School Dodgeball Tournament

School Dodgeball Tournament

One of my school CAS activities was to take part in the school's Dodgeball tournament. This I would see as an action activity due to its physical part and sporty mentality. It really was more physically challenging than I thought it would be and got me in a real sweat. It took place on a friday after lessons and there was a real hype about it in school, I was excited and anxious for the whole tournament, I did not know my team yet and I did not know the sport either, so it was new territories for me to explore and make the best out of.

Objectives

My main goal of the afternoon was to win the competition as well as play well and increase my knowledge of Dodgeball and increase my skill in the sport. I also wanted to be a good team player and play well together with my team. However before the event I really wanted my own team to win the tournament for our house discovery, this was what would make me really proud of achieving with my team.

Reflection

My main goal was sadly not accomplished due to my team losing in the final game to a team we beat in our first game. However I was content with our success up to our final. Even getting to the final was something worthwhile I think. However my other goals were very much accomplished, I learned the rules of the game as well as learned tactics as also skills needed for the game. I needed to sprint alot and obviously dodge, so agility was key to this game. I also felt like our team was playing as one and communicating before making judgement calls and used tactics to win our success, however failed in the final sadly. I think the whole event was a success, apart from a small quarrell costing 15 mins of game time in the middel of the event. We played 4 games and each game was an epic time. Close calls, enormous celibration after every game and I was surprised how good a team we were and we really did keep together and work as a team, however our team just was not strong enough to pull through right to the end sadly, however I do not think that it was a failure as I played as a team and got to know new people, I learnt a new sport and got to spend some time with really good people. In the end winnig first place was just a perk, not a priority, I have learnt that I can be competitive but reflecting on activities I can see that winning is not actually the thing I was looking for, it was facing an opposing team together with my team mates and that is what I really gained and enjoyed about this activity.

(Photo Pending)

Martial Arts

Martial Arts

This is an activity that I planned for the summer, however it also is something that I used to do and I looked forward to continue, as I had done multiple years of karate before that. This course was however a little different, as it was an MMA course, which means that it was "Mixed Martial Arts", this mixes all different kinds of techniques into one single fighting skill and it was interesting to learn about this. I saw it as an action activity as it was physically demanding, really brought you in to a sweat and it increased ones physical capabilities. It was a course of 2 weeks, 4 times a week, so in total I had 8 1 and a half hour sessions, in which I learnt many different things.

Objectives

Here I set out to learn the different techniques of kicks and punch as well as learning the different combinations that they use to fight and also the grapples. I thought this was a realistic target as I had done martial arts before and I would be able to pick up certain parts from that former experience. This was over a 2 week course and I thought that was a reasonable time.

Reflection

The first thing I noticed was the endurance needed to do MMA and I was challenged by that because it really was physically challenging. So this course really made me fit and made me aware of what this sport actually included. Progressing through my two week course I started learning a variety of techniques and combinations, in addition I learnt different grapples. This really was fun for me to learn, as I revisited some of the moves I learnt through karate when I was younger. As I was progressing I started foccussing more and more so that I could reach those learning outcomes and objectives set for myself.
I planned and intiated an activity (3), worked collaboratively with others (4) and developed new skills (8). Also I would say that I achieved all my objectives set, I learnt the different combinations, which included different kicks, punches and grapples. In addition it helped my fittness a lot.

Doing this activity for two weeks, I had achieved all my aims, however most importantly I made new friends, all due to the hardship of training and sharing that bond, this is something I have noticed throughout all of my CAS activities, anything that I have done with others, going through any kind of hardship has brought me together with people and made me appreciate smaller things whilst doing these activities, for example just being outside, the air, the exercise one gets, even the soreness in the morning when you wake up. All these activities, including this one, have brought me closed to myself and closer to other people, the activities helped me push myself and know what I am capable of and what not, what is in my control and what is not. All the activities crossover in this way and make you realise things that you did not before, one gets a better feeling of your balance in life, and what you have to do for it. In german one says, "Immer den goldenen Mittelweg nehmen", which translates to, always take the golden middel path, which for me in martial arts has been very much the case, in martial arts you learn aggression towards your opponent, you kick them and hit them, you fight with them, however you respect them and they respect you, this is the way balance is held and in life it seems to be the same. All in all martial arts has helped me, even for the limited 2 weeks I had it.

Surfing

Surfing

Surfing was a sport I have always been wanting to pick up, however have never really managed to do as I do not live near the sea. However in the summer I thought that it would be fun to drive down to Cornwall in south west England and to surf for a few days. So we planned our route and our accommodation and we went down there and learned to surf. It was immensely fun as the waves were especially good the days we were there and the weather was amazing. The activity I saw as a action activity due to its physically demanding attributes, especially from your arms and back due to the hard paddling you have to do to pick up on a wave. We surfend for 4 days for about 5-7 hours each day, so it took endurance and at the end one was fatigued beyond ones wildest imagination of exhaustion

Objectives

My objectives for the 4 days were to learn how to pick up on an incoming wave, being able to spot good waves and then to stand the good waves. I thought these would be fairly reasonable objectives as I had been skating for a while before that and the balance skills do correlate a little, however the balance on a surfboard is quite a bit harder. However when I started learning these things I noticed I needed to learn the technique to stand up and the positioning on the surfboard before I could learn to surf properly.

Reflection

After being down in corwall for 4 days and having surfed everyday for 5-7 hours, I must say that I have been able to tick off all of my objectives that I set myself and also achieve these well. I first set out to just look at the incoming waves and get a feel for the good waves. After being able to see good waves, I set out to pick up on these, which was done by lying on your board and padelling in the same direction as the wave, however this took a lot more strength and endurance than I had ever expected, however after a while I managed to pick up on these waves and first I just cruised along them whilst lying on my board and got the feel of being on the wave and it was amazing because one picks up so much speed in next to no time, until now I must say it was one of the most enjoyable CAS experiences. After getting that feeling I set out to start standing up, however this was even harder than expected. So I first took a cheeky sneak peak at the surf school lessons and stole the technique. After getting the technique down it was a breeze and I learnt the ability to surf a wave, I then learnt to surf along the wave and pump into the wave to achieve greater speeds and length of surfing. All in all I must say it was an amazing experience for myself and an successful CAS activity. (Photos coming in future)

This is a pic of me (on the right) surfing with my friend (on the left) 

Continuation

I was in Cornwall again for 5 days this time, drove down on the Sunday and came back on the next Friday, we surfed from Monday to Friday and waves were great. My aim this time was to catch the big waves and surf under it while it breaks, however this was a little ambitious for me. We rented a the boards on a beach near new quay, we were a little edgy whilst walking the 3 km to the beach with boards, as two surfers had died just the day before on the very beach we were walking to, we had heard that the waves were on an unbelievable swell for the day, however my feelings were mixed, I was excited to catch big waves, however I was not experienced in waves the size of 3 meters, towering above you, before that the biggest had been 1 and a half meters with which I was still struggling at times. Nervously walking to the beach I was imagining what the waves looked like, so after actually walking over the hill, that was hiding the beach, we saw the waves that everyone was talking about and rumors did not do them justice, they were magnificent we really had came down on the right day to new quay, however my excitement was short lived. Once putting boards down and getting our wetsuits on to prepare for the freezing water, we dared our first try. I ran towards the water and waded in until it was hip high and then threw myself on the board, I then started paddling forgetting about my comrade behind me. However I did not notice the oncoming already broken wave, it hit me frontal and took me right off the board and held me under water for good 15-20 seconds. This was frightening to me, as I was not used to such a long wipeout, however I kept at it, this time attempting to dive under the barriers of broken waves hitting on us, just trying to get out to the monster unbroken beasts that would carry us along the beach. It really was one of the most difficult and strenuous activities I had done in a while, everytime a wave came, diving under for 10 seconds, surfacing and having to dive again, the waves were relentless. Finally after 15-20 minutes I had managed to get out to the surfable waves, I let a few pass me before I attempted my first one of the trip, I saw it come orientated myself correctly and paddled as hard as I could. the wave picked me up and I felt the raw power under me, a lot heavier than last time I surfed, however my board was jittering all over the place, I could not control it, then trying to stand up on this beast I pathetically wiped out, the wave dragged me under again. Its a very powerless feeling to be in the midst of such a wave, one has to just let it drag you out until its finished, then just surface. I surfaced and took a deep breath after being under water for maybe half a minute, I tried a few more times to get out to the waves, but me and my friend called a break after just an hour, the waves had battered us and the first time in my life I started to understand the respect one has to have for nature, we called it a day at that beach and packed together and went to a beach more local to us.
This is where we spent most our time surfing, here we caught a lot of good waves, the waves were not a powerful here in carbis bay as they were in new quay, however we had learnt not to complain about the wave size, here we learnt our balance and our feeling for the boards once again, however I knew that we had to try new quay waves again before we left. So we surfed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Carbis Bay, it really developed our eye for the waves and our timing, we noticed where we had to be floating to get the wave, to paddle on it as when a wave broke it was useless. In this time we developed our basic surfing skills and really enjoyed our time in nature being from London. The weather was aweful, foggy, rainy and cold, however we did not care, we were just floating all day in the water enjoying it and that is what I felt I learnt about surfing, it was not only about being on a wave, but about being amidst nature and enjoying it with the people you are with. Friday was upon us and we had planned everything for that day, it was New Quay day, again my feeling were mixed, partially excited, however I was a little anxious and fearful. That morning we drove up, wetsuit already on and kitted up, we took surf boards out and had the dreading 3 km walk to the beach again. Again I was wondering how the waves were looking like, even bigger? I did not know, however I was about to find out. As we had stumbled over the hill conceiling the beach, there was an awe of disappointment. It was flat as anything, waves in the thames could have beat what we saw there. This was a real disappointment to our trip, we drove 6 hours in silence thinking of what could have been if New Quay beach was alive that day.
All in all I had not reached my goal of surfing the monster wave I had hoped to, however I had learnt more about surfing than surfing any wave could teach you, the respect for the ocean, we have no power of what it does to us and I feel like this has lit an incentive in me to keep on surfing where I can and I doubt it will stop anytime soon.

Philipines Bake Sale

Philipines Bake Sale

This was a cake sale organised at our school to raise some money for the typhoon that devasted some areas in Philippines, we wanted to do our part so we thought we could try and raise some money by baking cakes and selling pieces in our school. So our form tutor organised this and we all set off to bake some cakes. This activity was partially creativity due to the baking that was involved, however also partially service, due to us trying to help raise money that would aid people in need in the Philippines and cause us to further our creative abilities in baking.

Objectives

For this activity I was only thinking of two things, to get everyone together to do this and have a smoothly running sale and to raise as much money for the Philippines as we could. I just wanted to do my part for the charity and the people that were in such desperate need. Also this helped me develop my baking abilities that I had learnt in the great Ashcroft bake off.

Reflection

So on that day in break we set out to have everything done and dusted. We all brought in cakes and they were looking apertising. The first part was to get everyone together to sell these cakes, which was a success, after that we had quite a good load of customers wanting cake, so we were selling quite well. We all worked as hard and fluently as we could to get as much money in as we could and raised the most money that we were able to in that time frame. At first sales were slow, however throughout the break it picked up a lot and we started selling quite a bit I must say. We raised a respectable amount of money for the people in philippines that I am sure did not make that big an impact on the whole campaign of aid, however I noticed with this the importance of the bigger picture. It is important that everyone did their part, and it does not matter that our part to this campaign may have been small, because if there would be more smaller campaigns it adds up and this is due to everyone doing there single part in helping others. This is what I learnt from people I have gotten to know who live and work in germany, not everyone works insanely hard, however everyone tries to do their part, this is important for success in anything. In this case it was important for the aid of people less fortunate to us and I was happy that we did our part to help them.

Photo Competition

Photo competition

This was a competition that was organised at our school for us to take part in. Here I was interested in it because it would perfectly fit into my CAS part of creativity, due to me having to start thinking about planning of the shot, the different possibilities, the different ways in which I could take the shot, the lighting. So I then set out to take a good shot and I was already imagining my shot in my head. I was going to do it against the sunset I knew that much at least.

Objectives

I had three main goals for this project, the first of which was to create a nice looking photo that did have a chance of winning and then the second was to win a prize for my photo that I entered. This I thought was plausible for myself as I thought the shot I was imagining could have a chance of winning if it was done correctly. So I set out to also organize and plan the shot for the competition. My idea was to take a skating or a bmx photo against the sunset, here lighting was incredibly crucial.

Reflection

One evening my friend and I went out to a place near the thames. Our photos were going to enter the sport category because they were of skateboarding and bmxing. My idea was to do a form of trick against the sunset and get a nice contrast. This was harder than I thought it would be, because getting the photo at the correct moment and angle was so difficult. However in the end we managed to get the photo after all and we did manage to get a good shot so I can tick that off my list. So we managed two of my goals and entered it then to the comp. However we entered it under the wrong name so we got disqualified, this meant we did not receive a prize.This made me feel dissapointed, I could not be angry though, as it was my own stupidity, however made me learn to take better care the next time we enter something. Also my idea of taking the photo against the sunset backfired, as I picked a place where I thought I could get the sunset nicely into the photo, however two things backfired here. The place was correct because the sun was facing the right way, however we had a dense tree line cover the actual beauty of the sunset, in addition the sunset did not last long and we messed up our timing. Although it was a failure in one sense, the whole activity actually helped me appreciate art in a certain way, now I noticed what photographers have to do, what they have to put up with, weather, lighting, timing, it really takes patience to get the shot you want. So I have won a sense of appreciation of the photos we see.

 

Ice Skating

Ice Skating

This was a group planned activity just before we broke up for christmas holidays. This was planned for our CAS programme so that we could try a new activity and learn a new skill. Until then I had only Ice Skated a few times, however I expected to pick up the skill fairly quickly, so I was excited to go on this trip. This activity I saw as part of the action part of CAS. This is because of the physical skill needed to ice skate and as what we were doing was not that physically hard, it did take concentration and physical skill to learn.

Objectives

My first objective for this trip was obviously to further my Ice Skating abilities and really just learn the skill. I wanted to be able to learn how to ice skate fluently. After I had learned that I thought that it would be good for me to learn other kinds of skills of ice skating as going backwards and doing a 180 turn and stopping. All these things I was hoping to learn on this trip and was eager to get started.

Assesment

To my surprise I noticed that I was able to pick up the skill of ice skating fairly quickly and was able to move around the rink in no time and without any difficulties. I then learnt how to slow down which was easy for me as one only had to drag ones right or left foot along the ice to start slowing down and eventually stopping. After this I then started learning the next move. This was my biggest surprise, I managed a 180 in the first three tries and then after that I could do them fairly consistently at relatively low speeds. However I did not manage to learn how to fluently travel backwards on my skates. I was really surprised how quickly I picked up the ice skating skill, however I linked this to my part of skating that I do and roller blading that I used to do a few years back, I noticed how much different activities link in to each other and how one can transcribe physical skills that you learnt once before onto other sports. I noticed the muscle memory that I had had from roller blading a few years back sticked with me, it was like learning to ride a bike, once you had learnt it, it did not really leave you. this made me think about other things like the skating I was doing, as I normally am put off trying to learn totally new things, however now I have a different mindset about it, so I thought about surfing and snowboarding, it really opened many doors to me noticing this and I appreciated the activity for this and therefore that it was a total success, also in bringing everyone together and doing an activity together, it was quite a bonding activity as one had to help each other out to learn new skills and really further ones ability, that is really what I enjoyed, receiving and giving help.

Beach Volleyball

Beach Volleyball

I decided to start playing beach volleyball because I used to play inside volleyball and a friend asked me to partner up with him. So i decided to start going to training on fridays and going to matches on saturdays. This was part of the action part of my CAS due to the physical skill and fittness needed for the activity, also it was a committment to give up my Friday and Saturday afternoons up for training and matches, which were already busy times for me, however I thought it was do-able and reasonable.

Objectives

Here I had two main objectives, my first was to improve my volleyball skills with my partner and work collaboratively with him. My second of which was to come first in one of the matches sometime.
These two were two fairly reasonable objectives I set myself and I think I have a good chance of even fulfilling the second one.

Reflection

I have been able to attend training and have even been playing off training with my partner to get as much training in as possible. I believe I improved my volleyball skills, however it was a lot harder picking it up than I thought. I used to play inside volleyball for my old school, this was 6 aside volleyball and that is all I knew. I thought that Beach Volleyball would be pretty much the same, however there were more differences than I thought before I started. Firstly it is only 2 aside which I knew before, however when the ball is coming your way the first touch is not aloud to be over your head, it has to be struck from beneath or by a kick or header or something of that sort. This annoyed me as in inside volleyball one had the possibility to take it over ones head and this made it a lot easier. However one had to plan a lot more due to the lack of players on the field. Also the amount of fitness needed was insane. I really struggled keeping up, the strain on your neck from always following the ball, the intense headache from the raging heat and the amount of concentrating needed. The running around in sand to cover a lot of distance due to no other plays other than your partner. I really did struggle in the beginning it was very intense, it was like an epic battle between two sides, seeing which would lose control first, a real standoff. The matches were insane, us playing match after match, really taking a beating by players that have been playing for several years or even decades, the amount of control they had was really outstanding and astounded me. We only got 7th place in the tournament which to be honest, did not dissapoint me, the amount of effort we put in and what we got out of it was really outstanding and I think its a good achievement looking back at the amount of time the other players had played. Although I did not reach my second goal, I do not think the activity was a failure, I think I underestimated it when I first planned the activity, however I really did further myself and I enjoyed it a lot. What the best part was the friendship one built up with ones partner, this was by facing adversity together and helping each other, playing as one and really understand the moves of the other and adjusting to them, it really made me build up a good friendship with my partner and I feel like that is the most positive thing that came out of this whole activity.

Climbing

Climbing Trip

Recently we planned a climbing trip and visited a climbing hall in london. This trip was designed to give us a taste of an activity we could undertake. So we visited the climbing hall and had a little lesson in climbing. We then climbed a variety of walls to give us a taste of what we could do in the future. This activity was a action activity due to its physical strength needed to fulfill, however also it takes real skill to fulfill.

Objectives

Here my objectives were to try every course which was set up for me and try and fulfill it, in addition try some of the trickier routes. I also wanted analyse my climbing ability to access where my strengths and where my weaknesses lay.

Reflection

To conclude I must say that I think that I fulfilled my objectives I set out for myself. When we were climbing I attemtped and normally managed to fulfill the climbing routes given to me. However when we got to the bouldering it was a different matter. Sometimes the routes were so advanced that the starting possisions for myself were near impossible to start in. This caused me later to stop trying these routes because one needed such advanced grip strength to manage these routes that I did not even try them later. For my second objective I neded to access my strengths and weaknesses. So I noticed that while climbing I had quite good body strength to keep up with the climbing, however what I was lacking was the intense grip needed to hold onto certain grips that were in such awkward positions. All in all I think I managed my objectives and look forward to climbing more often at this climbing hall.

Continuation

Description

After our first climbing trip organised by our CAS coordinater, I decided to continue to pursue the activity and continue to climb at white spider. This again as described before is part of my action activities as it takes a lot of strength, agility and skill to achieve certain routes. However I wanted to further my climbing abilities, as before we were guided by instructed and they did our safety, however I wanted to set out and learn the safety myself and climb independently. I was going to visit the hall once a week, at most due to me having to pay £11 for each visit, which was a lot for me. So I set out to plan my objectives for the activity.

Objectives

My first objective was to be able to climb independantly this involved learning how to safety myself to the climbing end, learning how to belay someone and amking safety checks and assessments while climbing. My next objective was to start climbing the routes as before I just took any hold on the wall, however I wanted to start just climbing routes which really would increase the difficulty. These were my plans for the next few weeks and I was certain that I would fulfill them.

Reflection

I set out quite optimistically onto my quest of climbing. Firstly I set out to learn the safety skills that were involved. I had two options, to either pay for a course or to learn it off youtube, looking at my limited money resources I chose the latter. I looked at the knots involved, took a piece of rope at home and started practicing them, they all seemed simple enough and I picked up the safety skills quite quickly. The next part was starting to climb and actually sign up to the climbing hall. This I did with a good friend of mine, we set out on our epic quest finally, driving there I felt sort of nervous for the test they gave one for the safety checks as I had never really done them with real equipment, however I had only seen it before and knew the theory, now it was time for me to prove myself in practice. We went in and paid for the session, then they took me through the safety test and I passed without any errors, was easier than I expected, the theory seemed easy enough to play out in practice. So we had passed my first objectives which excited me, now we had to move on to the actual climbing, we gather our harnesses and our other equipement and started at one wall with a more easier route. We got set up and started the route, the route itself was easy enough and I felt competent, this gave me confidence, so we started to move on to other routes, all the routes on that day were pretty straight forward and I managed them, after that we did some boldering for some fun and we did not take it that serious as we had climbed for two hours before that. This first session gave me confidence however I was about to see that not all was that easy. The next time I visited, was with another friend, however he was a more experienced climber, so I was excited to see how I would cope. Again we started with a more simple route and my compitence seemed to keep up. However we then moved on to a more experienced route. He started it out and it looked simple, I started preparing myself mentall for the climb, however I did not think much of it, it looked straight forward. I then started the route, I got half way up and I thought, this is not that bad, but then I looked up and I saw this massive reach, I just looked down and saw my friend laugh. By this time my arms were aching already, my legs were squeezing for hold and my fingers were giving way, I was sweating and it obstructed partially my view, it was a big reach, almost a jump, however I had to try it, I asked my partner to loosen the rope a little to give me more room to move. I felt the rope loosen and then I pressed down with my right foot and started an epic leap of faith for this puny little hold I had to land on. I saw it, through my hand onto it, I thought i had it in the bag but I felt my hand lose grip, I looked to the left to get my other hand somewhere, or my foot, I scrambled for something, but it was too late, I lost grip and just fell a good 2 metres before the rope caught me. This was my first fall in climbing and it was exhilarating. I tried this route again for the next few weeks however until now have not been able to make that leap, however I am not going to give up, I will manage. This is what I learnt in clmbing, no matter how tired you are, you have to reach for that last bit of strength to grab anything possible and hold on, it really takes courage and its amazing what one can achieve with the amount of fatigue one feels. This is was I loved about the activity, I feel it was a success due to me realizing that and appreciating smaller things, every single advance was to be appreciated and it was nice.

Guitar Ben Howard

Keeping your head up

I have decided to start learning some of Ben Howards songs. He is an acoustic guitar player and singer, who is very talented. His music has a very distinct style and it is very original. Here is a video of what the song sounds like. I would also like to learn two other songs by Ben Howard. This was part of my creativity due to me having to further my ability in playing guitar and to figure out how Ben Howard plays his different riffs.

Objectives

My objectives for this project are for me to learn the three songs by Ben Howard I like the most, which are, "Keep Your Head Up";"Further Away" and "Only Love". I want to be able to play these fluently and without errors. I think this was a hard enough goal, seeing Ben Howards guitar playing capabilities, he uses such unusual ways of tuning and playing and this is what made me feel inspired by him, because he in a way opened a new genre for himself.

Progress

So far I have been able to learn "Further Away" and " Keep Your Head Up". These I have gotten onto a quite fluent level and you can see that i still make some errors while playing, however make it through quite fluently. I still have to learn "only Love", however I am up to that over the next few weeks, I hope over the next few weeks these songs become of performing quality.

Reflection

Now at the end of learning the three songs of Ben Howard, I must say it was a journey for myself, his songs are the kind that you learn and you dont really forget ever as you have t opractice so long to get his way of playing down that the muscle memory is so ingrained in one that one doesnt really forget it easily. "Keep Your Head up" was the first song I learnt of him and it was the simplest of the lot I must say, this was due to the song being mostly in a conventional playing wise, which was finger picking which I had done a lot of before the time. This meant I enjoyed learning it more as I found it easy to pick up on, it was also a song I admired Ben Howard for writing as I could relate to a lot, he has a way of putting words in the lyrics that invoke so many thoughts in one whilst one hears them. The song itself was quite straight forward, therefore I do not really have much to say about it, however after learning "Keep Your Head up", I started learning "Further Away", this was a whole different challenge for myself, it was a very up beat song, a lot of rhythmic difficulties and strange tuning. Ben Howard tuned it to a open C tuning, then he put a capo on the 7th fret however only over 5 strings and left the open E string without capo, he then used harmonics combing with a strumming and fingerpicking style which was new for me, I had to learn so many different skills to play this song, I spent maybe 40 hours over the last 8 months alone practicing this song and I have never been as proud before learning something, as I was learning that, it was a great achievement for me and I felt like I was progressing a lot in guitar for that, I set out even to learn his solo at the end and everything, it was a very great experience I had and it open new doors for me in terms of writing music as well, it made me think in different ways, and I was great full to learn anything he played. I also learnt only love which was similar style to "Further Away", I again had the same experience learning that song as I had with the two before. I started appreciating what Ben Howard was writing and what it all was about, he has a lot of depth in his songs, however sometimes it was quite dark and gloomy, it was something I started playing when I was in a sadder mood, as I felt I made a connection with what he wrote and it invoked in me a sense to write something myself, the whole activity gave me inspiration to do something new with my guitar skills and start processing thoughts and ideas in a different way, especially emotions that one holds back, however I still felt it hard to bring pen to paper and write exactly what I felt and meant, I felt I needed more time to create something that I was happy with, that had depth to me. However I feel like the activity was a great success for me, it opened new doors in my mind, it allowed me to connect more with myself and further my guitar skills.

Running

Running
This activity is something that I have never really thought of taking serious but now due to CAS have had the oppertunity to take it a bit more seriously. This activity is an action activity due to it's physical challenges that is sets one and it falls under the learning outcome 2 due to one having to push oneself and challenge oneself to go further.

Objectives
I aim to set a new 5km personal record as join a running club and take part in a running competition.
I think this is a good activity for me, as I enjoy running and always have, plus the weather is turning on the upside now and it will make me go outside more and enjoy the sunshine one has from time to time.

Progress
I so far have started running regularly, 4 times a week now. I run 5 km on those days in about 18 minutes. I am starting to feel fitter and feel like I am able to push myself a little bit faster everytime. I run a nice little route through Richmond park after schools and the next step would to join a running club, the one in my local area is called the kingston stragglers, or also the hawker centre running club. So far I have not found a good competition to run in, however london mini marathon is coming up and I hope to run in that.

Reflection

After running for several months I felt my fitness picking up, however it was coming to the end of the school year and it was coming to a time I was going to be away for a few months, so I thought it was a good time to reflect upon what I had done in the past few months. When I started I started it as a CAS activity, it did not feel like anything special to me, however once I progressed the activity changed for me, in terms of what it meant to me. I started to use running as a way to combat and deal with stress, from school, home and relationships. I started to escape into another world whilst I ran, it didn't even matter if I ran on a treadmill or outside, it just was important to be running. I always kept it to a 5-9 k base and enjoyed it. I started appreciating smaller things when I was outside, the sunset, the refreshing breeze, the small break on top of Richmond hill looking over my hometown. It gave me time to reflect upon actions that I had taken and decisions I had to make in the future and it gave me a clear head, nothing really mattered in the moments when I was running, it seemed I was relieved from a lot of things on ,my mind whilst I was running and this was what transformed the activity from something I was just doing for my programme to something that meant a lot to me. For me this changed my objectives in what I wanted to do, it didnt matter to me to come first in some competition, or to set a new personal best everytime, I wanted to start running longer. At first I started out to run 5k, then I started running always further and longer, 6k, then 7 and in the end I was running 9-10k, I just appreciated the time that I had to run not the way I ran or that I beat everyone, I thought that that what it would be about for me, however appreciating a sport brings you a lot further in it than pushing yourself in something you are doing just to be the best in it, this is what I felt I learnt from this activity and it was something important because this is what I wanted to find in my future profession, something I am doing because I appreciate it, not because of the money, not because I wanted to be the best in it. It is a thought that I have learnt to transcribe to other areas in my life and it has helped me.