Week 24 and elliptical machine

This week our team got out on top once again even though our defence wasn't as strong as our offence which led to us conceiving more goals than we should have. I think I should have been more communicative about this so that I would get help when I was in defence since most of the time some of the opponent's were left unmarked yet I didn't say anything.

On a personal level, my dribbling was very good this week though my positioning could have been better at times since I sometimes stood still or hardly moved when there were spaced I could have run into to receive the ball. However, I was still able to score 13 goals including a hat trick. This was because of my dribbling and passing and moving ability which I used very well since my acceleration is one of my strong points. I think that at times I should have passed instead of having a shot since I didn't always take the easy option when I was playing. I sometimes dribbled too much which led to me losing the ball so next week I will make sure to look around before I do something so that I am fully aware of my surroundings.

Next week I will try to play a more offensive role since I think that even though I scored several goals, I could have scored more if I had played a more attacking role instead of staying in defence a lot nevertheless this role I played this week helped improve my marking and tackling. I will also try to keep my determination high since this week I kept putting pressure on the other team which led to them losing the ball several times. To do this I will need to improve my stamina so that I can keep the pressure going. This is why I devised the plan for the elliptical machine.

Ever since this month, and carrying on into next month, I have increased the time of the free run on the elliptical machine to 10 minutes and the challenge to 15 minutes which has proven useful since I feel more challenged than before and I feel more resistant during Thursday football. I mostly run at a consistent rate though sometimes there are big changes in my running which I need to fix.

Link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFkwWH2743E&feature=youtu.be

Week 23

This week our team was able to win a total of 26 points without losing a single game.The cause of our success was primarily due to the fact we passed the ball around very well and kept on moving around the pitch so it made it hard for our opponents to adjust to our constantly changing positions.

On a personal level, I was able to score a total of 11 goals which I was proud of and I was able to assist several of my team mates to score. However, I was unable to score a hat trick in a game which may have been because of the fact that I sometimes hesitated to dribble and instead passed it which wasn't a bad thing since I was being a team player, however, sometimes I should have dribbled instead to create a chance for myself.

My dribbling was excellent this week since I tried out new skills which I was able to do with a good level of accuracy and they very often paid of with a goal. This is an area I think I shall even further improve since I have the agility necessary to move with the ball quickly and change direction unpredictably which I did several times in the game and which very often lead to a goal. I think that even though sometimes I hesitated to dribble, my skills on the ball have improved a lot since I have become more confident in dribbling with the ball and I think that my level of dribbling has also increased as a result of this since I can see that my accuracy of dribbling has dramatically increased since I feel a smoothness in the way I play.

My passing was very accurate and I made sure to move into space when I passed the ball or at least wait for an opportunity to move into a good position so that I would receive the ball back and possibly have a chance on goal. I think that I should try to be more confident in passing since I sometimes hesitate with this too which wastes time and gives an opportunity for the opponents to close down on me and minimise the chances at goal.

Next week, I will try to be more confident in my passing and dribbling so that I do not restrict myself when playing. I will also try to use new tricks in order to test my skills. I will make sure to achieve my target of 10 goals and at least a hat trick and I will try to be more active in my positioning since at times I didn't move into spaces which were open for me to run into.

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nze9URDlBro&feature=youtu.be

Academic Honesty

We were asked to produce a video on academic honesty which may be entered in an IB competition. We were given a guide to do so which our group, unfortunately, lost therefore there were some rules we didn't follow e.g. abusive language and violence. However, those were only small part of the video so we didn't break the guide lines to a large extent. I think that if we were to do this next time, we should ask for a copy of the guide so that we know exactly what is acceptable and what isn't so that we don't have to correct mistakes.

My involvement in this task was quite important and this task that was given to us has helped me to be a much better communicator since I always put forward my ideas and also considered the ones of others and respected it. I made sure to think about the ethical implication of possible actions, for example, by not creating any stereotypical and possibly racist scenes. I think that my editing skills have improved since this task has helped me to be a lot more creative since I thought of effects I could put in the movie and what would be visually attractive to our potential audience and what would be entertaining. This proved to be successful since we had a good response from our audience today. The song selection, sounds and the transition between them was very well used since it ran together quite smoothly, however, the fading of the music could have been done better.

Areas that could be improve is the acting itself since even though it was good at places, there were some places which could use some improvement e.g. sometimes I was smiling when I wasn't supposed to and sometimes the person filming was laughing. When this occurs, we should retake the video until we get it right instead of just relying on editing to "do the magic". I think that the video could have been shorter since there were some unnecessary parts shown, in my opinion and it kind of lost the attention of some people. The voice of the characters wasn't always heard which was an issue since it limited people's understanding of what was going on so next time we should make sure to play back the video when we have filmed it to make sure the quality has minimum faults. Also, we should make sure to film the videos the right way around since we ended up having videos we couldn't use since they were taken at the wrong angle.

Next time we are to do this, we should use a software we know we can use since it took us some time to decide on one that would be easy to use and high quality.

This is a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78TbsFmRPV8&feature=youtu.be

Football Match: Teachers vs. Students

The youth of the students defeated the experience of the teachers 11-6 this lunch time.

I decided to organise this event since the year 13s were soon going to leave to prepare for the exams and the school wouldn't be able to see them play anymore. I made sure that I informed the people that would be involved of this event so that they would turn up today at 1.30 in the gym for this event. I selected a referee who did his job very well during the game. I made sure to inform him of what the rules were and the duration of the halves so that the game would run as smoothly as possible. I made posters which I put around the school and in people's register, however, I think I could have improved in doing so since I decided to do this the day of the event so I wasn't sure that everyone would know about it and that is why I took the initiative of going around every form group informing them personally of this event so that there would be a maximum turnout. This proved to be very effective since the support we had during the game was fantastic. The atmosphere there was, in my view, was very motivational which is one of the reasons I scored 9 out of the 11 goals our team scored.

I think that I was well-organised since I made sure to check if everyone that was selected to play would come and if not I had a suitable substitute. This proved to be needed since neither Stefan or Mark came but luckily I had a reserve goalkeeper I had warned in the morning and Daniel which would replace Stefan. However, there was a unforeseen problem. Andy had to leave because of some exams and I think I should have been more informed since we ended up playing a 4 aside game rather than a 5 aside which proved to be very tiring since we had no substitutes. So next time I will make sure I have some so that our team doesn't get so tired and our performance will be at a higher level.

On a personal level, I think I played well since my positioning was good though at times when I felt tired I didn't position myself in a helpful way. My dribbling was excellent since I was able to score several goals after dribbling some opponents and I only messed up a dribble once. To prevent this from happening I think I should be more aware of my surroundings so that I don't do any unnecessary dribbling and that I know that if I do dribble one player, there won't be a second one close by to take the ball from me. My passing was very accurate though at times I felt it was somewhat sloppy even though it reached its intended target.

Today's game also showed me at what level my fitness was since I found myself very tired during these 15 minute halves so I will try to use the elliptical machine more often to increase my stamina so that when an event such as this one happens again, I will be able to endure more.

I shall use this analysis to improve for tomorrow's games so that I can be as effective as possible as a player and that I don't reproduce the same mistakes as I did today. 

Week 22

This week, our team had to do with no teachers nevertheless we were able to finish top this week as well. This was achievable with the amount of passing and communicating in our team. I made sure, as team captain, to talk a lot to my team mates by, for example, showing them where they could pass to make our team keep possession. This week has really helped me to become a better communicator. Our defence plays however weren't as good since most of the time we were too focused on offensive plays which is one of the factors that contributed to us conceding several goals. I did my best to contribute to our defence since most of the time I was the one staying back to defend and I did well in doing so but a one-man defence can't do much. Next week, I will try to be even more communicative and tell people to come back to support me in defence so that we don't concede as many goals and help our goalkeeper get clean sheets.

On a personal level, I have become more confident in dribbling since I wasn't afraid to dribble up with the ball when I couldn't see any easy pass which payed off several times with a chance at goal, an assist or even a goal. I think that to improve this I will try to vary my dribbling since so far I have been repeating the sames one and even though they have been effective, my play will soon become too predictable.

I was able to score 9-10 goals this week, however, I wasn't able to score a hat trick due to the fact I had to stay in defence since I couldn't rely on most of my team mates to defend considering we had a rookie on our team this week.

Next week, I will try new skills to improve my touch and try to move into space more since this week I didn't do as much movement which may be a factor that resulted in me not achieving my target. I will try to play more offensive so that I don't restrict myself in defence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqbgiT6WiXc&feature=youtu.be

Week 21

This week I was able to reach my target once again of 10 goals including a hat trick. The reason for this success was my positioning since I tried to find space where my team mates could pass to me and I could then easily shoot and score. My dribbling and tackling were very good this week since I didn't dribble too much but the times I did I never lost the ball since I knew when the right time would be to dribble and when to pass. My passing was more accurate than last weeks since I made sure to not only have accuracy but also power in my passing so that it would reach its intended recipient without someone intercepting it. I also did my part in defence since I ran back to defend when my team needed me to and as mentioned previously my tackling was very good but there is still room for improvement since I found myself not putting all my spirit into my tackles one or two times which let the opposition a chance at goal.

Our team did well as a whole since we dribbled less than last week and focused on passing and moving which gave little time for the opponent's to readjust to our constant changing positions which is why we were able to score so many goals this week including a 7-1 victory of the green team. Our team spirit was very high this week since we defended and attacked as a team so our defensive and offensive play was very powerful.

Next week, I will try to be even more active in my positioning to score more goals and try not to be so far forward on the pitch since it makes it hard for my team mates to pass to me and it is sometimes harder for me to score that way. I will keep my passing as frequent as it is now but try to dribble a bit more since that is one of my significant strengths.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov7HcVToTIc&feature=youtu.be

Crazy Hair Day

Unfortunately, because of the weather, several people I had asked to go to different class rooms to collect money from students were late however I took the initiative to collect most of the money myself since I found myself with enough time to do so. I also asked people to replace some of the people who would be late in case I wouldn't have the time to personally go around every class. We were able to collect about 10 000 roubles however I still have to collect money from one form group since I didn't know there was one in the Music room. However, this is good since it showed me that I should have asked exactly where everyone form group is so that I waste a minimal amount of time.

I think that today went well since I didn't have any issues organising this event and people seemed to have a positive response to this day even though not everyone came with crazy hair, nevertheless, I was able to select winners for several prizes with the help of other people. I decided to give out more prizes than anticipated considering that people were very creative. I will hand out these prizes to people tomorrow morning along with collecting the money from this final form group. I think that I did well to make my own hair crazier than usual since that was used to set an example considering I am the organiser of this event. 

I think that if I was to do this again I could have been more prepared for prizes since I only got them today however in this context it was a good thing since I ended up selecting more winners than anticipated. The day I selected to host this event was good since I had more time to collect the money and students had a positive response to being able to wear no school uniform on the first day back from their weekend. 

If I were to do this again I would want to install an activity during lunchtime which would involve people paying money to get their hair sprayed or styled however they want since that would involve more people in the idea of this day and it would raise more money for charity. 

Overall, today went really well and I would gladly organise it again soon. 

 

Crazy Hair Day Plan

Tomorrow, crazy hair day will happen. I have alerted parents about this event by creating a letter which was going to be sent out to them via their children. This was something new for me since I had never created a letter with this purpose before and I think the outcome was good since Mr Gray didn't change much in my draft copy I printed out for him. This was possible since I made sure to keep in formal yet not too complex considering parents may not have English as their first language.

I also made sure to create a poster so that students and staff could be reminded of this day when they walked through school so that a maximum amount of people would participate in this event. I made sure that all the information someone would need would be on the poster so that confusion is minimised, however, I also assured that the poster was visually pleasing in order for people to have a more positive attitude towards this event compared to if the advertisement for this day was boring.

In the morning, people I have selected and informed will go to certain form rooms to collect the money for this event and then I will assemble this money which I will then store so that I make a deposit to the charity I have selected to fund i.e. Russian Life Line. As well as this they have been instructed to write down the names of two students with the best hair style which shall also be given to me. During lunch time, a group of people which I have chosen will gather together to determine who the winners are for the following prizes: most original, tallest and craziest. The next day, I will distribute prizes to the winners during registration. 

Week 20

This week our team did very well collectively and I did well personally since I was able to score a total of 11 goals which included 2 hat-tricks and I assisted several people in scoring. Our team did very well to pass the ball around which we had previously failed to do which was one of the reasons for our small collection of points over the last couple of weeks, however, this week we showed dominance by having most of possession during games and scoring the most goals and points.

I made sure to play both an offensive and defensive role so that our team goal score a maximum and concede a minimum. My tackling has improved since I don't "dive" into one, instead I make sure to just be in the opponents way and stop him from taking a shot or passing it which has proven very successful since I stop the attackers' play by slowing them down which enables my team mates to come back and defend, and I was able to intercept balls very often or put enough pressure for the opponent to misplace a pass and lose possession.

I think that I should try to dribble more next week since I limited my dribbling skills today however instead of doing this I passed the ball very often so that I could move into another position which I did successfully as well since my team mates were able to pass the ball back to me behind the opponent's defence. I should also try to focus a bit more on my passing since it was still a bit sloppy and for this to happen, during warm-ups I will practice shooting less and focusing on my passing more so that I train myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jMHdz-wsLE&feature=youtu.be

Burn dat calory

As a follow up from yesterday, I found myself doing the calory burn as a way to take a break from revision and keep fit. I found myself able to increase the difficulty even during calory burn, cardio and competition so I decided to try to do it in today's session to get more out of it. I was able to stay above 6 km/h throughout the course which is going to be utter minimum for everything I do on the elliptical machine from now on so that I put in the maximum effort. I ran a total of over 1 km through the calory burn exercise which is what my target was. Since I find 10 minutes too short now, I think that in the next session I will run for 15 minutes as well as the 5 minute free run which I was able to complete with an average speed of over 7 km/h and a final 30 second sprint with over 8 km/h.