B&B with Kandy Metro was initiated by the Rotaract club of Kandy Metropolitan as the very first project under the sports and recreational avenue for the year. This project was initiated as a start to prepare the members for RCL which is just a few months away. The project was names B&B because we identified within our club members the interest they have for 2 very popular sports which is Basketball and Badminton. This was not solely a project focusing on sports and recreation, we also ensured that through this the club members bonded as we had many prospective members attending this session too. Furthermore, we also invited other clubs to join us to make this a much more fun event while building friendships with our very own rotaractors from other clubs. This project didn’t limit to just this, it was also a mini fundraiser for the club with was another individual sector we focused on during this project.
All the members turned up at sharp 4.30pm which gave a smooth start to the project. Everyone started off with a warm up session as it has been ages since most of us were playing after our school days. The excitement and enthusiasm in everyone were priceless. After the warm up session, we divided the members in to groups according to their preferred sport. Individually everyone did practice and also helped each other as we had many new faces to the sport.
The members were being very helpful as they thought the newbies about the rules and how to play these sports. The groups then teamed up to place mini matches against each other. These were called friendly matches but on the basketball side we saw how things were so intense it felt like the spectators were watching a real NBA match. On the other court playing badminton we saw how the member participation increased there as many people started to like the sport and wanted to learn the sport. Most spectators ended up playing. Both courts were ultimately full with players. This seemed like a great start to the sports and recreational avenue. Everyone was so interested and engaged that we had to extend the court booking by another hour.
Towards the end we started distributing the refreshments to all who participated and had a small fellowship getting to know each other from other clubs. Further, our club members started planning and teaming up for RCL too. It felt like a long day for everyone as it has been so long since most of them took some time off their busy schedules to play a sport. However, everyone enjoyed and felt the importance of staying fit which is why we ended up having many requests to organize sessions like this more often which we look forward to do as requested by the participants.