This particular post focuses on the activity aspect of CAS and more particularly, basketball and the gym as subcategories.

This Tuesday (March 9th) I booked the nearest basketball court to my house for an hour and a half before school. I trained for around and hour and then dedicated 30 minutes to dunk training. In the hour of training, I worked exclusively on my weaknesses; floaters,  jab steps, 3 point jump shots etc. After a very productive training session, I decided to work on one of my goals. I had set a goal for myself on January 1st to be able to dunk with two hands by April as dunking with one hand was starting to become easy. In the video featured above, you can see my first time dunking with two hands on a 10 foot rim. This was a very exciting moment as it proved to me that my dedication to strengthening my body was working as two months ago, I wouldn’t have come close to being able to dunk with two hands. Besides the aesthetic purposes of dunking, it also provided me with a few learning outcomes.

 

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process

Firstly, by completing this goal, I was able to demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken which resulted in me developing new skills in the process. This is evident as I have been rehabilitating my body from the various injuries that I’ve had over the past few years. I started to go to physio-therapy a year ago after a devastating injury to both my shoulders caused by an imbalance in muscles due to a problem with my spine. This injury still affects me a long with the other injuries related to my hips, groin, knees, and back. With each injury, I grew even more pessimistic about my future with basketball and almost gave it up a few times. My basketball coach, Praneeth Udumalagala, and my personal trainer, Bilal Yusuf, have helped me to gain my confidence and love for basketball once again through helping me to strengthen my body and reach the goals that I have set for myself.

 

LO4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences

I also showed commitment to and perseverance in CAS experience as my ability to dunk with two hands is a result of my commitment to strengthening my body through Athlete Unleashed (my gym). I have proven to myself that, with commitment, I can achieve my goals. Whether it be athletic, academic or social, I am now more confident in my ability to persevere through adversity and commit to reaching my goals.

Supervisors: Bilal Yusuf & Praneeth Udumalagala