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Cross Country 2016
Supervisor: Mr. Owen
Date: Fall 2016
Overview: The Fall of 2016 is featuring for the first time, here in QSIB, a Cross Country team. The goal is to go to at least 2 of some sort of races. With practices being twice a week, 1 hour each practice from about 16:00 until 17:00. Individual practices during the weekends will also be on top of the priority list as there is not too much time to get back in running shape.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: Go to all practices and plan out weekend running sessions as to not interfere with my other business/schedules.
Development of New Skills: Having already had experience with competitive track running, long distance running (5k+) has not until now been my thing. Lots of new experiences/techniques to be learned.
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: Am I a good cross country runner? Is this good for me? What can I improve in runs?
Commitment to Activity: Come to all practices, individual practices, and races.
Me (right) with the squad at St. Gilgens after the race,
Reflection: I managed to attend every possible practice I could come to, only in a few cases where I had other service activities I was not able to attend. With individual practices happening during both weekend days when I could (if I were on a trip with my family I would not have time/material). During each practice I made sure it hurt. A lot. Our running track that we have behind the school in the woods consists of two large and painful hills, with many slight hills scattered around. Following practices we would have squats/lunges to do, followed by planks, eventually building up the time. Towards the end of the season we went for much longer runs (1 hour+), running more than 10 kilometers. Despite always wanting to stop in the middle of a painful run, it's always important to not stop and deal with it.
The first meet took place in St. Gilgens, Austria. Arriving there the Friday, and having the race the morning of Saturday, it certainly was an eventful trip. When it was time for the race, after 500 meters I started feeling a cramp. I attempted to manage my side stitches and continue hard with the race. The total race, about 5.6 kilometers, featured me getting side stitches in every area possible for the next 5 kilometers. During every second after that, I wanted to stop running and quit. But I didn't. Instead I ran as hard as possible and had to settle with the fact that I was not able to run a good race, as I did not reach my time goal/positioning goal. Running into the finishing line, I was honestly not feeling tired, as I didn't go to the maximum of my ability, because I couldn't breathe/move properly.
The second race in which I competed, a 12+ kilometer road race across Bratislava, took place on a very cold and windy pre-winter day. I made sure to dress warm and even was bought a hat to keep my head/ears warm during the race. Once the race actually began, the first 2 kilometers were mainly downhill and rather fine, but then came the side stitches again. I started off in the top 40 (out of 400+ runners) or so for the beginning, and slowly watched as everyone got past me, with the side stitches hindering me always more and more. I ended up past 130th place overall, and ended 8th out of 12 people in my category, which I was not all too happy about. This race, similar to St. Gilgens, both showed me to never give up even if I don't want to do anything at the moment right then. Despite not reaching my goals for either race, I must remember these as learning experiences that I shall keep. I will value these experiences and hope for the best in the 2017 Track and Field Season.
Basketball Season 2016-2017
Supervisor and Coach: Mr. Varney
Date: Winter 2016-2017
Overview: The Basketball Season of 2016-2017 will have two practices a week, and a multitude of matches, festivals, and tournaments all across Slovakia and neighboring countries as well. Practices will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from about 15:50 until 17:00. Whenever possible I will practice individually or with team members (a.k.a. play ball somewhere)
Goals:
Development of New Skills: For this upcoming season I would like to improve my pull-up shots, and score more of them in actual games. Also, I would like to improve team chemistry, and increase my ability of working and cooperating with the team, so that we could incorporate more plays successfully into our matches.
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: I would like to see and experience what I'm good and what I'm bad at. Hopefully with this knowledge I can make better plays and be more productive during matches.
Commitment to Activities: Go to all practices and games which I can attend, and be sure to fulfill any responsibilities I am responsible for.
Collaboration with Others: Since Basketball is a team game, I want to constantly work on teamwork cooperation, so that our matches are meaningful and worthy.
We played against the British School from Bratislava with short 6 minute running clock quarters. Simply said, the game was really short. I managed to play quite a bit, and also managed to foul out. A really frustrating game. To be fair, only one of the 5 fouls called were legit to me, and basically everybody could agree that those were some questionable calls. I was fortunate enough to be able to guard a guy who actually did something, yet his physique was a bit greater than mine, and I would just have to stand with my arms up and still get called for a foul. I only took one shot in total, missing.
Our second game was against the AISV school in Vienna. After our game being postponed by quite a bit, we finally started, quickly grabbing a 16-4 lead after the first quarter. The second quarter I was able to start off with a easy below-the-basket shot, but from there we weren't able to work as well together, and took a lot of points against us. The game progressed rather roughly throughout the middle, but in the end we rebounded and came with a pretty good lead. The game was pretty lately scheduled, so we did come home only at about 10 o'clock. For future games, I would like to attempt more jump shots, lay-ups, and hard drives to the basket. Its much harder to focus and move deftly around the court in a game than during practice, so becoming used to and natural out on the court is something I would like to gain.
DVAC Tournament in Budapest
We played a total of 3 games on Saturday, March 4th. Our first game was against the Salzburg team, which wasn't too much of a problem, and won with a decent lead. Personally, I think I play pretty well, with everything being good except for my shooting. I took approximately 11 shots, making 1 in total. Now, these shots were very unlucky. Sometimes I would be certain of scoring, only to see the ball bounce around for a couple of seconds and then fall out. Our second game was against AISB, which we unfortunately lost. The beginning was pretty rough, but towards the middle of the game we started playing better, only 4 points away, but the point difference ended up being by 9. In this game, the team was much tougher, and defending was harder. Tough defense, strong boxing out, and over-all aggressive stance in the game. Most of my shots were drivers, layups, or quick rebounds. However, the ones that I did shoot from a standing position were very bad, most being airballs. I just tense up in the moment and apply completely the wrong amount of force, and completely miss. Our third game, against BISB, was for the third place trophy. We were in the lead the whole entire game, and only during fourth period did the score start to go back and forth. In the end, we lost by one point, even though we were up by one in the last 25 or so seconds. My performance was mediocre in the last game, scoring only 1 out of 4 foul shots, and being about 30% shooting percentage. Defense for me wasn't nearly as hard, as my players were rather slow and not that aggressive. The only real threat was the enemy point-guard, who definitely won the game for them. A lot of questionable fouls were called, and we did end up having our 1 point lead taken over to the enemy team through a foul, and then both foul shots were scored. We did end up at least leaving with the sportsmanship award, and for the next tournament I would like to be more aggressive, and have more drives, and this time win something.
Final CEESA Tournament
This tournament we ended up second by narrowly losing the finals. Despite the unachieved victory, I feel like my performance this tournament was of much better quality than in previous tournaments and games. I was more aggressive and willing to take action, in a good way of course. I was able to play for quite a while each game, and have been able to get some good chemistry with my teammates. All in all, I think I have achieved all of my goals for this activity. Despite missing a practice and not being able to come to the first festival due to a schedule conflict, I was still able to show up and be prepared for practices and games. I have definitely improved over the course of this season, and I feel that my best performance was at this final tournament. If I do continue basketball for next year, I'll know to be more aggressive, drive more, and be more open to passes and team plays, not that I wasn't doing these things already.
Track and Field Spring 2017
Supervisor and Coach: Mr. Stone, Mr Lundberg, Mr. Slahor
Date: Spring 2017
Overview: This years Track and Field will be consisting of 2 practices a week, with only two meets in total (DVAC in Budapest and CEESA at Lafranconi, Bratislava). We have about a month of preparation time before the first (and most important) meet. I will also be doing individual practices during the weekends and off-practice days whenever possible.
Note: I have a knee injury and couldn't attend the first week of practice, and still my knee is not fully recovered two weeks in.
Note 2: I was not able to attend the DVAC meet in Budapest due to AP exams which I was preparing for.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: Plan personal training and make sure I focus on the essentials to maximize my performance, even with my knee injury.
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: My main events are the 800 and 1500, so I want to see and get to know what is working and what is not. Also, for other events I want to know what to focus on and how to improve in order to obtain the best results at the DVAC.
Commitment to Activity: Attend all practices, and don't skip out on personal practices, and even do personal self exercises at home (sit-ups, planks)
Lafranconi QSIB Invitational
Reflection: This being my only meet for the year, I definitely had to give a performance worth remembering. Despite missing my DVAC due to exams, I made sure to attend every single practice (except when Drama got in the way towards performance date), and even went on really hard runs on the weekends. Despite not having almost any formal practices at the track and practicing conditioning, I still participated in 8 events, with 7/8 golds and 1 bronze in shotput. I was 2 seconds short of my PB on 1500, participated in 4x100 relay in which we got first. I was about 8 seconds short on my PB for 800 (because I was tired at that point), and for 3000 I just went for a finishing run with a time of 12:3x min. However, I got a new high jump record (1.62m), long jump (5.69m), triple jump (11.10m), and shotput (9.90m, 4kg ball).
Despite feeling heavily unprepared, having a sick, full stomach in the morning, and feeling a cold coming up the day before the meet and during the night (in which I didn't sleep too well). Considering my practices were not that good compared to last year, I still managed to get 8/8 medals, with 7 of them gold and 1 bronze, though they weren't easy at all. Sitting this, typing write now, I can barely even sit without my body hurting, not to mention the sunburns all across my body. Still, all the practices in which I was consistently hurting myself and pushing myself were worth, because the accolade is sure worth it. Even though this was not a super-high level competition, personally I think I faired pretty well. Field events I had very little preparation for technique, and many I didn't do since last year.
I feel like I reached my goals pretty well. I attended almost all practices I could, but unfortunately not the DVAC I was hoping to go to. I realized that if given proper training I could really excel in many parts (e.g. 4:30 or less for 1500, 6m+ for long jump, 2:05 for 800, etc.). Though I am aware that I am pretty confident in many areas in track and field, I still have a lot of potential and not everything is polished (my jumping forms are kind of bad, my pacing could be better, etc.). For planning and initiation, I feel I did a good job of making sure I was in good condition, and furthermore for the future I will be most likely having cross country in the spring, and that will require some summer practicing.
2017-2018
Cross Country
Supervisor: Mr. Owen
Date: Fall 2017
Overview: School practices twice a week, individual practices hopefully every day. 2 meets/runs in total.
Goals: (my two main ones)
Planning and Initiation: Balance practices with schoolwork, and make sure to know ahead of time how my schedule, so that I can fit the meets and runs within my own schedule.
Commitment to Activity: Attend all practices and meets, as well as run on both weekend days (and if possible during a tuesday, thursday, or friday)
Having maintained my coniditioning with constant (strenuous) running sessions over the summer and of course through all of september, not only during practices but also during other weekdays and weekends, I was ready to perform well in my final 'senior' season of Cross Country.
Feeling very confident with my abilities, I was going for a top 3 position on our first St. Gilgen Meet, only about 5.6 kilometers with medium hills. Having experienced from last years meet, my problems with cramps is quite severe, so I had to limit almost all food and water absorption for the morning of the meet. I get cramps about 20-30% of time during practices, but I've never really ran in the morning.
During the actual run itself, I started slower, and began to pick up pace. About midway through I was positioned 4th, having gone from about 8th place a kilometer before. I was well on my way of hitting top 3 before I got a cramp. I finished 7th after a painful final 2 kilometers.
(yes I was in massive pain :))), (right)
Again, I ended up almost identically to last year, except this year I was in much better shape and, from both my perspective and my coaches perspective easily qualifiable for a podium. Thoroughly disappointed, this doesn't mean I can quit running. I will have to seek out more expert help (a doctor) for my cramps, and continue m conditioning. Though my months of extra running and personally motivated extraneous sessions have boiled down to one cramp, it's important to realize that anything can happen, and that you will just have to rebound.
Edit: Monday's practice, two days after the meet, I had a very pleasant and non-painful run, until the final downhill section, where I developed probably the worst case of a swollen, sprained ankle. Fast forward 4 hours and I'm wearing a cast, unable to walk, and not being able to run for about a month for now.
I had crutches for about 4 weeks. After I was off crutches, I couldn't run for a couple of days (obviously), and then when I did start, running, I had to be extra careful, as sometimes if I made too much of an abrupt step my ankle would hurt. My first few runs left my ankle slightly swollen and hot everytime, yet I still ran.
Sadly, I didn't go to the larger meet in Prague, with a lot more runners. Instead, I did participate in a 12.5km run in Bratislava, where I actually got 2nd place in my category, and finished about 5 minutes faster than last year. My cramps weren't as big as last time, yet I still did feel them, and while they for sure did halt me a bit, the overall experience and run was much better than last year's. Considering I had very limited to train and get back in shape, I did the best I could, so it's a decent achievement. The 4 weeks on crutches were absolutely disgusting, not being able to run when you most wanted to, on to of losing form and dropping out of the cross country season for good is devastating. But sometimes it's not about the mistake, instead about the rebounding, and making sure something like that won't happen again.
So for next time, better try to stick away from muddy/wet paths with leaves blocking my view of any possible potholes :^)
Gym
Supervisor: Marek Oravec
Date: 2018 (February+)
@FitUp
Overview: Trainings with a trainer (5-10 times) before I move onto individual practices.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: This is an outside-of-school personal hobby/initiative, so I have to make sure to adhere to school and this in the most efficient and least distracting manner
Development of New Skills: I've only ever played a variety of sports, ran, and own-body exercises throughout the years, but never in a gym environment with such specific materials
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: Are there specific workouts I'm good at or have better experienced than others?
Undertaking New Challenges: While I have stayed in shape for most of my life (if I may so so myself), I've never done gym workouts or such "muscle-building" exercises
Commitment to Activity: This is one of those experiences that only will show results if you really want to do it, and really are passionate, and never laze around.
Reflection: While I'm not concluded with gym training, all I know is that it's something that won't end for a very long time. It's probably just going to be part of my life from now on. The past 3 months have actually started to show some results, but it's only after years when real results can be seen, and I see no problem with fighting on for the best results. My first few trainings were with a trainer, and though I was intimidated at first at such a new experience, it was oddly "fun" after a while. Now, I go by myself almost as just a pastime when I have time.
Training, though it may seem as something simple and basic, actually requires large amounts of motivation to push yourself through the pain and suffering and tell yourself it's going to be worth it at the end. Every gym session is super painful, but the more painful it is, the better the feeling after. Also, going to the gym was something I was thinking about for a rather long time, but I just decided to try it out, go for it, gain new experiences, and what do you know I can't live without it now. Definitely a good choice, and will be even a better choice a few years from now.
Basketball
Supervisor: Mr. Varney
Date: Winter 2017-2018
Overview: School practices twice a week on mondays and wednesdays, a couple of games, but most importantly one festival, one DVAC tournament, and one Salzburg Jamboree.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: Attend all practices, games, and events even if it means having to work around a schedule or make space. Basketball is a pretty big commitment, not to mention I have other commitments as well, so I have to be able to do basketball and my other stuff efficiently.
Commitment to Activity: Attend everything.
Undertaking New Challenges: As captain of the team (my first time being a basketball team captain), it's my responsibility to get people to attend all practices, do their best, not fool around, and motivate them during practices and games.
Reflection: We had a total of 4 away games, 1 festival, 1 DVAC tournament, and 1 Salzburg Jamboree. With practices twice a week, and not a huge reportoire of games for the season, it was crucial that every practice was at 100%, and every game was at 150%.
Our first game was against a very new team with little to no experience, so it was a win, but could have been a much larger win if there had been more chemistry and teamwork (less independent plays). It was, however, the very first official game as a team which has never played with each other formally before, so gave the team an idea how to play (for this game I played the very minimum).
While practices were twice a week, some people showed up far less than that, and full attendance was a rare sight. Despite this, slowly we got better and better even with a few losses in our path. In the Vienna Festival, we lost 3 games and won 1, though we could have performed better. Besides it being a highly intense, long, and stressful festival, for sure we learned something as a team.
The final DVAC that we hosted here in Samorin was especially disappointing. Due to one team not coming, we played only two games in our group, and lost each game by 2 points (one basket). Although I did score half of the team's points, I could have facilitated extra communication and chemistry between team members. All in all, it was very disappointing, and we actually got last place, and weren't able to play in front of a home crowd. The following week we were destined to play in Salzburg for my final tournament of my high school career. The next monday at practice when we were finishing up I managed to twist my right ankle, and thus didn't play for the rest of the basketball season, or even high school career. But hey, that's life, and hopefully college will open up better, more successful chances.
Supervisor: Mr. Owen
Date: Fall 2016
Overview: The Fall of 2016 is featuring for the first time, here in QSIB, a Cross Country team. The goal is to go to at least 2 of some sort of races. With practices being twice a week, 1 hour each practice from about 16:00 until 17:00. Individual practices during the weekends will also be on top of the priority list as there is not too much time to get back in running shape.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: Go to all practices and plan out weekend running sessions as to not interfere with my other business/schedules.
Development of New Skills: Having already had experience with competitive track running, long distance running (5k+) has not until now been my thing. Lots of new experiences/techniques to be learned.
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: Am I a good cross country runner? Is this good for me? What can I improve in runs?
Commitment to Activity: Come to all practices, individual practices, and races.
Me (right) with the squad at St. Gilgens after the race,
Reflection: I managed to attend every possible practice I could come to, only in a few cases where I had other service activities I was not able to attend. With individual practices happening during both weekend days when I could (if I were on a trip with my family I would not have time/material). During each practice I made sure it hurt. A lot. Our running track that we have behind the school in the woods consists of two large and painful hills, with many slight hills scattered around. Following practices we would have squats/lunges to do, followed by planks, eventually building up the time. Towards the end of the season we went for much longer runs (1 hour+), running more than 10 kilometers. Despite always wanting to stop in the middle of a painful run, it's always important to not stop and deal with it.
The first meet took place in St. Gilgens, Austria. Arriving there the Friday, and having the race the morning of Saturday, it certainly was an eventful trip. When it was time for the race, after 500 meters I started feeling a cramp. I attempted to manage my side stitches and continue hard with the race. The total race, about 5.6 kilometers, featured me getting side stitches in every area possible for the next 5 kilometers. During every second after that, I wanted to stop running and quit. But I didn't. Instead I ran as hard as possible and had to settle with the fact that I was not able to run a good race, as I did not reach my time goal/positioning goal. Running into the finishing line, I was honestly not feeling tired, as I didn't go to the maximum of my ability, because I couldn't breathe/move properly.
The second race in which I competed, a 12+ kilometer road race across Bratislava, took place on a very cold and windy pre-winter day. I made sure to dress warm and even was bought a hat to keep my head/ears warm during the race. Once the race actually began, the first 2 kilometers were mainly downhill and rather fine, but then came the side stitches again. I started off in the top 40 (out of 400+ runners) or so for the beginning, and slowly watched as everyone got past me, with the side stitches hindering me always more and more. I ended up past 130th place overall, and ended 8th out of 12 people in my category, which I was not all too happy about. This race, similar to St. Gilgens, both showed me to never give up even if I don't want to do anything at the moment right then. Despite not reaching my goals for either race, I must remember these as learning experiences that I shall keep. I will value these experiences and hope for the best in the 2017 Track and Field Season.
Basketball Season 2016-2017
Supervisor and Coach: Mr. Varney
Date: Winter 2016-2017
Overview: The Basketball Season of 2016-2017 will have two practices a week, and a multitude of matches, festivals, and tournaments all across Slovakia and neighboring countries as well. Practices will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from about 15:50 until 17:00. Whenever possible I will practice individually or with team members (a.k.a. play ball somewhere)
Goals:
Development of New Skills: For this upcoming season I would like to improve my pull-up shots, and score more of them in actual games. Also, I would like to improve team chemistry, and increase my ability of working and cooperating with the team, so that we could incorporate more plays successfully into our matches.
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: I would like to see and experience what I'm good and what I'm bad at. Hopefully with this knowledge I can make better plays and be more productive during matches.
Commitment to Activities: Go to all practices and games which I can attend, and be sure to fulfill any responsibilities I am responsible for.
Collaboration with Others: Since Basketball is a team game, I want to constantly work on teamwork cooperation, so that our matches are meaningful and worthy.
We played against the British School from Bratislava with short 6 minute running clock quarters. Simply said, the game was really short. I managed to play quite a bit, and also managed to foul out. A really frustrating game. To be fair, only one of the 5 fouls called were legit to me, and basically everybody could agree that those were some questionable calls. I was fortunate enough to be able to guard a guy who actually did something, yet his physique was a bit greater than mine, and I would just have to stand with my arms up and still get called for a foul. I only took one shot in total, missing.
Our second game was against the AISV school in Vienna. After our game being postponed by quite a bit, we finally started, quickly grabbing a 16-4 lead after the first quarter. The second quarter I was able to start off with a easy below-the-basket shot, but from there we weren't able to work as well together, and took a lot of points against us. The game progressed rather roughly throughout the middle, but in the end we rebounded and came with a pretty good lead. The game was pretty lately scheduled, so we did come home only at about 10 o'clock. For future games, I would like to attempt more jump shots, lay-ups, and hard drives to the basket. Its much harder to focus and move deftly around the court in a game than during practice, so becoming used to and natural out on the court is something I would like to gain.
DVAC Tournament in Budapest
We played a total of 3 games on Saturday, March 4th. Our first game was against the Salzburg team, which wasn't too much of a problem, and won with a decent lead. Personally, I think I play pretty well, with everything being good except for my shooting. I took approximately 11 shots, making 1 in total. Now, these shots were very unlucky. Sometimes I would be certain of scoring, only to see the ball bounce around for a couple of seconds and then fall out. Our second game was against AISB, which we unfortunately lost. The beginning was pretty rough, but towards the middle of the game we started playing better, only 4 points away, but the point difference ended up being by 9. In this game, the team was much tougher, and defending was harder. Tough defense, strong boxing out, and over-all aggressive stance in the game. Most of my shots were drivers, layups, or quick rebounds. However, the ones that I did shoot from a standing position were very bad, most being airballs. I just tense up in the moment and apply completely the wrong amount of force, and completely miss. Our third game, against BISB, was for the third place trophy. We were in the lead the whole entire game, and only during fourth period did the score start to go back and forth. In the end, we lost by one point, even though we were up by one in the last 25 or so seconds. My performance was mediocre in the last game, scoring only 1 out of 4 foul shots, and being about 30% shooting percentage. Defense for me wasn't nearly as hard, as my players were rather slow and not that aggressive. The only real threat was the enemy point-guard, who definitely won the game for them. A lot of questionable fouls were called, and we did end up having our 1 point lead taken over to the enemy team through a foul, and then both foul shots were scored. We did end up at least leaving with the sportsmanship award, and for the next tournament I would like to be more aggressive, and have more drives, and this time win something.
Final CEESA Tournament
This tournament we ended up second by narrowly losing the finals. Despite the unachieved victory, I feel like my performance this tournament was of much better quality than in previous tournaments and games. I was more aggressive and willing to take action, in a good way of course. I was able to play for quite a while each game, and have been able to get some good chemistry with my teammates. All in all, I think I have achieved all of my goals for this activity. Despite missing a practice and not being able to come to the first festival due to a schedule conflict, I was still able to show up and be prepared for practices and games. I have definitely improved over the course of this season, and I feel that my best performance was at this final tournament. If I do continue basketball for next year, I'll know to be more aggressive, drive more, and be more open to passes and team plays, not that I wasn't doing these things already.
Supervisor and Coach: Mr. Stone, Mr Lundberg, Mr. Slahor
Date: Spring 2017
Overview: This years Track and Field will be consisting of 2 practices a week, with only two meets in total (DVAC in Budapest and CEESA at Lafranconi, Bratislava). We have about a month of preparation time before the first (and most important) meet. I will also be doing individual practices during the weekends and off-practice days whenever possible.
Note: I have a knee injury and couldn't attend the first week of practice, and still my knee is not fully recovered two weeks in.
Note 2: I was not able to attend the DVAC meet in Budapest due to AP exams which I was preparing for.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: Plan personal training and make sure I focus on the essentials to maximize my performance, even with my knee injury.
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: My main events are the 800 and 1500, so I want to see and get to know what is working and what is not. Also, for other events I want to know what to focus on and how to improve in order to obtain the best results at the DVAC.
Commitment to Activity: Attend all practices, and don't skip out on personal practices, and even do personal self exercises at home (sit-ups, planks)
Lafranconi QSIB Invitational
Reflection: This being my only meet for the year, I definitely had to give a performance worth remembering. Despite missing my DVAC due to exams, I made sure to attend every single practice (except when Drama got in the way towards performance date), and even went on really hard runs on the weekends. Despite not having almost any formal practices at the track and practicing conditioning, I still participated in 8 events, with 7/8 golds and 1 bronze in shotput. I was 2 seconds short of my PB on 1500, participated in 4x100 relay in which we got first. I was about 8 seconds short on my PB for 800 (because I was tired at that point), and for 3000 I just went for a finishing run with a time of 12:3x min. However, I got a new high jump record (1.62m), long jump (5.69m), triple jump (11.10m), and shotput (9.90m, 4kg ball).
Despite feeling heavily unprepared, having a sick, full stomach in the morning, and feeling a cold coming up the day before the meet and during the night (in which I didn't sleep too well). Considering my practices were not that good compared to last year, I still managed to get 8/8 medals, with 7 of them gold and 1 bronze, though they weren't easy at all. Sitting this, typing write now, I can barely even sit without my body hurting, not to mention the sunburns all across my body. Still, all the practices in which I was consistently hurting myself and pushing myself were worth, because the accolade is sure worth it. Even though this was not a super-high level competition, personally I think I faired pretty well. Field events I had very little preparation for technique, and many I didn't do since last year.
I feel like I reached my goals pretty well. I attended almost all practices I could, but unfortunately not the DVAC I was hoping to go to. I realized that if given proper training I could really excel in many parts (e.g. 4:30 or less for 1500, 6m+ for long jump, 2:05 for 800, etc.). Though I am aware that I am pretty confident in many areas in track and field, I still have a lot of potential and not everything is polished (my jumping forms are kind of bad, my pacing could be better, etc.). For planning and initiation, I feel I did a good job of making sure I was in good condition, and furthermore for the future I will be most likely having cross country in the spring, and that will require some summer practicing.
2017-2018
Cross Country
Supervisor: Mr. Owen
Date: Fall 2017
Overview: School practices twice a week, individual practices hopefully every day. 2 meets/runs in total.
Goals: (my two main ones)
Planning and Initiation: Balance practices with schoolwork, and make sure to know ahead of time how my schedule, so that I can fit the meets and runs within my own schedule.
Commitment to Activity: Attend all practices and meets, as well as run on both weekend days (and if possible during a tuesday, thursday, or friday)
Having maintained my coniditioning with constant (strenuous) running sessions over the summer and of course through all of september, not only during practices but also during other weekdays and weekends, I was ready to perform well in my final 'senior' season of Cross Country.
Feeling very confident with my abilities, I was going for a top 3 position on our first St. Gilgen Meet, only about 5.6 kilometers with medium hills. Having experienced from last years meet, my problems with cramps is quite severe, so I had to limit almost all food and water absorption for the morning of the meet. I get cramps about 20-30% of time during practices, but I've never really ran in the morning.
During the actual run itself, I started slower, and began to pick up pace. About midway through I was positioned 4th, having gone from about 8th place a kilometer before. I was well on my way of hitting top 3 before I got a cramp. I finished 7th after a painful final 2 kilometers.
(yes I was in massive pain :))), (right)
Again, I ended up almost identically to last year, except this year I was in much better shape and, from both my perspective and my coaches perspective easily qualifiable for a podium. Thoroughly disappointed, this doesn't mean I can quit running. I will have to seek out more expert help (a doctor) for my cramps, and continue m conditioning. Though my months of extra running and personally motivated extraneous sessions have boiled down to one cramp, it's important to realize that anything can happen, and that you will just have to rebound.
Edit: Monday's practice, two days after the meet, I had a very pleasant and non-painful run, until the final downhill section, where I developed probably the worst case of a swollen, sprained ankle. Fast forward 4 hours and I'm wearing a cast, unable to walk, and not being able to run for about a month for now.
I had crutches for about 4 weeks. After I was off crutches, I couldn't run for a couple of days (obviously), and then when I did start, running, I had to be extra careful, as sometimes if I made too much of an abrupt step my ankle would hurt. My first few runs left my ankle slightly swollen and hot everytime, yet I still ran.
Sadly, I didn't go to the larger meet in Prague, with a lot more runners. Instead, I did participate in a 12.5km run in Bratislava, where I actually got 2nd place in my category, and finished about 5 minutes faster than last year. My cramps weren't as big as last time, yet I still did feel them, and while they for sure did halt me a bit, the overall experience and run was much better than last year's. Considering I had very limited to train and get back in shape, I did the best I could, so it's a decent achievement. The 4 weeks on crutches were absolutely disgusting, not being able to run when you most wanted to, on to of losing form and dropping out of the cross country season for good is devastating. But sometimes it's not about the mistake, instead about the rebounding, and making sure something like that won't happen again.So for next time, better try to stick away from muddy/wet paths with leaves blocking my view of any possible potholes :^)
Gym
Supervisor: Marek Oravec
Date: 2018 (February+)
@FitUpOverview: Trainings with a trainer (5-10 times) before I move onto individual practices.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: This is an outside-of-school personal hobby/initiative, so I have to make sure to adhere to school and this in the most efficient and least distracting manner
Development of New Skills: I've only ever played a variety of sports, ran, and own-body exercises throughout the years, but never in a gym environment with such specific materials
Increased Awareness of Strengths and Weaknesses: Are there specific workouts I'm good at or have better experienced than others?
Undertaking New Challenges: While I have stayed in shape for most of my life (if I may so so myself), I've never done gym workouts or such "muscle-building" exercises
Commitment to Activity: This is one of those experiences that only will show results if you really want to do it, and really are passionate, and never laze around.
Reflection: While I'm not concluded with gym training, all I know is that it's something that won't end for a very long time. It's probably just going to be part of my life from now on. The past 3 months have actually started to show some results, but it's only after years when real results can be seen, and I see no problem with fighting on for the best results. My first few trainings were with a trainer, and though I was intimidated at first at such a new experience, it was oddly "fun" after a while. Now, I go by myself almost as just a pastime when I have time.
Training, though it may seem as something simple and basic, actually requires large amounts of motivation to push yourself through the pain and suffering and tell yourself it's going to be worth it at the end. Every gym session is super painful, but the more painful it is, the better the feeling after. Also, going to the gym was something I was thinking about for a rather long time, but I just decided to try it out, go for it, gain new experiences, and what do you know I can't live without it now. Definitely a good choice, and will be even a better choice a few years from now.
Supervisor: Mr. Varney
Date: Winter 2017-2018
Overview: School practices twice a week on mondays and wednesdays, a couple of games, but most importantly one festival, one DVAC tournament, and one Salzburg Jamboree.
Goals:
Planning and Initiation: Attend all practices, games, and events even if it means having to work around a schedule or make space. Basketball is a pretty big commitment, not to mention I have other commitments as well, so I have to be able to do basketball and my other stuff efficiently.
Commitment to Activity: Attend everything.
Undertaking New Challenges: As captain of the team (my first time being a basketball team captain), it's my responsibility to get people to attend all practices, do their best, not fool around, and motivate them during practices and games.
Our first game was against a very new team with little to no experience, so it was a win, but could have been a much larger win if there had been more chemistry and teamwork (less independent plays). It was, however, the very first official game as a team which has never played with each other formally before, so gave the team an idea how to play (for this game I played the very minimum).
While practices were twice a week, some people showed up far less than that, and full attendance was a rare sight. Despite this, slowly we got better and better even with a few losses in our path. In the Vienna Festival, we lost 3 games and won 1, though we could have performed better. Besides it being a highly intense, long, and stressful festival, for sure we learned something as a team.
The final DVAC that we hosted here in Samorin was especially disappointing. Due to one team not coming, we played only two games in our group, and lost each game by 2 points (one basket). Although I did score half of the team's points, I could have facilitated extra communication and chemistry between team members. All in all, it was very disappointing, and we actually got last place, and weren't able to play in front of a home crowd. The following week we were destined to play in Salzburg for my final tournament of my high school career. The next monday at practice when we were finishing up I managed to twist my right ankle, and thus didn't play for the rest of the basketball season, or even high school career. But hey, that's life, and hopefully college will open up better, more successful chances.
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