LO 2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

LO 4 Show commitment to and perseverance in your CAS.

On the 10th of October, I was able to go to Brisbane and participate in a touch tournament. This was an incredible experience that allowed me to develop new skills and work with people that I would have never expected to work with. Throughout the trip, there were multiple challenges that I have to undertake. For example, a large challenge for me was bonding with the team. This was because a lot of the girls had been playing together for multiple years and know each other very well, and this was my first year trying out for touch and going on the trip. However, I learned to overcome this challenge by putting myself out there and focusing on the reason we were all going on the trip together, to play touch. This allowed me to find common ground with the girls and build genuine strong friendships and connections both on and off the field. Addressing this challenge allowed me to develop skills such as collaboration, in this, it helped me become more outgoing and feel comfortable tackling situations where I’m pushed out of my comfort zone.

Although the actual Brisbane trip was an incredible experience that not only allowed me to develop my athletic ability but multiple other areas of my life, it was the training and process beforehand that made the experience so memorable. The process of Brisbane Touch began at the end of last school year and was followed by commitments to two-morning training sessions and Saturday games each week.  This meant my commitment and time management skills were developed as I was in a position where I had to balance my school work with touch commitments as well as netball commitments. This was a challenge in itself as I did not want to spread myself too thin and become too busy that the quality of my sports performance would come at the expense of my school work or vice versa. I was able to overcome this challenge by using organization tools such as google calendar, and ensuring that I was being productive and staying on task when doing my work in the time I had provided for it. Although it was a challenge, I learned more about myself in the process, and it was extremely satisfying to stay committed and persevere through the training sessions. It was especially satisfying when we finally got to Brisbane and I was able to play strong touch that I previously would never have been able to do. Touch was a very new sport and concept to me that I decided to try as a way of keeping up my fitness and expand my athletic ability. I wanted to try something new and push me out of my comfort zone by trying something very different from my main sport Netball.