CAS Activity

Rock climbing has been a really positive experience recently. I stopped boxing at the end of grade 11 but decided to keep rock climbing. There was a little gap in my reflections but in October the activity changed a little. I got to join the team that would go on to do competitions. this was really amazing as I had only been to one before and they were just returning after COVID. Through this, we got to start training at a proper climbing gym which really increased my motivation to improve. I also got to know students from other grand and for a real team bond. Since then I have gone to 3 competitions while the school is mostly not as good as other schools due to our very new team all the competitions have been really fun and all the teams get along and try to help each other out. I did come 4th in one competition after being tied as 3rd for most of the event which was a really good experience and I hope to maybe win something soon. I have two more competitions one of which will be overseas which is very exciting since due to the pandemic I have never gotten to travel overseas for an activity. Through this my motivation for the sport has really grown and i really push myself during training to keep trying climbs until I finish them. Overall, I am really loving the activity and even though I don’t have very long left I really hope to find a way to continue after I finish school.

Here are some photos from the competitions

I am so extremely happy to be doing rock climbing again. I first started doing the sport when I moved to Singapore in grade 6 and was part of the school’s first team to go to a competition. However, we did it off campus and due to COVID the activity shut down. Thankfully the activity has restarted. Unfortunately, it is on campus which is a shame because the school’s walls are not great but for the first time ever we have a professional coach who is teaching us techniques and setting us challenges. I really love the sport as I have been doing it for so long. I think perseverance is so important in climbing and so is having the right mindset as you keep trying to climb up the wall. There are few feelings of satisfaction quite like reaching the top of a difficult climb and I am glad I get to start enjoying that again. I was a little out of practice at the start but I think most of my skill has returned but there is always room to improve. Due to the limited size of these walls, I think my main challenge is bouldering as the coaches as able to challenge us in that respect which is good as that was always my weakest spot. Hopefully, competitions restart as it was a great experience last time as there was very little competitive spirit but rather supporting each other to do your best so it was a really friendly environment.

I think something that I want to work on is obviously my own climbing as that is the purpose of the activity but also the teamwork within it. Rock-climbing requires a lot of trust as you belay one another and ofter try to guide each other up the wall. I really want to help those I work with succeed as I know they will do the same for me.

The boxing activity has recently begun. I am really looking forward to continuing with this sport since this will be my third year doing it and I have seen vast improvements in my skills every year. However, this year there are a few problems, since boxing is an indoor activity due to COVID restriction we have to wear masks the entire time. Not only does this make exercise a little more difficult but in order to avoid potential issues like students fainting, I noticed that in the first session the intensity had gone down a lot. It was still difficult because of the masks but they seemed to have gotten rid of the cardio warm-up. My plan is to be resilient in this activity and try my best despite this obstacle though I still hope that restrictions lessen as I (like many others) prefer not to exercise wearing masks and I usually enjoy the intensity of this activity. In this activity, I also plan to work well with people since the majority of this activity includes working in pairs and I have a few friends doing this activity for the first time therefore I plan to help them learn the sport and become confident in their boxing abilities. Teamwork and trust in the partnerships in this activity is also very important as learning combinations could potentially go wrong if someone uses too much strength at the wrong time and injures their partner. The activity has also changed a lot this year as it has replaced the muay Thai element with kickboxing. They plan to maybe implement grades for kicking but I have yet to decide if I will do the necessary testing and things to do the grades as I tend to prefer the punching element of boxing over the kicking.

I look forward to seeing how this sport will be over the next year as I am sure there will be many changes and I am curious to see what direction the activity goes in.