Scholarship / Your ambitions and career plan- Sports Management Scholarship essay. [11]

I am also putting forth my response to the second question for the Scholarship. Please go through this everyone.Any suggesions, corrections( grammatical or otherwise) are most welcome. Please help me prepare the best response for these essays.

-Please explain how the programme you wish to study will help your career and personal development.( 600 words)

It's the last ball of the match. We need to score 5 runs off it to win, a win that would make us champions. Surveying the field placements, I pick my spot. Then the crucial moment comes, the ball is delivered. I go deep within the crease and bang! The ball sails over the rope for a six!

I was 12 when I began playing sport and it has been a major part of my life ever since. Both as a player and now as a professional working in the sports industry I am living a dream. A job where I love the work, can contribute, and can't wait to get to work. It is this passion for sport that has always encouraged me to keep learning and push myself to be the best I can be. Hence, in order to enhance my career in sport, I need a programme that will enable me to develop sector specific knowledge and build on my experiences through a structured programme of study.

SEE BELOW

Scholarship / Your ambitions and career plan- Sports Management Scholarship essay. [11]

Hello Mr. De Silva!

I am extremely thankful for your appreciation and valuable feedback. Really it has helped me answer the questions in the right way.
Regarding your suggestions for my second essay questions, I managed to squeeze in a short para at the end explaining the benefits. I wish I can add more.

Really, if only I had more time with this.Pushing the deadline to its limit at the momment.

PLEASE, go through it . Does it carry the flow correctly? Even as I go through it one last time, I would be happy to incorporate any important additions to it . Would appreciate a quick response.

It's the last ball of the match. We need to score 5 runs off it to win, a win that would make us champions. Surveying the field placements, I pick my spot. Then the crucial moment comes, the ball is delivered. I go deep within the crease and bang! The ball sails over the rope for a six!

I was 12 when I began playing sport and it has been a major part of my life ever since. Both as a player and now as a professional working in the sports industry I am living a dream. A job where I love the work, can contribute, and can't wait to get to work. My passion for sports has always encouraged me to keep learning and advance my skills to be the best I can be. This now prompts me the need to follow a structured programme of study that would help me develop sector specific knowledge while enabling me to build on my experiences.

SEE BELOW

Studying sports management in the UK this year also comes with an added opportunity to experience the Olympic legacy. There is no bigger event in sports than the Olympics. A chance to closely analyse best practices implemented to harness the sporting, economic, cultural, and environmental benefits of hosting such an event would be the best experiential learning to compliment my academic learning's at the university.

Hence, for these reasons I strongly believe that the decision to complete my Masters in Sport Management at a UK university would provide me with the necessary tools to further enhance my contribution towards the growth and development of sport in India.

Scholarship / Your ambitions and career plan- Sports Management Scholarship essay. [11]

Dumi! Apologies for the presumption...I really appreciate you taking the time to edit this.

However, I am not sure about the word count exceeding part. How did you get at it? because my microsoft word counter says it is all of 577 words and I also hand counted the same to cross check.

Please let me know regarding the same as it is confusing me .

Thanks...

Scholarship / Your ambitions and career plan- Sports Management Scholarship essay. [11]

Dumi! I have submitted my essay finally and its all done! (sigh)
Wish had more time to make it better....

Now I can only wait to see its fate :( hehe...
dat apart I am glad to have joined this website or else I wouldnt have recieved the guidence such as yours!

Thanks once again...

God Bless!

Scholarship / "Be consistent in doing what you believe is true despite critics" - NTU essay [6]

A few suggestions...
"Be consistent in doing what you believe is true despite critics, as one day time will definitely prove that what you believe is thatinvaluable and meaningful", this is a saying which always reminds me [ this is a saying that always comes to my mind

They told me not to be naïve as the education in countryside whichwhere I came from must not better than cantonal.

I neglectedignored them

Scholarship / NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE; Values and Beliefs you hold strongly to; SCHOLARSHIP [5]

From a boy who played around all the time to a man who enjoys reading, learning and thinking, I have become mature and sensible in these years.

His words hashave inspired me and taught me that failure is the best teacher to success.


You might want to end this differently. Scholarships are not given to the lucky ones but to those who deserve them. End with a convincing statement that makes you a deserving candidate for the scholarship

Scholarship / " The Grassroot Project"; Global Health Corps Fellowship essays [6]

Why are you applying for this particular position, and what skills or experiences do you have that qualify you for this position? What do you hope to accomplish in this position during your fellowship year? (Maximum 175 words each)

Being actively involved in the field of children and sport, I really liked The Grassroot Project's concept of involving promising young athletes from the neighbourhood to educate children about HIV/AIDS awareness and teach them life skills using a sports based curriculum.

My motivation to apply for this position is twofold -
a. As a curriculum developer in Physical Education, experience firsthand this innovative model to deliver life skills, health education as well as leadership programmes through the medium of sport.

b. Expand my knowledge and skills to design and conduct capacity building/train-the trainer programs for new recruits.
As a Programme Manager, I bring with me the following skills and experience-
1. Extensive experience of working with athletes across all age-groups and helping them reach specific goals and targets both individually and as a team
2. Demonstrated involvement in youth and community development as Volunteer for Global Exchange (a British Council, VSO initiative) in India and the UK.
3. Experience in working with the key stakeholders - children, school administrators and athletes.
4. Proficiency with Microsoft Word/excel/power point.

I am a firm believer in Sport as a powerful tool to promote education, health, development and peace. Given an opportunity I would like to learn as well as share best practices in the field of health and fitness education and take this learning back home.

During the fellowship year with TGP, I want to be actively engaged in developing specific intervention programs as well as enhancing the effectiveness of existing ones to mobilize the youth in making the right decisions regarding their health, safety, personal and social development.

As Program Manager, I hope to achieve success in -
1. Empowering student-athlete leaders with skills and experience to become a change agent. During the course of the year, I would like to help strengthen their initiative through collective and individual learning opportunities, mentoring and support

2. Developing a monitoring and evaluation mechanism that encourages sustainability and establishes a system which delivers results irrespective of changes in the people involved
3. Upgrading my training and programme coordination skills in a vastly diverse cultural and community setting

Scholarship / " The Grassroot Project"; Global Health Corps Fellowship essays [6]



Thank you SHanafi and Dumi, for your valuable insight. Actually , I am a bit confused in correctly addressing the 1st question " Why do you want to be a GHC fellow?" and the other " why are you applying for this particular position?"

I have made substantial changes to my answer 1st prompt. But it exceeds the word limit. Any suggestions for that?
Also please see answers to both my prompts below and I would appreciate feedback in knowing whether they accurately capture my reasons to apply for GHC fellowship and The Grassroot Project in particular

Why do you want to be a GHC fellow? (200 words)
As a professional working in the field of physical and health education, I strongly felt the need to have an innovative and inspirational approach in implementing programs that tackle health and fitness concerns among children and adolescents in India

It is with this realization that I found my calling. With a firm belief in the philosophy of "Fitness through Sport" I have strived towards achieving specific and measurable outcomes in assessing health related physical fitness (HRPF) of school students, identify those in the Obese as well as Underweight category and prepare nutritional and exercise plans to achieve healthy fitness levels.

The motivation behind applying for a GHC fellowship is to widen the scope and outreach of my involvement within the health and fitness domain. Through its partner organisation TGP I hope to gain experience in delivering an innovative Life Skills through Games program

Personally, joining the Health Corps will be an opportunity to combine my passion for sports and expertise in physical education with the desire to give back to the society. The corporate setup restricts my ability to make an impact only to those who can afford our services. I want to change this and the Health Corps will help me in making that transition by giving an opportunity to work for a dynamic NGO that utilizes Sport as a medium to achieve global health equity

Why are you applying for this particular position, and what skills or experiences do you have that qualify you for this position?
I really like The Grassroot Project's (TGP's) concept of involving promising young athletes from the neighbourhood to educate children about HIV/AIDS awareness and teach them life skills using sports based curriculum.

My motivation to apply for this position is twofold -
a. As a curriculum developer in Physical Education, experience firsthand this innovative model to deliver life skills, health education as well as leadership programmes through the medium of sport.

b. Expand my knowledge and skills to design and conduct capacity building/train-the trainer programs for new recruits.
As a Programme Manager, I bring with me the following skills and experience-
1. Expertise in co-ordinating design and delivery of high quality activity programmes at partner schools
2. Extensive experience of working with athletes across all age-groups and helping them reach specific goals and targets both individually and as a team
3. Demonstrated involvement in youth and community development as Volunteer for Global Exchange (a British Council, VSO initiative) in India and the UK.
4. Experience of working with the key stakeholders - children, school administrators and athletes.

Scholarship / " The Grassroot Project"; Global Health Corps Fellowship essays [6]

Hello everyone. I have this final revision to all the prompts. Urgently, require feedback if its good enough, as the submission date approaches (26th Jan)!...

Why do you want to be a GHC fellow? (200 words)

As a professional working in the field of physical education, I strongly believe in the philosophy of "Fitness through Sport" to develop innovative PE programs that have specific and measurable outcomes in assessing the 5 components of health related physical fitness of school students (viz. cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition)

Joining the Health Corps will help me to widen my scope and outreach by delivering health education through sports. By working for The Grassroot Project, I hope to gain experience in implementing an innovative Life Skills through Games program that encourages participatory learning of issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention information, stigma and discrimination

It will also provide a platform to combine my passion for sports and expertise in physical education with the desire to give back to the society. The corporate setup restricts my ability to make an impact on only those who can afford our services. I want to change this and the Health Corps will help me in making that transition by giving an opportunity to work for a dynamic NGO that utilizes Sport as a medium to achieve global health equity amongst the youth

Tell us about a time when you were part of a group that faced an obstacle and you came up with a creative solution. What was creative about this solution? Please focus on your role and its impact on the group. (300 words)

When I joined the Operations team of a start up in sports education programs, we were brainstorming on adopting a specific approach to be the base of our curriculum.

The previous approach of focussing on skill development was not giving the desired results as each child has different interests and abilities. Because of this some children lose confidence or interest due to the repetitive nature of the drills

With my hands on experience and personal approach to coaching, I shared with the team how learning by understanding generates the required curiosity and interest in acquiring new skills. In a PE environment, children's basic desire is to play games. Hence, using games first, followed by a questions approach, facilitates the understanding to learn new skills. This makes children proactively practice these skills to taste further success.

In order to test this, I prepared a pilot program for Cricket using the tactical approach and took the initiative to train our coach in its on field implementation. The program was very successful in delivering on our commitment to an inclusive- participatory sports program.

With the desired outcomes, I am now given the responsibility to upgrade our entire curriculum (across sports) and align it with the TGFU (teaching games for understanding) methods.

I think what makes this approach creative is the fact that it focuses on meeting the needs of the participants and facilitates learning instead of imposing them with instructions they are unable to comprehend. As a facilitator, the coach sets problems or goals by organising a game form, and students are given an opportunity to solve these problems. Through questions, the coach helps the students explore possible solutions to the problem and these solutions then become the focus of a situated practice.

Describe a time when you identified a social problem or injustice and took action to make a change. What did you do and what did you learn? (250 words)

According to UNESCO -
Right to Education is a fundamental human right which promotes individual freedom and empowerment and yields important development benefits.
Yet millions of children and adults in India remain deprived of educational opportunities, many as a result of poverty.
In my time as a volunteer for Global Exchange, our team identified this as a social program where we wanted to make a change and so in collaboration with URMUL (Rajasthan) and Pravah (Delhi), we undertook a survey on Education in two villages of Rajasthan to understand the extent of impact made by the recently launched RTE (Right to Education) Act in ensuring that children in rural areas get access to continued education.

The survey provided critical information with regard to the following aspects:
1. Enrollment of Students: Figures of enlisted students as against those who actually go to school.
2. Male to Female ratio of children going to school.
3. Average grade to which students go to school.
4. School dropouts and reasons behind it.

Based on these findings and with the help of the local NGO (URMUL) we tried to increase awareness by doing door to door campaigns, street plays and meetings with the local Panchayat.

We also realized that by providing innovative solutions like donating a bicycle to girl students goes a long way in ensuring their continued education, as most girls would drop out after grade 5 due to the long distances they had to travel on foot in isolated areas to reach school everyday

What principles or values guide your actions? Describe a specific time when you acted according to these principles or values. (200 words)

I firmly believe that every person in this world has to find his true calling to live a life of content and happiness. If we devote ourselves in doing the things we are passionate about, there will always be growth as we focus towards achieving excellence rather than success which is temporary.

I had always been passionate about sports. Hence, after graduating top of the class in school, despite severe parental and peer pressure, I chose to pursue my sporting ambitions. As I look back now, both as a player and a professional working in the sports industry, I am living a dream, a job where I love the work; can contribute and can't wait to get to work.

Apart from Passion, Fair play and honesty go a long way in shaping my values and belief system. For me, the means are more important than the end.

I try to inculcate these values in students through my coaching. After each game play I engage students in discussions regarding the importance of respecting the laws of the game, respecting your competitors as well as sharing and cooperating with your team mates as opposed to the winning at all costs attitude.

Why are you applying for this particular position, and what skills or experiences do you have that qualify you for this position? What do you hope to accomplish in this position during your fellowship year? (Maximum 175 words)

My motivation to apply for this position is twofold -
a. Experience firsthand this innovative model to deliver life skills, health education as well as leadership programs through the medium of sport.
b. Expand my knowledge and skills to design and conduct capacity building/train-the trainer programs.

As a Programme Manager, I bring with me the following skills and experience-
1. Expertise in co-ordinating design and delivery of high quality activity programmes at partner schools
2. Demonstrated involvement in youth and community development as Volunteer for Global Exchange (a British Council, VSO initiative) in India and the UK.
3. Experience of working with the key stakeholders - children, school administrators and athletes.

During the fellowship year, I hope to achieve success in -
1. Creating and maintaining collaborative partnerships with schools and community based groups
2. Empowering student-athlete leaders to become change agents.
3. Developing specific intervention programs that fit the particular needs and cultural context of the at-risk community in DC
4. Building collaborative leadership.
5. Developing a monitoring and evaluation mechanism that encourages sustainability.

Writing Feedback / IELTS: Who should care for the elders? [7]


In my opinion, this only repeats what is already stated in the prompt and does add much value to your response.

Also I agree with Mister Wandering, Its better to state your opinion and back it up with good logical reasons.

Apart from that, since the prompt specifically mentions about giving personal examples, I suggest addressing the same by giving examples of any personal experience or observation that influenced your opinion.