Being an enthusiastic ultimate frisbee player, I have attended several tournaments and was always intrigued by how they were organized and managed. Hence, I decided to make use of CAS experiences as an opportunity to organize an ultimate frisbee tournament, along with my team and classmates, for a good cause.
Although I generally prefer working alone, this time I felt that taking the help of my peers would allow us to distribute the work and bring in multiple perspectives and ideas, making our project more successful. This turned out to be true, and I realized how distribution of work can make everything much more easier and fruitful. We also had some disagreements, but all of us learned to peacefully resolve them, developing the learner profiles of open-minded, communicator and thinker.
This experience also made me realize and appreciate the amount of work involved in organizing even a small sports event. We had to do everything from scratch, including finding a venu and fixing a date, reaching out to teams, making seedings and schedules, and marking the grounds. Making fixtures that were fair and acceptable to everyone was an immense task, but through continued communication, feedback and research we were able to reach a consensus. We learned the importance of being organized and planned from the very beginning to avoid confusions at the last minute. Fortunately, the tournament went by smoothly and we received appreciation from all participating teams. This has also motivated me to organize more such tournaments in the future, as I enjoyed the entire process of planning and organizing.
The purpose behind organizing the tournament was to raise funds for a charitable cause. We managed to collect 5000 rupees, which we utilized, as a part of another CAS experience(Book Collection Drive), to buy reading books for a government school. The happiness of the children and gratitude expressed by the teachers made the whole experience worthwhile for me. I also felt an urge to do more to improve the education systems for underprivileged children, leading me to another CAS experience. We also tried to make the tournament as accessible and fair as possible, in all senses. Out of the 14 participating teams, 2 were women’s teams. One of the teams was of underprivileged children (exempt from the entry fee), who managed to win in their division. Seeing the lengths one can go to when provided with opportunities made me reflect on the importance of opportunities, and why they should be equal for everyone.
In conclusion, this fun filled, competitive evening was a tremendous learning experience for me. I learned not only different values and skills, but also the importance of CAS and how it can lead to memorable and useful experiences.
Link to evidences – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hr-0pH8taO79PLw3xJJ4NipVRo0K6pBM5qQQKpDCKV8/edit?usp=sharing
