Category Archives: Activity

SAISA BASKETBALL DAY 1

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I woke up at 5:45 to prepare my stuff in advance and double check all my luggage. Once packed up, showered, dressed and ready to go it was approaching 6:30. My driver was waiting for me downstairs which made things a lot easier. I went downstairs, loaded my luggage and prepared for the long day ahead. 

Once arriving at school, we had to wait for others. There were a few late comers but it was alright. After waiting a little while everyone arrived. We got help from the bus drivers and coaches and managed to load everything up into the bus. We got in and drove to the airport. There was no lounge and we had about an hour in the airport. I went with Thisath, Ethan and Antoine and we went to eat some food at this restaurant at the airport. Can’t recall the name on the top of my head. We ordered a lot of food, way too much for that matter. We ended up having double the amount of fries we ordered because we ordered extra by mistake. Let’s just say the flights weren’t fun. We were all passing an ungodly amount of gas. 

Anyways, after eating we met up with our teachers and made our way to the gate. The first flight was pleasant enough. Once in Doha we didn’t have much time. We looked around a little and then made our way to the second gate. Our flight was delayed by about an hour, during the downtime I went to “Del Monte” at the airport, got myself a sandwich and fresh juice. Second flight was also pleasant enough. Upon arriving the workers at the airport weren’t very happy about us arriving because Jordan was in the middle of the FIFA ASIA CUP Semi-Finals against South Korea. After making it past the checkpoints we waited for our luggage then loaded it all up into the bus and made our way to the hotel. The weather was extremely cold but I absolutely loved the change of pace from Sri-Lanka’s constant humidity and heat. The hotel was also very lovely, it was a 4 star hotel and had lots to offer. After arriving at the hotel we arranged rooms and then we ordered some food, talked about the next day ahead and then went to sleep. My roommate was Darius.

 

Middle School Basketball Coaching

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Mr Turner, the Athletics Director at the Overseas School of Colombo reached out to me for a position as Middle School basketball coach. This was an opportunity I was glad to take as I had it last year. I was eager to retain the position as I also realized that it would be a useful addition to my DP CAS experience. After discussing the position further with Mr Turner I agreed on terms with him. I showed up on Monday directly after the conversation and met my fellow coaches. When I walked onto the court the first person I greeted was Coach Praneeth. My long time friend and coach from our SAISA basketball experience last year. He is an awesome guy and helped us reach 3rd place in last year’s tournament which was a record for the OSC basketball team. He told me he wasn’t going to be the coach but was just merely introducing his iimpact coaches to the school and me. The head coach was called Ramsey and his assistant coach, Diyon. They were very friendly and welcoming and I helped them navigate the school and also the kids. A lot of the kids knew me and I knew their names so I was a useful resource.

As time went on ME, Ramsey and Diyon kept hosting the training and developing the young athletes. Eventually we came up with an A and B team. We started running games with these said lineups during Wednesdays and Mondays with other local schools. This humbled our kids and also allowed them to continue developing, not just physically but mentally. This proved to be very effective and we grew to become one big family. As our last training approached I dreaded and welcomed it. It was fun and I was emotionally invested in the kids but I did need more time for SAISA and for my work so it was a positive change. Looking forward to doing the same thing next year and meeting the new bunch of kids.

In the picture below you can see me, the coaches and the team after a successful game against the Moire middle school team. I am in the back with a grey hoodie with assistant coach Diyon to my left in a black shirt and head coach Ramsey in a red shirt.