LO 1

LO1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

Students are able to see themselves as an individual with various skills and abilities, some more developed than others. 

This tennis season was my second season throughout high school playing with the team, and I felt much more experienced and familiar than the last time. That being said, I continually feel like there is a lot of room for me to grow in my tennis playing capabilities, and this was most evident to me when we just had weekly practice, and were drilling skills with fellow team members and the coaches. At times, when playing with more advanced players, the disparity between our skills became more obvious to me, and I certainly felt that I can improve on my key strokes, the foundation of the game.

I also feel like I have significantly improved with regards to how I play games in competition, particularly my doubles game. Before, my teammate and I would have poor coordination and limited communication, but with practice and more clear directions we agreed upon before a game, we were both able to improve, and play with much more cohesiveness while competing. This sort of key communication transferred over to different games, and I felt like I had a bigger impact on the team’s performance this season as a whole.

When I first started the season, it took me a while to develop some familiarity with my teammates,

LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

This is my second year doing tennis as a pre-season activity, and I am doing this so I can improve on my skills to make the team next season. This is mostly due to the fact that practicing with other people of a similar level, especially those you will be competing against is so much useful, arguably more than just practicing with a coach outside of school.

I feel that I have definitely improved the strength of my hits, there is more power and more control in every shot than before, however I find that I always get a bit cautious every time I play a match or in a competition where the stakes are slightly higher than just a friendly rally. I always get hesitant, and this leads to usually a loss of the point on my part, affecting my entire game. I also need to improve my serves, the shot that can really make or break the game is another weakness of mine which I really need to strengthen, especially before the tryouts.  I suppose the only way to overcome this problem is to practice even more, but with all the activities and academics that I am currently juggling, that is probably easier said than done. I feel like these two seasons are especially hectic, and things should be much more smooth after tennis is set into a rhythm after a few months.

LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth

I have now been to a couple of orchestra rehearsal sessions over the past few weeks, and this year will be my third doing this activity. When I begun, I didn’t have too much experience with playing in a highly skilled orchestra, and I knew immediately that all the violin players were at a far higher level than I was. I played with the second violins, a lower skill level. Over the course of the two years, however, I practiced much more outside of rehearsals as well, and my performance improved greatly. To this end, this year I have moved up to playing as a first violinist, requiring the highest level of skill in the orchestra.

I was quite intimidated, to say the least. After a few rehearsals of two new pieces, I feel like although I might be playing with the first violins, I am still not quite up to that level yet. I have tried to identify how to improve, and I feel like the problem lies in my sight reading. This has always been a weakness of mine, I always take slightly more time to translate the notes on the music sheet to positions on the strings. Because of this, I take more time to play, and lag behind others, which eventually builds up and I lose my place in the piece. I can become better at this the more I practice, however sometimes it throws me off suddenly.

Despite this, there are areas of playing where I feel like I am now being challenged enough, like rhythm. I enjoy playing in various styles, and I generally have a good sense of beat, and my timing and tempo are usually quite accurate when I know exactly what I am playing.

I think as a target, I will aim to incorporate more daily practicing in my schedule, and maybe even talk to my teachers as too how I can improve my sight reading problems.