Reasoning
In this program, personally I think leadership is important since I am a leader for my team. As a leader, I act to be calm and try to establish good communication with my group members. I accept and consider all opinions given by my group members. This is because, in my opinion, a leader should understand and give the opportunity to his group members to give opinions and idea in making decisions. During the match, I gave my support to the fullest even though we failed to grab opponent’s flag. Since all of us are the newbie in paintball, we tend to take care of each other a lot. Furthermore, communication skills also the significant aspect that came out from this program. I realized that being the leader did not only sharpen my leadership skill but it also test my communication skills. As we know paintball is a team based game. The communication between team members are crucial in order to win the game. I manage to blend well with my teammates as we planned the strategy together. When in-game, we kept communicate as a team and not to blame any one for losing the match. By being the leader, I realized that my critical thinking ability were improved drastically since it is a extreme sport which I must find a way to bring my team to get some winning points. I able to make quick but rational decision for my team in the game and analyze the opponent strategies very well.
Reporting
On October 11 2019, BP Award Scout Scheme Extreme Paintball was organized by the Persatuan Kelanasiswa Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The program took place at Johor's Outdoor Urban Paintball Arena, UTM. The event is open for students and UTM staffs. I have noticed the advertisement of this program in my WhatsApp group. The objective of this program is to encourage UTM students who were interested in trying extreme sport and giving the new experience for them. For this program, I was a participant of this program. There were roughly 40 participants that joined this events. Each group consists of 5 members which made it 10 groups. I invited my course mates to join my team. My team consists of three boys and 2 girls. We have been asked to gather at the paintball arena at 2 o'clock at the evening. The briefing of the program started at 2:30 pm and the lecture was delivered by the supervisor of paintball arena. We have been told about the rules of the game. Since it will be done within one day, they create a grouping system and every group champion will forward to semifinal. The way this game is two teams will fight at the same time. they need to get the opponent's flag to win the match. If a participant is shot in the head and body, the participant is considered out. The victory of this game is determined by getting the flag of the opponent or getting rid of all the members of the opposing team. We are informed to comply with all rules and safety aspects while playing to avoid injury to players. Among the rules told is that players are required to wear helmets and vests when entering the arena area. In addition, shooting equipment must be carefully maintained to avoid damage or cause injury to other participants. Failure to follow these rules may result in the team being removed from the competition. After a briefing on safety and regulations, we were introduced to the shooting equipment. The gun in paintball is called paintball marker. It used compressed gas to propel the bullet which is dye-filled gel capsules through the barrel. We have been taught on how to use it properly and how to handle it with care since it was expensive equipment. After that, the first match of the game is started. We waited our match since we will be playing on second match. After 5 minutes break from the first game, my team name has been called out and we were ready to play. Unfortunately, we lost in our first game. Then we were moving on to our second and third game. Unluckily, we lost both of our games. Even though we were not win the competition, but still we were having so much fun and priceless experiences from this activity.
Responding
When I entered this competition, I felt very excited even though I have never played paintball before. It such a new experience for me and I took it as a new adventure in my life. Personally, I also felt nervous because I have entered the competition and will met other teams who are familiar with paintball. I started to feel a little bit down but I chin-up quickly and remind myself to keep cool. During the match, I still felt nervous but I manage to hold it because I have my friends who will played beside me. Even though at the end we did not win. I felt very satisfied because I get to be so close with my friends as we share a memorable memory and experience together.
Relating
During the games, I had to show a good manner and followed the rules that has been told as a participant. It is important to follow the rules in order to avoid unnecessary and harmful incidents from occur. As a good students, I must do the right things and not to cause any problem for the organizer. I also reminded my teammates to have fun and discipline when playing the game. This remind me of my past where I handle a program when I still in secondary school. As a facilitator at that time, it is hard for me to do my work if the participants did not cooperate with me and it will kept the program progress much worse. From that I realize that as a player, I have to behave myself so that I can contribute to ease the organizer job. As my father said,”
if we make people's work easier, then our work will be easier”.
Reconstructing
In a nutshell, BP Award Scout Scheme Extreme Paintball has been the outstanding experience for me. This program has got me a lot of lesson and taught me a lot. First thing, I learned that communication is important and is a significant aspect to improving myself. From the good communication, we can solve a lot of problems and become more cooperative with others. If we do not have a great communication, we are going to mess things up because there will be miscommunication when executing the plan. In order to run things smoothly, great communication skills is needed. I plan on joining more competition or group workshop in the future so that I can sharpen my communication skills more by meeting new people and solving a lot of problems. Furthermore, this program took my leadership skills to the next level. Personally, I do not getting used to be a leader since I am afraid of giving command and making big decision. From this program, I realize that there is nothing to be afraid of. Being a leader is not hard plus we can enhance my personality and critical thinking ability. By being a leader for my team, now I can work better in group because I gain so much teamwork spirit from the program. With this experience, I tend to be more consider as a leader and not just scold the teammate if they do wrong but instead asking him or her about the problem. As end of speech, this learning experience has taught me a lot of things even the academic class can not give this such experience. I sincerely not regret joining the activity and will always looking forward to join more activity like this.