Let's get SPORTY!!!!!

Basketball
This was another opportunity for me to actively get involved in a sport and this time it was basketball which I had no idea of. I thought I should participate in the sport not solely with the intention of being in the SAISA team but to learn another sport which would also help me to stay fit at least for a couple of days. So like the previous soccer practices this time too I attended the training sessions but I was able to be more regular this time as I had less school work and much time to commit for the sport those days. Even here I learnt alot of things from passing to shooting but I suppose I was not very skillful in this game may be because I haven't followed the game much and had less passion towards it compared to soccer. And again I was unable to make it to the team but I wasn't heart-broken as I knew I would not stand a chance and there were talented people than me. But I am proud of the fact that having all these in mind I still continued to do the sport as I learnt that sports is not all about winning and a true sportsman would have the will power to take both victory and defeat at equal levels.

Soccer
As I love the game as it is I thought I should give it a try this time for SAISA Girls Soccer. Having no experience of the game at all I started attending training sessions which was kind of hard for me to cope up with the UN Day practices and other school work taking place parallel. But anyhow I managed to attend a few practices and learnt quite a number of things such as tackling the ball, kicking, scoring goals, guarding the goal post, attacking, defending and what not. It was a great learning experience for me because I enjoyed playing the sport as much as I enjoyed watching it. Being a huge fan of football, watching the world cup matches, following the league matches and even watching matches at odd times in the night on TV and being a big time craze of my all time favourite football player Christiano Ronaldo and supporting his club, Manchester United as a great fanatic I never thought I'd even play the game for once in my life. But I did and it was simply but awesome. My aim was to involve in the sport by learning it and gain physical fitness. I tried my best to get selected for the team but I couldn't. However I believe my participation was more important and appreciated as I joined the sport with the intention of involving myself in action with true sportsmanship.

Badminton
I started off with badminton as my first CAS activity for action but sadly I was able to attend only one after school badminton practice. But I'll be glad to mention that as a beginner in badminton I started off pretty well. At first I had a few complications with giving the serve properly and hitting the shuttle with the right grip of the racket. Slowly but surely I caught up with the game and was able to play at a stretch with my opponent even though my opponents had more experience in the game than me. However I believe I failed to commit more time for this task because I had other commitments but I hope to catch up with the game during the second semester.

U.N Day Celebrations

When all the nationalities inside OSC were getting ready to do their performances for the big UN Day celebrations, the Sri Lankans too were jamming up to do a good performance. So as students of the host country we all got together with our teachers and started planning and we came to a conclusion that this time we'll do something unique. We all thought our performance should be something fun loving and outgoing which can entertain the audience. So we decided to step out of the frame of presenting something traditional which enhances our culture as the Sri Lankan students always did so for every occasion. After hours of discussions and arguments we thought we would do a performance which delivers the Sri Lankan spirit and the best way to do this is through our very own form of singing and dancing which is called "BAILA". But then we thought doing a baila performance solely would result in the loss of delivering true Sri Lankan culture and spirit as Baila is a very modern way of dance and singing.
So we preferred to be modest and our initial idea was to start off the performance with a little bit of traditional dancing as that has been the orthodox way and then sing an English song in the title of "We are Sri Lanka" and then move on to a baila song which is called "Rambari" (a current favourite song popular amongst the locals) where all of us would be dancing in groups of boys and girls because the song basically delivered the idea of boys flirting with the girls, teasing and trying to impress them.
So the plot for the dance had been set and now comes the difficult part of practicing, doing the right moves and choreographing. Since the item was to begin with a little bit of Kandyan dancing, me, Sandini and Nadeera were taught some steps by Ms.Jayawanthi which I later had to improvise because we thought we weren't doing much and good. Afterwards the whole group was guided by Ms.Kithmini to sing the song and when it came to the part where we had to dance for the baila song, the real trouble arose and it became truly disastrous as no one could come up with the right steps. So as we all were struggling with the dancing I was told by Ms.Nelson and the teachers to come up with some steps.
Now I have been given the responsibility of creating steps for the girls in the baila song along with the help of Ms.Thanuja. So amidst those moments of struggle and frustration I got along with Ms.Thanuja and came up with some really good and funny steps which delivers the meaning of the lyrics. It was really important to give prominence and listen to the lyrics of the baila song carefully in order to deliver the proper meaning of our song to the audience by doing the correct gestures and moves at the right time as the audience would not understand the meaning of our Sinhalese song. It was a crucial task but we succeeded. So I guided our girls to do the dancing with some good moves to thrash the guys and I must say they all were quick and good learners as I just had to show them the steps a few times and they grasped it.
So this way I was able to help my local community making use of my talent when in need by creating steps for the baila song an improvising the kandyan dance. I am really glad for my contribution to the item which helped me to be more creative in order to achieve my CAS objectives.

Creativity through DANCE!!!!!!

Two days ahead from Founders Day i.e Monday, I am informed that I have to perform for Wednesday's Founders Day function in the auditorium. At first I was delighted of the fact that I got the opportunity of performing, but it seemed quite impossible to make it happen in two days. Creating a performance is not an easy task because in order to do a good performance, it is time consuming to choreograph the item, find the appropriate costume and a good track. So being aware of all these facts I decided to step back and withdraw myself from this function, but then I thought to myself this chance I got was a rare one and I should not let that go in vain.

So I decided not to give up and started to prepare myself to give a rocking performance for the function. So that Monday evening I was busy running around to find a proper track for my item. I decided to present a traditional Sri Lankan Kandyan dance for the function as the school expected from me. So I finally found the perfect song for my item that evening which gave me a little bit of relief but from where is the costume going to come from? Now that kept worrying me because it was impossible to create a costume for a traditional item within two days. But I was not very worried about choreographing the item as I knew I could do it and confident about myself. So by the end of Monday I only had the track and a few steps created with me and the worry of the costume.

Fortunately I had good news on Tuesday, I finally found a costume too =). Thanks to my cousin sister she was able to lend me one of her beautiful costumes. So with that gratefulness in mind I carried on with my choreography. I spent that whole night dancing, twisting, turning and creating steps.
Finally the dawn of the big day came and I was very nervous because it was going to be my first solo performance in front of a large crowd, as I have never performed all by myself before. So with the help of my mother I groomed up myself with a little bit of stage make-up and wore my glamorous costume. So now I am waiting at the corner of the stage till my turn comes and as I was standing there I was very nervous because I was not familiar with that stage and I couldn't practice there before the actual performance so the only question running in my mind was "Will I do the steps properly in order?". Here comes the big moment. With Ms.Williams wishing me, "Break-a-leg!", I got on stage and took my position in the black-out. I could see the whole audience staring at me amidst the dark and here starts the music. I started to dance with a big smile on my face remembering my dancing teacher who always said, "Never dance with a frowning face, be pleasant to your audience and SMILE. Even if you are scared don't show it from your face, always be GRACEFUL". And yes I had that advise in my mind and followed it and I tried to recall the steps while dancing.

After a performance of nearly 5 minutes, I got off stage. And I was over joyed as I did not make a single blunder even though the stage was unfamiliar. I knew the audience liked my performance from the applauds and cheering I received from them. I will never forget that day of my life and the performance I gave as it was appreciated by everyone, my teachers, my friends and my principal in fact my friends were amazed to see me on stage that day because they never knew I had the talent of dancing within me until that day. After all that hard work I put into the item, it payed off very well at the end with everyone appreciating and giving me good comments about the performance.

Introduction to CAS at the IB Oreintation trip

My exposure to CAS initially began at the IB Orientation trip in Kalutara when Mr.Lockwood briefed us on what the CAS program is all about. It was interesting to listen to him on a lazy Thursday afternoon in the conference room after a tiring line-up of activities (treasure hunt)and a heavy lunch, we all were really sleepy passing contagious yawns at each other. And so here we go after an enthusiastic introduction of the CAS program we all head down to the "MAMA PAPA HOME" to interact with a group of handicapped and down syndrome orphans as a part of service. It was truly a great task for a first time CAS experience and the feeling and level of satisfaction gained by mingling with those children were out of this world. It was quite deploring to witness the poor conditions of the atmosphere they lived in and also the status of themselves but as I mentioned before just bringing a simple smile to lighten up their faces was indeed a great accomplishment.




In the hope of adding a little bit of joy and happiness into their lives we spent time helping them to draw and colour. It was a fun filled task for them as well as for us giggling and painting all the way. In order to make that evening more remarkable we decided to step out and play games with them. The guys did a great job as they played cricket and basketball with the boys and the girls of course running around with the small kids playing "run and catchers".

This opportunity really taught me how to communicate and interact with people and to help the ones who are in need. It also allowed me to play an active role in service by making an effort to uplift the lives of these children. I really enjoyed this experience which personally brought me joy as a good deed to gain merits and I believe even the little kids were happy and content to have spent that evening playing and running around with us. I would consider this as a ROCKING START to my CAS journey. 3 cheers for the GRADE 11 BATCH =)..........!!!

CAS Objectives

Creativity : Develop my talent of dancing by experimenting various new styles and develop my speaking skills, debating abilities and learn how to become a diplomat through MUN.

Action : Get involved in more sports like badminton, soccer and basketball to improve my skills.

Service : Convey my support to the fullest through the Cancer Hospital Project.