Monday Basketball!

Friday basketball has shifted to Monday!

It was quite disappointing this time around because the amount of people attending the activity halved. There were originally around 11 members but this time there were only 5. 

This led to the players getting tired faster than usual and not much room for making plays. Despite this we still had fun and made the most out of it.

As usual, basketball encouraged collaboration between the members of the activity and for most players it continues to aid in developing new skills.

All in all it was a very positive session and we achieved the aim of the activity. To have fun!

Pinhole Photography! First Lesson.

On Friday 13th, I attended my very first lesson of Pinhole Photography alongside my peers. We began the lesson with a short yet crucial demonstration.

Not only did we learn the mechanics behind pinhole photography, but we also learned that this techniques had many origins ranging from the Chinese and their optical principles that they knew of during the 5th century to Aristotle and his mentioning of pinhole image formation in his work "Problems".

The camera itself is actually just a tin container with a lid that does not allow light to pass through it and a pin hole in the side of the tin that will act as the lens. Whilst in the dark room, we pulled out some light photosensitive photographic paper because if it were exposed to light, the paper will become negative and will be completely black due to being exposed to too much light.

Here is the setup for taking a picture with this method:

The tin on the right is a camera that was lent to me by a veteran in this field.

The tape is what covers the pinhole until you're ready to peel it off and leave it for about 1 minute which is the pinhole version of "taking a photo".

After leaving it for 1 minute, the tape is put back on and the tin is brought to the dark room. Once the lights are off, the lid is taken off and the light photosensitive paper is removed from the container and place in the developer, then the stop , fix and then it's rinsed. 

Here is the product of this process:

I placed a filter on this picture to make the body of the picture more visible but if I were to leave the camera for maybe an extra minute, it would be even clearer.






This first lesson has already allowed me to develop new skills and I also worked collaboratively with the other members of the group by helping them with the placement of their cameras, inserting the light photosensitive paper and even being helped with the process of developing the photos.

Practice Basketball Games With the Girl's Team

During the short holiday, the girl's basketball team had a couple training sessions and me and and four other boys had the opportunity to help with their training sessions. We played matches against them in order to allow them to test out their plays and strategies and to see how they work out in real games. It was an enjoyable experience and a good challenge for us that will hopefully help us get back into the competitive mentality because they forced us to play with proper defense formations and strategies. 

Hopefully they benefited just as much as we did through being able to practice with real game conditions and circumstances.

 

Upcoming SAISA

Basketball SAISA is coming up soon and I'm unsure whether or not I'll be taking part in it. The tournament itself begins about a week before the exams and it seems like it would be better to use that time for studying instead.

If I don't go overseas for the tournament, I'll take part in the training sessions instead if it's possible. This way I'll still be involved in an activity but have the spare time to prepare for the exams.

Friday Basketball - Some Photographic Evidence!

Here are some pictures of the Friday afternoon basketball session we had last week.
In these sessions, we have the opportunity to develop new skills and learn how to collaborate with others. Some of the members are playing for the first time and are undertaking new challenges.



(photo by author)

We're learning new skills by learning where to stand for defense and how to play offensively with a team.
We mostly just play games which is useful because it's as close to a real game as it gets and some of us intend on doing SAISA basketball so it's helpful in that sense.



(photo by author)

The fabled milkshake drive

The milkshake drive that was held inside the school canteen was a booming success. We raised more money than we had originally expected and now we'll be able to purchase equipment of mass entertainment.

Here's a photo of two of our members, setting up the stall and making some delicious milkshakes!



(Photo by author)

A short clip of Fun Basketball!

This is just a short clip showing that I actually do attend this after school activity.
(That's me in the white).
Some photos will be on the way!

(Video by my dear friend Nishant)

Check out his blog here.