Pre-game reflection

The long 3 day weekend was EXTREMELY LONG. Since Friday I've been waiting for the weekend to end already. All day I can just picture myself in the game, every move I WILL make, every step I WILL take. With the adrenaline rushing, there will be no room for fatigue. On Thursday, once the ball is tipped off, I will NOT let nothing get in my way.

I'm very confident with our basketball team this year, and I'm sure the everyone in school thinks so too. With home court advantage, the positive energy will only keep building up as we progress through out the tournament. There's nothing for us to worry right now, if we play our best, we'll go far, and if we don't, then props to other team/s.

At moment, I just can't wait to get out there and release all this energy. I'm pretty sure my teammates and coaches feel the exact same way. This is the most pumped ISAC ever, AND IT HASN'T EVEN STARTED!

The Goals for the week:
Personal - Maintain the aggressiveness, go 100% every single game and not finish with any regrets
Team - Play as a team and most importantly, with PASSION

I have a feeling this may be it. Time for things to change. Time for Brent Subic's Boy's Varsity Basketball team to take it to another level and break the past reputation.

Blow out win against Gordon

It's more than halfway through the season, exactly 2 weeks away from ISAC. This is probably by far the best basketball team I've ever encountered in Brent Subic and I think a lot of teachers are having high hopes for this year's team, so am I. Practice has been going really good, everyone is improving everyday. Our plays and defense are working efficiently, I'm very VERY excited for the tournament ahead of us!

Today we had another game with Gordon College. I've been having trouble balancing work and basketball, the past week I haven't been having my head in the game. Lousy defense, making poor passing and shooting decisions has been causing my game play. All this is getting me frustrated and the frustration only keeps piling up, and I've recognized that it is a bad habit of mine, which is to get over things and continue doing my thing. Before the game today, I went straight up to Coach Thompson and told him about my problems and my goals for the week. My goals were: Keep my composure and also be more aggressive. In the game, however, I played the worst I have played the whole season in my opinion. My head could not focus in playing basketball with all the other things happening in my life behind my head and the fatigue I have gotten from the stressful week caused me to second guess myself. I believe I have a whole lot to offer, and I need to quickly break out of this shell because the season is quickly coming to an end. I have 3 things in my mind that I will concentrate on: Maintain aggressive defense, become a lethal offensive weapon, and take a leadership role in the team. I hope the next 2 practices and games in the weekend, will allow me to break out of this shell and achieve what I want to achieve. To help reaching this goal, I need to FOCUS in ONLY BASKETBALL in practice and games, have more confidence with myself, speak up, get back to training outside of the practice and have good nutrition + good sleep to build explosiveness and endurance on the court. All of this will compensate each other, hopefully it will quickly improve my game play.

CAS Activity Proposal: Boys' Varsity Basketball

Student's Name: William Ou
Supervisor's Name: Mr.Thompson
Year: 12
Activity Name: Men's Varsity Basketball Team
Duration of Activity: January 23 - March 17

What is my past experience with this activity?
I have participated in the Varsity Basketball team of Brent Subic since grade six. However, only last year was I chosen as one of the 10 representative for the ISAC tournament. I have always played as either a small guard or point guard since I started playing on the team when I was a small sixth grader. I know and am expecting that there will be hard times throughout the season, such as imrpoving our individual skills and conditioning. Most importantly I am aware that basketball is a team sport and only a team can win. "One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team." -Kareem Adul-Jabbar

What new learning or skill do I hope to pick up or develop?
I hope to become a stronger post player, especially in getting rebounds. Since our team is a very short team, we need as much height as we can in the post area, so I hope I can contribute even just a little in the area. Other than this, I want to improve my shooting accurary even more, which I think can be a big help offensively. As a veteran and a senior, I would like step up to the leadership position on the team by helping teammates when they struggle and encourage them when they do well. Players' mentallity and relationships between teammates to me is the most crucial in defining the success of the team at the end of the season. Playing a leadership role can help achieve that success.

How will this experience be different from that of the past?
The greatest difference with this year's experience on the team would be the fact that I will be one of the oldest player. I should have more responsibility as a player on the team, such as setting as a role model and a positive team culture for the younger players that they would hopefully persist even after I leave the team.

How am I going to know if I am making progress or experiencing growth in this activity?
I can set weekly goals and ask my advisor on my progress and what I can work on. But no matter what, if the team and I are working hard, then I can be sure that we are making progress, individually and as a team.

Goals:
My goal is to work hard and play hard, so that I will not regret anything when the season ends and I want to also motivate my teammates by implanting this same ideaology in them.

Impact:
Me and the rest of the basketball team will benefit from this activity. We will benefit from training everyday, learning the game of basketball, improving individual skills and how to function as a team.

Timeline:
Brent Subic Gym, Monday-Friday, 4-5:30, January 23 - March 17

CAS Activity Proposal: Bass Guitar Lessons

Student's Name: William Ou
Supervisor's Name: Mr. Flores
Year: 12
Duration: February - May 2012

What is my past experience with this activity?
I have never experience teaching bass to a friend. However, I have tutored piano to some elementary students and have played bass for 4 years now, I am confident and clear of what I'm doing.

What new learning or skill do I hope to pick up or develop?
I hope to develop the skill of organization and time management which I will be needing a lot of in performing the task as well as many other things in life.

How will this experience be different from that of the past?
This experience is different from the past because Mitchell is my friend. It's very hard to have a teacher to student relationship with a good friend. It can either be a distrataction or a advantage, it all depends on both my performance as a teacher and his as a learner.

How am I going to know if I am making progress or experiencing growth in this activity?
Me and Mitchell will organize short weekly meetings with Mr.Florres to access Mitchell's progress in plaiying the bass guitar.

Goals:
Mitchell's goal is to perform atleast once at a school event such as the End of the Year Party. I will give him the choice of what songs he would want to learn.

Impact:
Both Mitchell and I will benefit in this activity, as I will be able to learn how to teach better, which requires a lot of planning. Mitchell will benefit through facing the challenges in learning the bass guitar, which will hopefully get him to become a bass player.

Timeline:
Every Friday and Sunday nigh, 1 hour each session, from February to May.

2011 Boys Varsity Volleyball Season: Reflection

Our 2011 Boys Varsity Volleyball Season ended on Saturday,October 8, once the volleyball dropped right on floor. I must say with pride that this team is the best team that Brent Subic has ever ever had. We showed not just how we played volleyball but also played as one "classy", "righteous", "determined", and "proud" team. I believe we did not come short of our coaches expectation, our performance in this 2011 ISAC volleyball tournament was amazing and exceptional. I am proud to say that yes, we are the 2nd place, Brent Subic Volleyball Team.
These past 4 days have been the biggest learning experience for me as a player, as an individual and as well as for the team. We gave our best in every game, without doubt gave the best sportsmanship in the whole tournament. And although in the finals we lost by just 2 points, we gave the audience a HELL OF A GAME. Little errors we made caused the game, but despite this we lost this game like champions, heads high, with the crowd cheering for our team and gave thanks to other team for a wonderful game. For us seniors, me, Armand and Jack, that finals game was our last game we will ever play for Brent Subic! So after warm-up i called the team together without our coach, and we talked, and i said to them "this is the best team ever! I hate it when we give up and back out, because this game is ours!" I teared up, realizing that this was going to be our last game together. The non-seniors wanted to win it for us, and us seniors wanted to win it for our BEST coach ever, Coach T. His pep talks to us, i will never forget, telling us never lose control, never give up and lose with your heads high. When the game was over he pulled us over and talked to us, he was not mad at all! he had a smile on his face saying we played the best and most amazing game, and i could not look at him in the eye because the smile on his face made me tear up. Everyone could see that he loves and cares for every single one of us on the team, scolded us when we needed scolding, cheered us up when we needed comfort, gave us confident when we needed it and all this got the team where we are now.
The happiest thing for me was, after struggling through the season, fighting, throwing tantrums, blaming each other, not working as a team, in the end we finished the season with NONE of this, and to me the growth in the team is what matters. In my heart we are the true champions, no one can take defeat the same way we do. Brent Subic is the best team, we dont need a first place trophy tell us that! It was a wonderful season, thanks teammates, and THANK YOU COACH!

LAST WEEK!

Its the last week of official practices until our final tournament, ISAC at Brent Manila. These past 2 weeks I can see great great improvement in our team, whether it is floor coverage, spiking, or even serving, main thing now is to maintain it, and keep it consistent. This weekend we had our last LSMS trip to brent manila, we played both very strong teams, the Brent APAC team and this other blue team that beat the APAC team last week. The first game with the blue team, we played the most consistent game we ever played the whole season, was aggressive by the net and moving on the floor, receiving really well even with their strong offense. Although we did not take any sets, but we played with them and caused them to struggle and was at some point of the game leading. No matter losing or winning, i learned that as long as we play our game, we're going to have fun, and mostly especially for our team because we are capable of so much better. After our first game we had 3 hours to relax, we were officially out of the tournament, but the school managed to put up another game for us. In the last 10 minutes before the game, we were told that we were playing the APAC TEAM once again. An my small eyes opened big and my teeth showed from my smile. IT WAS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! I was excited for another good game, and i know so was everyone on the team. During the warm-up i could see everyone doing really well, I was also hitting better than ever, ready to shut them up. Unfortunately 2 minutes left before the game, a ball comes flying to my hand, overextending my thumb after awhile it started swelling like crazy. I tapped it up and tried to play. When the ball came, i tried to receive but my hand couldn't close together and the ball would fly all of the place, I told coach to quickly sub me out. Rest of the game i was on the bench doing the everything else possible to help the team, which was cheering loud! It was a disappointment for me to not play with the team I've been waiting to play with again. But i enjoyed myself on the bench trying to make the best for my teammates and myself. I was very proud of them, we sealed their spikes VERY VERY well, frustrated them and almost took the 2nd set, our back row wasn't as alert as the first game but overall it was still a enjoyable game. After the game, coach pointed some things out about our games that day, and overall is was good, we just need confidence and keep receiving and eventually everything will come along. He said one more thing, about me not being careful with my hand, i thought it was nonsense because it was a total accident, but then i thought about it again that he was right, its my job as an athlete to not play well but also take care of my body no matter under whatever circumstances. ISAC in a week and half! I hope i recover very soon! This next week i shall take extra good care of my hand, and be ready for our final tournament.

Raise the bar

Coming back from Hong Kong we are now very clear on what we need to work on. The teams were easy, and from watching, we were obviously above their level but once on the court we were all different players, we started playing THEIR game, trailing behind, giving easy points, standing and watching the ball land in our faces. Coach was disappointed at our games even at the ones we won, we were not focusing and not going for every ball, during the finals it was all about the mental game. From the way we played, I could see that we gave up too easily, were always in a hurry to get the rally over, so we can put down the pressure on our shoulders, however that's not the way to enjoy volleyball, more so to win! Before we correct anything we need to change our attitude.
I can see that everyone was doing better in practice yesterday, when all the pressure has gone away, there were no more holding back, but just good old fun subic volleyball. However we need to bring this spirit into our games, no more throwing of tantrums(specifically myself), every fault is the teams fault. We need to function as a team.
Our game with major major, a very very experienced and strong team, today was awfully played, we lost all 5 sets, which in my opinion we could've won atleast 2 sets. A habit of our team is, once we start doing good, we lose focus, and get playful, and when we do bad, we become quiet and hold back a lot, therefore not being able to execute plays. We need to build this court confidence like what we have in practice, and we need to build consistency. It's time we raise the bar, and play to our potential. To achieve this we need to have the mindset to improve to excel.
One thing i realized is that my role ain't the same as last year's, and this is something i need to adjust to. As captain and main spiker, I need to do my job by being my consistent, become reliable and a team motivator. This weeks practice is crucial for us getting out of this slump we've fell into, we need to hurry up and clean up our act before ISAC comes.