February 17, 2014-Choice

On Monday February 17, 2014 it was choice and I decided to play badminton because I really enjoy playing it and badminton isn't always one of the choices on choice days. Before we played badminton, Mr. Vaughan guided us through some fun and simple activities as a warm up. For example, we had to slide on  sliders while our partner slid /dragged us across the gym. The main goal for these activities was to participate to your best ability and  to have a good time and to laugh and smile. I was laughing the whole time and I thought the activities were really fun. At the end, most people just left their sliders and didn't bother to put them away in the bin. So I took the leadership role and put not only my sliders away in the bin, but most of the other sliders that were lying around on the floor. After I put my sliders away, I was just going to leave but then the following question crossed my mind: "What can I do to take initiative?" At that point I took the extra effort to help clean up, and I felt good about it too later on in the block.  While we were playing badminton, we first played four on four but then played two on two. My partner and I did a really good job and we made sure the birdie was always high up in the air. We were able to continuously pass the birdie to each other for long amounts of time without one of us missing the birdie. I made a smart choice by partnering up with her because we were both good players in badminton, so therefore our skill level was about the same. At the end of the block, my neck was a little sore from keeping it up for so long and my arms were exhausted because my partner and I barely dropped the birdie while playing. Also, while we were playing I made the extra effort to try to hit the birdie even if it was far away from me, because that's the only way your going to make the game fun to play, or else the game will be boring if you only hit the birdie when it comes directly straight to you. When someone missed the birdie when it came to them, instead of sighing, I encouraged them and laughed with them; not at them. I didn't want gym to end because I was having so much fun and it felt like the time went by so fast! After all these contributions I made to the class, this allowed everyone to relax, have fun and to have a good time.