that made me focus more on my teammate and not on myself and it made my teammate focus more on meeting my expectations rather than play his own game as he wanted to, with a sense of regret I apologized to my teammate, remained calm and in the next game we both encouraged each other and focused on our own game while maintaining good teamwork during the game because of which we won in the second round. My actions in the first round helped me recognize the ethics of my actions and choices, it helped me reflect upon myself through which I remained calm, became a better person and played better in the next matches than the first match and even though we lost the tournament because we lost in the third round from a small difference of points, after leaving the court, I felt better knowing that I gave my best.
Conclusion –
To conclude, this CAS experience of mine was very interesting for me as it helped me overcome my weak area in the game which was my serve, it helped me improve my agility and reaction-time, it helped me be better at the sport, and not only that, but it also helped me be a better sportsman by learning, practicing and experiencing how to remain calm under situations of pressure when things are not going as expected. The tournament showed me where I lack and where I can improve in the game, it helped me practice my time management skills to manage my practice sessions, extracurricular activities and academics all together, it helped me practice commitment and perseverance which will help me a lot in the future in any and every field, and last but not the least, the tournament taught me the importance of collaboration and peace between people when working in groups or pair.