CAS Reflection

Introduction: Badminton is my second racquet sport that I do after school on Thursdays.

 

L.O.'s:

• LO1 - I had to acknowledge my strengths and weaknesses in badminton to be able to improve. I am able to propose creative ways to play badminton to make the sport more fun and at the same time be able to train ourselves to get better.

• LO2 - To challenge myself, I play against players who I don't regularly play with and are of higher level than me. This allowed me to reflect on my weaknesses so I can work on them to improve for next time. 

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Saturday, September 5, 2015

I had my first badminton tournament this year today in the Manila Polo Club ‘Girls 16 under Doubles'. It was very exciting, especially because I was paired with my friend, Katie. In the end, we were able to win 2nd place in the club championships. MPC will be holding an awarding night, where hopefully I’ll be able to get my 2nd place medal up on stage.

Some mistakes I’ve identified when playing the finals that was probably the reasons why we didn’t win:

• Some of my short serves were carelessly out

• My partner and I had slight confusion who had to be front and who at the back at which time

• Several same drop shots were given to me, and I wasn’t ready/fast enough to reach them

For future practices, I’m planning on concentrating on my service and my speed in order to improve in those skills.  

 

Thursday, September 10, 2015

My first badminton session in school today was lively; there were a lot of us there. We all did stretching together before starting, and then we had doubles games with friends. We didn’t have serious training today because the coach was only there to assess us then. I played with my friends for a while and then with some year 10’s because they were lacking a player. It was nice to finally play again, and today I concentrated on just making sure most of my shots go in. Since it’s no competition and just for fun, it was really relaxing and chill. I’m looking forward into more serious games for next week.

 

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Badminton training today was tiring but fun. In the beginning of the lesson, I played with my friend Yuka and I taught her some tactics I’ve learnt before about badminton, such as doing drop shots and smashes. We were able to alternate who attacks and who defends and it was cool to see how her shots gradually get better. After that, I played a doubles game partnered with Natasha and I had to do a lot of running in that game. Then, I played singles with Liam and I’ve found that his shots were strong and so most of it were at the back of the court. I’ve learned to stand a little more towards the back of the court so that I could reach the ‘clear shots’ faster than usual, and I was able to win the game. Goal for next session is to be able to find opponent’s tactics and change the way I play basing on the opponent’s shots.

 

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Badminton was cancelled today, as there was an event for Teacher’s Appreciation Day was in the hall.

 

Thursday, October 1, 2015

I played 2 doubles games and 1 singles game today in badminton. I’ve realized that my clear shots tend to go outside the court; therefore, I need to learn how to control the shuttle more by practicing more clear shots with a partner before a game. Moreover, my service shots for singles are also not high and far back enough, which means it is potentially easier for the opponent to return a shot from my service. I need to work on my singles serves by myself before playing the actual game.

 

Thursday, October 8, 2015

I played 1 doubles and 3 singles games in badminton today. I realized that my service had improved in both my singles and doubles game. Furthermore, towards the end of the session, I practiced my clear shots with a partner. I hope to be able to hit those clear shots all the way to the back of the court, but not to the point of it going outside, when I play against players more competitively.

 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

I played a doubles game in badminton today. My partner and I won 2 out of the 3 games we played against them. I figured that I was unprepared when drop shots were given to me, and therefore, I know I need to work on my footwork to be able to get to the front of the court quickly. Furthermore, I still doubt myself when serving with my backhand for short serves. I’ll need to practice my backhand serving several times next lesson before playing any games to build confidence and hopefully get better at it overtime.

 

 

TERM 2

 

Thursday, January 14, 2016

What we did in badminton today:

-Played practice games: work on clear shots and drop shots

-Service: work short serves and make sure they are within service box

-Smashes: practice doing stronger and faster smashes at opponent- aim to the corners so it will be harder to return the shot

 

Thursday, January 28, 2016

I was able to play against the coach today and I got 9-11 in singles. I have to work on my footwork in the court for next time, as some shots were difficult to return as I was not fast enough to reach.

 

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Badminton today:

• Played doubles and noticed that I have to work on my short serves

• Played singles and realize that my lobs aren’t as high and far back enough

• Drop shots need working; they’re too high up for opponent to easily smash

• Smashes need to be deeper and more powerful

• Must always return/recover quickly to the centre to prepare for opponent’s next shot

 

 

TERM 3

 

Thursday, April 7, 2016

During badminton today, I practiced my drop shots by having a mini game against my opponent on just drop shots. I practiced doing shots that were really close to the net or that were really far from my opponent so that it’d be hard to reach. Moreover, I did a tactic wherein I would drop it on one side, then to the other side, then to the other side, to increase my opponent’s movement. I think that I now have better control on my drop shots after this practice.

 

Thursday, May 5, 2016

I warmed up by hitting ‘clear’ shots with a partner at the beginning of the badminton training session. Afterwards, my partner and I played a friendly match with another 2 people that the coach assigned us to. After winning that game, we went to play against another stronger opponent to challenge ourselves. I realized that I have to work on my drop shots to make the opponent run even further to the corners.

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August 25, 2016

• played singles with my partner as warm up

• then played doubles with a stronger opponent

• our weakness was having weak defense from their smashes

• our strength was drop shots after lobbing 

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September 22, 2016

• played singles as warm up

• practice smashing and defense with partner

• played a drop-shot game

• what to improve: dropping the shuttlecock much lower (not to high otherwise opponent can smash); be able to drop a shot crosscourt. 

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November 10, 2016

• lobbed shots with partner for 10 minute warm up

• practiced smashing and defensing with an opponent as training

• I was able to practice my drop shots from an opponent's lob shot 

• Strength: I was able to quickly defend smashes from opponent

• Weakness: My drop shots are not steep/deep enough (if opponent could get to my drop shots quickly enough, they'd be able to smash it)

• Improvement for next time: work on lower and deeper drop shots, ensure that I'm always at ready position for defense if the opponent is about to attack/smash.