CAS Project: Organising a Cricket Tournament

Description:

In this CAS activity, I organised and participated in a Box Cricket tournament with my friends. Our goal was to organise a cricket tournament for entertainment purposes and to learn more about organising events. We selected cricket as a sport for this tournament because it is the most popular sport in India. We chose box cricket turf specifically because it not only gives the feel of playing on a cricket ground, but also it is more restricted and manageable than a proper cricket ground.

Reflection of Learning Outcomes:

Learning Outcome 1 (Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth)

I identified my strengths and weaknesses in this activity which helped me plan and perform better while both organising and playing the tournament.

Learning Outcome 2 (Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process)

I undertook many challenges in this activity which were communication issues and self management issues which has helped me learn how they can be solved or avoided.

Learning Outcome 3 (Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience)

We initiated and planned a cricket tournament.

Learning Outcome 4 (Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences)

I displayed commitment and perseverance while keeping up with the deadlines and doing my task with full efforts.

Learning Outcome 5 (Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively)

Working with others is generally very easy for me especially when it comes to management related tasks. I find it easier to work with people when I know them personally, which I did in this case. I understood it well that organising a CAS project is a group task and can’t be handled by one person. Working collaboratively was very essential in this activity as there were a lot of things which needed to be taken care of. Dividing the responsibilities made managing all the activities easier and more efficient.

Usually, I am a person who seeks perfection in my tasks, so I am usually very uncertain about whether the other team members will complete the work or not. But, since the organizers in this project were my friends, it was easier for me to rely on them and work effectively. However, there were instances where my friends were lagging behind and I had to help and push them. For example, the people responsible for designing the poster and form were not meeting the agreed deadlines which was delaying the designed action plan. I confronted them, and their concern was that they had their summative assessment coming up which left them with little time to complete the task. So, we all sat down and came up with a solution to this problem. We unanimously agreed that this task shouldn’t be delayed anymore so we identified the people who didn’t take the subjects in which assessment was coming and switched their roles and responsibilities. We solved this and many other problems by closing the communication gap and making unanimous decisions.

As I mentioned before, teamwork was an integral part of this project. Me and my team collaborated for this project effectively through various ways. One was holding meetings to discuss our responsibilities, status of the task, the future action plan and other important decisions. Another part where we displayed cooperation was the tournament day itself. We had already discussed the agenda and the process for the tournament the day before, which made running the tournament smoother and easier. Running a tournament requires handling multiple tasks simultaneously, which makes it nearly impossible to do alone. Some of these tasks include playing and strategizing with your team along with other management processes like umpiring, handling water and bananas, clicking pictures and keeping track of scores and schedule. With teamwork, we could easily execute this on the tournament day.

Collaboration was also displayed while playing the cricket matches. Our team knew our strengths and weaknesses so we decided the bowling order, the batting lineup and the field setup accordingly. Cricket is a game of teammates, although you can play really well and take your team to victory, you can’t win alone. To sum up, the main things which helped us collaborate effectively in this project were having trust in your project members, communicating frequently and planning thoroughly.

Learning Outcome 7 (Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions)

I displayed ethics while umpiring by making fair decisions.

Final Take-Away:

As talked above, I displayed the Learner Profile Attribute Communicator in this activity by effectively communicating with my group members. I was also a good thinker in this activity and showcased both creative and creative thinking while planning for this activity. I also displayed the principled LP while being the umpire for certain matches. I gave decisions based on what I and the other umpire observed and not taking the side of either team’s players.

The highlight of this activity was probably the finals of the tournament. It was filled with so much emotion and excitement. The match was something I will never forget. I saw my friends who generally avoid sports show so much dedication to their role. There were so many displays of skill, strategy and motivation. The celebrations, the team arguments and all the passion made the finals so much more memorable.

The things I learned from this activity are the importance of planning and collaborating. I have learned that if we put more effort into planning we can be stress free, more organised and efficient while performing. Collaborating with others while keeping in mind their abilities and what they can bring to the table brings more out of the task you are doing. I have improved my communication skills and self management and group management skills. Although I have taken part in the organizing committee of various events in school like MUN and Service Session, I was like the helper to the one accountable and responsible for the event. This experience was different from school as this was one of the few times where I was the one accountable and responsible for this tournament .I have gained more confidence in myself and my abilities and this will definitely help me in the future.

Evidence:

Some Match Day Pictures: