I have loved sports since my childhood, and I do so not with ambitions to become professional but simply to enjoy playing them, to surpass limits, exercise the body along with the brain, and get a kick of adrenaline that results from it all. In 2024, I came across pickleball and visited several courts along with my friends. To me, it resembles a mix of table tennis and lawn tennis. But I had even more fun than both those sports. Within a few moments, it just clicked, and I fell for it. One day, my friend told me about a pickleball tournament organized by a group of grade 12 students. He invited me to partner with him for the competition, where we would face off against other duos. Additionally, participating in the event would count as an activity for CAS. Despite my very hectic schedule, I did not think twice to join—it would be a wonderful chance to engage in a sport I had come to love, fulfilling at the same time the CAS requirement. Participating in the pickleball tournament was a fulfilling experience that allowed me to combine my passion for the sport with my desire to make a positive impact on the community.
LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.
Throughout the process of playing in the tournament, I identified my strengths and weaknesses. I discovered that I have a lack for coordination with my playing player, ensuring that every detail was carefully considered. Moreover, 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.
LO 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.
LO3: Initiate and plan a CAS experience.
Beyond the thrill of the sport and the excitement of competing against other duos, I also participated in this tournament as part of my CAS experience. I needed to engage in an activity for CAS, and as soon as I learned about this event, I knew it was the perfect opportunity—not only to fulfill a CAS requirement but also to compete in a sport I enjoy and want to improve in. Despite my busy schedule, filled with school assignments, academic practice, and extracurricular activities, I knew I had to set aside time for this tournament. My partner and I planned a training schedule for the week, balancing our commitments while ensuring we got enough practice. Both of us had hectic routines, but through effective communication, we decided to train on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. We followed the plan well, practicing on Monday and Wednesday, but when we couldn’t make it on Friday, we extended our Saturday session to compensate. Initially, I thought juggling the tournament, schoolwork, and extracurricular activities would be extremely challenging. However, with proper time management, I was able to stay on top of everything. By organizing my tasks efficiently and staying disciplined, I completed all my academic and extracurricular responsibilities without any setbacks. As a result, my participation in the tournament did not disrupt my other commitments, and I was able to handle everything smoothly.
LO4: Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience.
While practicing for the tournament, managing schoolwork, and staying engaged in extracurricular activities as planned, I didn’t always have the same motivation I had when creating my schedule. There were times when I felt tempted to postpone my academic tasks or extracurricular activities after feeling exhausted from practice. Other times, I considered skipping practice sessions due to an overwhelming workload. However, I remained committed—I refused to give in to these thoughts and instead chose to follow the schedule I had set for myself, ensuring that I balanced the tournament, academics, and extracurriculars without sacrificing any of them. What kept me going was the awareness of the consequences. The fear of underperforming in the tournament due to lack of practice pushed me to continue training. The possibility of missing out on extracurricular activities because of too much focus on the tournament and academics motivated me to stay engaged in them. And the risk of falling behind in my studies reminded me to stay consistent with my academic work. This commitment to my schedule required perseverance—I stuck to my plan despite the challenges and followed through until the tournament was over.
LO5: Demonstrate skills and 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.
LO 6: Engagement with issues of global significant.
Engagement with issues of global significance, as it promoted the growing global popularity of pickleball, highlighting the importance of sports in fostering community, teamwork, and a healthy lifestyle. Through participation, I experienced firsthand how sports unite people across cultures and backgrounds.
