Student Portfolio

• What risks have I taken as part of this activity?

It wasn’t a huge risk but definitely something that I had to keep an eye on while participating in this touch league was the fact that this  touch league did take place over the weekends of my first term being in IB. Therefore I had to make sure I balanced my time correctly as I was also participating in the touch pre season program at school and additionally was in volleyball seasac team, therefore I make sure I was correctly priorities things such as my studies and volleyball trainings as these were my biggest commitments at the time. Therefore, I had to make sure that I very organised in order to be aware of days in which I was able to do my work and days where I had training as I could no longer rely as heavily on completing my work during the weekends.  

What actions did I take to overcome these challenges? ●

Therefore, I made sure I had an up to date calendar on both my computer and phone which had all trainings and work that due therefore I could always refer to this when homework and additionally work was due, therefore I knew what day I could and could not study.

Were there challenges that I could not overcome? Why/why not?

Other than the time management challenge there wasn’t many other struggles that came with participating in this league, I think this is because I really enjoyed taking part in this touch league and did not think of it as a burden or something extra I had to do rather a learning opportunity to develop my touch skills, as we were versing teams that were very experienced.  

How will I approach a challenge like this in the future?

Next time we partake in the  AAM Advisory League I will make sure I use the same tactic that I did before, in which I have a clear calendar and weekly plan ahead of the starting week, as this really helped. Additionally, this tactic not only helped me during this period of having many commitments but I have used this to organise my whole year and workload up to this point in the year and I have found it incredibly helpful.

What new skills have I developed in this activity?

As a result of the teams we played during this league being much more experienced and developed than us, I believe this enabled me to developed many of my touch skills, particularly learning the lines I had to run in order to create spaced and draw out the defense  as this creates holes in the defense line, allowing for my teammates to run through and score. I measure my improvement in my confidence in playing the sport, which I believe has definitely improved. Furthermore, another skill that I developed was the ability to keep a positive mindset even if we were losing, as I found whenever our team started to lose hope in winning as a result of losing our game play would suffer.

Why were some skills that were easier to develop than others?

I believe learning how to keep confident and preserve even if we are learning to be very and much harder than I originally thought, as I am a very competitive person therefore whenever we were losing I felt disappointed and upset, especially if it was because of a mistake I made during defense. However, I was able to learn and see that me being disappointed and sad does not help the situation, and it in facts makes it worse, as I get stressed and my skills start to suffer.

What previous experience have I had with an activity like this?

I have been doing touch rugby for quite a while now, I started in grade 7 and have continued to play since. I found that over the years my love and enjoyment of the sport has grown tremendously, as I originally started doing the sport just because my friend had told me to try out however my interest for the sparked and now I throughly enjoy the sport and challenges that come with it. In particular

● What am I good at? What are my strengths?

I personally believe one of  practical strength for touch include my ability to run fast and catch hard balls. However I do believe that my biggest strength that I am bringing into this (pre) season is I believe I am very good at communicating, which is a key strength particularly in the position I play (wing) as since I have one of the less tiring positions, it really helps my teammates if I communicate and guide and help them, especially during defense on the 5 metre line, as it is at this time where in my position I am able to have the better vantage point that my peers who are in the middle positions, therefore I can act somewhat like an additionally eye to them.

● What would I like to improve?

I think a key aspect that I would like to improve is that when I get tired my ability to preserver drastically decreases which impacts how I play as I am less motivated to run and catch balls. I really want to improve this before Touch season starts as I think this a key issue that I need to improve as it not only effects my playing skills but also impacts the teams as a whole, as touch is very much a team sport which relies on the motivation, encouragement and spirit of the members both on and off the pitch. I believe I can improve this through fitness drills which I will ask my coach to provide and complete during weekends.

● Have I improved and in what areas? How do I know?

Overall, I think I have definitely improved over this season as I feel much confident in my touch skills such as knowing the plays, catching majority of the balls, diving etc. I think this because now not only do I feel confident in my skills as I winger but I am now developing skills to help me move into a more difficult and skill based position, link. I look forward to taking these skills  which ive learnt in this pre season into the touch season and I am eager to learn and develop my skills even more.