True strength comes from pushing yourself passed your limits, if you never experience weakness how can you push beyond it,so when you are faced with loss you have a choice, either pick yourself up dust yourself off and continue on, or give up, this is a true test of strength.
Passion is needed to be truly determined, as you need a reason to to push on to be able to say, 'I will not go quietly into the night, I will not go without a fight, I am going to live on, I am going to survive" it is what inspires people, it is that fire inside you that burns bright.
Fear helps us survive, it warns us to dangers, it helps us to instinctively save ourselves and others, one should be aware of their fear, understand their fear, but not live in fear, Courage is pushing through this, despite your own fear.
If a person always compares themselves to others and what they can do, then this person will always come up short to someone, this is why it is best to compete with yourself, to push your limits beyond what you can currently do, this is the road to perfection, you cannot see over the horizon, and there is no end, although it is worth it as every step you take brings you closer.
Have you ever come across a situation where your friend "jio" you to play partner stunt, but the flyer is someone not so experienced and you have difficulty in stunting, hence you decide not to go? Because you thought you go also no use because you will end up not being able to stunt much and become the spotter most of the time. But then later your friend got another flyer that is someone small and experienced and ask you to go again. This time you feel that you can stunt and learn alot from her, therefore you decide to go.
It is just like a friend "jio" you to go out from NTU to Taman Jurong to eat, but ask you to cycle there, you decide not to go. Then later he says he got a "small and experienced flyer", a car to drive you there, you decide to go.
Does it matters so much to train with less experienced flyer? Must one always have the luxury of training with a experienced flyer? Is it no car means cannot go out? No car means no value? Got car then can go out? Got car then people will follow you? I guess it really is the case these days, you have nothing they need, they kick you away. This is life.
But I would like to urge all not to think like above. For me I think that we all have to train with various different flyers of all levels of experience. This is the only way that one can improve, this is the only way you can feel your mistakes. Do not always think that you can deserve the luxury of training with experienced flyers. If you only train with experienced flyer, no one will like it and they will not ask you again in future.
Hmmm... What is me with cars and public transport today? Keep giving analogy with them. I guess it must be the 1 and 1/2 hour of journey that inspired me with these analogy. I got to realised and achieve "enlightenment" to things which has always blurred my judgement.
P.S: Sorry I am not able to upload or send the pictures and videos today as I am very tired from the long journey, thanks to myself for being "sua ku". Need to rest early. Till some other time ba.
Another experience of spotting I would like to share with everyone.
A base and a flyer wanted to try the toss up hands, hence naturally they called for a spotter. The base tosses and catches the feet, but the flyer weight was behind and he could not control it, causing the flyer to fall back. The spotter was around but could not react fast enough to catch the falling flyer. End result, the flyer fractured her wrist. The base was in shock and afterwards together with some others complained the spotter for being too slow, not directly in front of him, but when they discussing the AAR. So whose fault or responsibility is it? The base's, or the spotter's
It was suppose to be a routine catch from the spotter of a stunt they did many times before, but the spotter missed. Although the spotter was being so nice and is the only person who comes along to spot, I would still have to say it is his responsibility and fault, he was the last line of defence.
A similar analogy will be when you kindly drove your friends out for supper, and you park your car without putting coupon. Your friend did mention to you that the ticket officer come here to check often, but you did not hear properly hence you did not put the coupon. Afterwards, you came back and you were summoned 30 SGD for failing to put coupon. So whose responsibility and fault was it? Yeah you are right, it was the "spotter's". Although you were being very nice to your friends by fetching them around all the time, end of the day, it is still your resonsibility to "catch the flyer", to put the coupon. Even if "it was your friend who dropped the flyer"; it was your friend who did not remind you clearly enough that the checks are very often, but it is still your wrong and your irresponsibility to "not make that routine catch", to not put the coupon.
So morale of the story is if you are spotting, spot well. It is the spotters responsibility to put in his best to spotting. And also bases please be grateful or at least appreciative to your spotters who come along to help you even if the flyer did not fall, cause all it takes is 1 fall.
If I was the spotter in the above senario, and I found out that the bases was ungrateful, unappreciative and worse of all speaking behind my back, I will never spot for him again. Bases you would not want that situation to happen right?
When it comes to spotting, I have witness many different kind of spotters and many different senario, just like to share my thoughts so that others may learn from my experiences.
When it comes to spotting, is it always the more people the merrier? I would not think so. Too many spotters may get in the way of each other and in the end no one catches the flyer or something even worse.
Let me give a senario... Lets say we are all training for Japan competition and it is now break time. You wanted to play some partner stunts. Its like say you just learn the cupie for 1 week and you are not that stable yet and therefore you ask for more spotters. Ok, the 1st person comes along and spots your back, then another 3 people came and volunteered to spot, so now there is 1 standing at the back, 1 front, 1 left and 1 right, a total of 4 people, getting all angles covered and each knowing where to catch when the flyer falls.
But you are kiasu and decide to over kill in case you thought 1 might "miss" so you called up another guy from all the way across the mats, cos he is the so called "spider sense" in the team, to come and help you spot too. The 5th guy don't know where to spot as all the places are already taken up, so he stands at the back, beside the 1st guy that came. You proceed to do your cupie and it was not stable hence the flyer fell back. The 1st guy would have got it covered, but the 5th guy being the "spider sense" guy dashes in and knocks the 1st guy out catching the flyer, while the 1st guy was knocked off and sprain his foot in the process.
The first guy was injured and had to stay out of the coming Japan competition, and he happened to be 1 of the guy doing round-off back tuck in a team so lacking of people who could do gymnastics. No amount of apology is going to be of use, as he misses the Japan trip, 1 of the most important competition to him, and no one else, other than those already doing, can do the round-off back tuck. Saying sorry is NO use, the damage is done.
Therefore morale of the story is do not get so many people if 4 is enough for that particular stunt. Its not always the more the merrier or the safer. You might 弄巧反拙, i.e getting the 1st guy hurt, and sometimes the damage is so big that it might even affect your competition chances, and the damage is irreparable.
P.S: Being the 1st person means nothing these days.
Its now 2315 hrs, some thoughts that I had in my 1 and 1/2 hour trip home from PPCC.
It must have been quite a long time since I last took a public transport that last over an hour. I have always been going around places in the comfort and luxury of my small but sufficient car. And it was the first time I took the north east line by myself, ok at least got Ken to accompany me for a while and then for the rest of the journey the music from my always reliable Sony Ericsson K750i.
I have to say that I was really an IDIOT... First I did not know when to alight to change to the east west line. I know at the back of my head it was Outrum Park, but I was just seating and waiting till I missed the stop. I had to get down at Harbour Front and take the train back to Outrum Park or so I thought. Therefore I got down and proceded across the platform and waited for the train to come. I waited for about 15 mins and yet I did not sense anything wrong, till a cleaner aunt came over to me and told me that the train only comes on the other platform, as Harbour Front was the end of the line. I was like WTF, I wasted my time waiting for a train that will not come. I did not even have to get down from the original train in the first place. At least 4 trains have zoom pass my back without me knowing.
I am really "Sua Ku", if people saw me waiting, they must be laughing their heads off. But at least I was touched by the cleaner aunt's help, there is still some helpful people out there. I guess I should learn to take the public transport more often, there are so many things which you can see and observe which you cannot have if you were driving. You get to see the ugly and selfish sight of people. People rushing and pushing into the train just to get a seat. I am not a saint myself, I would have rush in too, if I was in the mood and not so tired. I myself should be more considerate; I am so sweaty and smelly that I should have just paid the measly 15 SGD, afterall I am working, to take a cab home myself and stink only 1 person instead of the whole train.
Stunting is pretty much the same as the above senario, If you always have the luxury to stunt with a flyer that is good and light, your stunts always goes up, but you will not get to feel and learn the hard way. Its just like driving around in a car, you never get to see the outside world, the hardship that others face everyday. Taking the public transport more often helps you see and get out of your "well". One should occasionally stunt with a inexperienced, heavier flyer, the stunt may not go up, but so that he knows that there is still a world out there, that he must still improve the hard way.
Therefore to all out there... "Don't drive all the time, take the public transport, at least then you get to see the ugly and selfish sight of people, and also the nice and helpful side of some. Take the public transport more often so you will not be as "Sua Ku" and naive as me" = Don't always live in luxury and stunt with the good and experienced flyer, try to go the long way to boarden your horizon and improve your skills by stunting with the more inexperienced flyer.
Been going to gym a little more regularly the past 2 weeks. I thought I would have improved on my strength, from doing all the partner stunts recently, but I was totally wrong.
What I am carrying are "light" weight. I cannot even complete a set of 8 of 40kg bench press, whereas the other guys in my team are benching a minimum of up to 80kg with more ease than me. I could not even do 40kg squats without feeling my back going to break, whereas the others are doing 100kg and above. My dead weight lifts are only at 50kg, for a sets of 10, whereas the others are lifting close to 100kg.
These are about it for the major muscle groups, which I totally sucked. The same story goes for the minor muscles such as the biceps, triceps etc. I think my best is doing the arnold press, but so, there is such a major muscle inbalance, the back of my shoulder is completely negligible or as they say "concave in" as compare to the centre of the shoulder. Now neither do I have strength, nor do I have a proportionate, nice physique. (Some people not much strength but at least they have a nice body, I have neither)
It can be a little sad to go gym with these guys, it makes you feel so bloodly weak, they can thrash me without even breaking a sweat. I guess I have to be more positive instead. Ok some positives... This would mean that while others are using strength, I am using technique to compensate for my lack of strength when doing stunts. And out of those who can lift such heavy weights, only one of them can do a cupie. And the one that can do a cupie is of a heavier weight category than me(by at least 10kg). Also I maintained a reasonable mass to strength ratio, which means I am still able to do a standing back tuck and at the same time I am also able to do a toss cupie. Non of the "heavy lifers" can do unassisted handstands or handstand walks, showing that they have yet to harness 100% of their strength and distribute it to the whole body. To everyone out there, this shows that technique itself can indeed take you very far.
Ok now that my technique has taken me thus far, and I realised that I am very weak, it is time I hit the gym more often and build up those muscles and strength to compliment with my technique. This is the only way to go from doing full up hands to full up to extensions, from doing press up liberties to doing full around liberties, and then to doing liberty tick tocks and cupie pop overs, and from doing toss cupies to doing rewind cupies.
If one is in cheer long enough, one will get to experience the constant grapple of strength and technique. At some point of time, your technique will be more than sufficient for your strength, and then at another point of time, your technique is not enough, then at times your strength is alot and yet you do not have the technique to use it. There are some stunts, having overpowering strength, and you do not need much technique to do it, also there are some stunts, having all the strength in the world with no technique, you still cannot do it. One will have to learn to juggle between this 2 entities as they work their way up the ladder of cheerleading.
Exactly a month has passed since 16/03/08, the day we won the Cheerobics title. Today is our Cheerobics 2008 winning "1 month-versary", also snow's first day of exams (and exactly 7 months to my birthday, a bit out of point, haha).
Therefore it is fitting that I commemorate the occasion with a tribute to my dearest partner today, for all her hard work and efforts over the years in helping to make today our "1 month-versary" a reality, and also as an "exam gift" to help her through the exams.
Scroll down only if you have about 45 mins to spare...
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A tribute to Xuewei – (X-Wonder)
It all started out with a cheerleading performance in 2001 with her Sec 4 class. Xuewei and a friend jointly choreograph the routine, getting inspirations from the movie “bring it on”. Being the smallest, she became the top flyer of the routine, and her hardest stunt in the routine being a very modest double thigh stand.
Xuewei then moved on to Ngee Ann Poly soon afterwards. With the wonderful experience of cheerleading still fresh in her mind, she went for a very short stint of around 2 weeks with the cheerleading squad in her Poly. She got to try out some harder stunts such as shoulder stand and elevator. Due to her extra classes at night, she could not continue.
For the next 3 years, Xuewei took a step back from cheerleading, with her passion for it lying dormant inside her. Then in 2005, she got into NTU. And when she got to know of the cheerleading team in NTU, she decided to give it another go. She managed to ease through the tryouts with her prior experiences and Aces is where she finally got to hone her skills in cheerleading.
It started off very well for Xuewei and she got to learn all the basic sets of stunts, including different ways of mounting elevators, extensions, liberties and partner stunting. She got to take part in some cheering assignments, such as cheering for the Army Half Marathon, where she gained valuable exposure. She was also named the “Best Female Cheerleader” during Annual Cheer Training Camp 2005. Their Thai coach also singled her out as a great potential for the future. Xuewei’s cheerleading future was bright and shiny, and at that point of time no one could ever imagine what she would become in a few years time.
However, like the fate of many greats before they become who they are, Xuewei suffered a terrible setback at her pinnacle during that time. She fell hard from a liberty and damaged her left knee ligament, just one week after the camp. This was her single worst injury in her cheerleading career. (Also became her trademark of wearing a left knee guard in future on.) It was such a big blow to her and she could not train stunting for months and had to be left out of Cheerobics 2006.
But being a very strong and determined girl, Xuewei never gave up; she fought on and after months of physiotherapy and hard training, she managed to recover sufficiently and with her strong pain tolerance, to join her first competition for Aces. She took part in the Cheer Rock Dance Category 2005, where her team came in 1st Runners up. She then performed her dance routine in NTU Sports Expose, her first school dance performance. With further physiotherapy and conditioning, she was only back in full stunt training in May 2006.
After she recovered, Xuewei took part in her first full Aces school performance with stunts in the NTU International Student Meet. Then it was soon followed by her first full public performance for The Great Singapore Sale and Toshiba Road Show. After that she was involved in many other performances, gaining more exposure and experience each time. During the same period, she undergone 3 months of intensive trainings during the holidays, Xuewei pick up from where she left as if she was never away. She got to try the toe pitch, such as toe pitch 2-2-1 and toe pitch Swedish falls. She also did her first ever toss back tuck.
Then Xuewei went with Aces to Thailand for a training camp. In her 2 weeks training camp, she even got to do her first cupie among all other stunts with Daniel, an ex-all star cheerleader from the states. The 2 weeks was intensive and she got to learn the toe pitch 360, toss pike, pop twist, walk to hands, some basic transitions and lots of different pyramids. Many of her firsts were learned over there, it was really an eye opener and a very fruitful trip for her.
Xuewei brought back all that she learned and practiced hard for the remaining of the holidays. Further to that, she also learned the pop front tuck and flybird. (Check out X-Wonder in Training 1) In the midst of the intensive trainings she also helped out the NYGH students and performed for their Gym Fiesta Performance. She was also given more responsibilities to the club by becoming the financial controller of year 06/07.
It was also during this long holiday when X-Wonder was formed. It was formed jointly on 05 August 2006 by Xuewei and Xingwei to learn and promote partner stunting in Singapore. She started to learn single liberty during the holidays too and by the end of the holidays, during the clinic for the Aces freshmen, they came out with X-Wonder set 1. It was a simple short partner stunting routine, in which she showcased an unassisted single liberty with her partner. (Check out X-Wonder Set 1)
X-Wonder took off after that and came up and tried many new tricks. Many till now were not showcased yet, because of the urge to come up with better ones. Xuewei has now become Aces top flyer and successfully returned from her injury. Everything was very smooth sailing for her then, and she grew from strength to strength. Determination and strong will, was her strength, but also her weakness. She had spent the last 5 months training so hard, completely forgotten that she had just recovered. She was not giving her body ample rest, that her left knee start to show signs of weakness and pain again. Her left knee got injured once more while trying cupie with her inexperienced partner.
It was a recurrence of the old injury, and it had to come just 1 week before the Annual Cheer Training Camp 2006, when they got their Thai friends to come down and help again. Xuewei was again very dejected and could only watch as the others trained during this period. She was out of action again till after the exams in December 2006. The recurrence was actually a blessing in disguise for her, as she needed that break, before she embarks on the tough training for Cheerobics 2007.
Before Cheerobics 2007, Xuewei also got her IFC Class 1 certificate in Dec 2006, her first coaching credentials. And after that, she went on to co-coach NTU hall 4 in their annual Inter Hall Cheerleading competition in Jan 2007. This was her first taste of coaching. Hall 4 managed to get 5th out of a total of 15 halls.
Xuewei got her taste of first live telecast television program on the finals of Super Star Competition. It was a mere 1 min and 30 secs of fame, but the experience and exposure gained was invaluable; no mistakes can be afforded as it was a live show. After this final performance before Cheerobics 2007, she had gathered enough confidence and experience to take on the national stage.
The sweat and tears of training for Cheerobics could never be summed up in words. Xuewei had to endure a lot of hardship, tough training, falls and pain. But in summary, she got to master all sorts of difficult stunts and pyramids, most notably front handspring front tuck to Swedish falls and toe pitch gladiator. Her perseverance and determination were rewarded when the team got champions at Cheerobics 2007. She had finally made her mark at the national stage. She will be one to remember and look out for in future.
After her efforts at the Cheerobics, Xuewei got to go to Japan to represent Singapore. It was the first time Singapore is sending a team to represent her in the Asia International Cheerleading Competition. What a great honor it was to be representing her country. Just when she thought that winning Cheerobics 2007 was the high point of her career, what she saw in Japan changed her mind completely. She realized from the teams competing in Japan that there is still much more to cheerleading and also much more to get out of her. The trip to Japan proved to be the driving force behind her to continue to motivate her to achieve greater heights and aim for the sky.
In May 2007, right after the exams, Xuewei was handed the captaincy of the team for year 07/08, for showing throughout the last year what a great leader, role model and motivator she was. The 3 month holiday training this time round was purely in Singapore, but it was equally as tough. With Xuewei as captain, she made sure that everyone in the team maintained a high level of fitness. She knew that this was a key for improvements. She brought about changes such as running on the track with timing, climbing of stairs, weights training. She led by example and became the fittest of her team, even winning guys in her team. She was nick-named “chicken chop” for her well defined back muscles that always showed when she wore her razor back t-shirt.
With her hard and dedicated training in the off-season, together with gymnastics classes at SJI, Xuewei improved further by leaps and bounds. She became the first in Singapore to do a toe pitch full-up 2-2-1 and toe pitch full-up gladiator, and then full-up hands soon followed. She also got to do a standing back tuck on her own. Her aim to become a great toss flyer also brought her to learn the toss layout in SJI. (Check out X-Wonder in Training 2.) It was her determination, her passion, her goal that drives her on, never stopping at each obstacle. It took months of preparation, fitness, body control training and conditioning work to achieve the things that she achieved in this off-season.
Aces invited the Taiwan friends they made in Japan to fly down in September 2007 for their annual training camp. With all the foundations in place, Xuewei was able to benefit and learn a lot from the superb bases and fantastic flyers. She got to learn the proper body posture, the right way to control herself while doing stunts, the way to jump etc from the flyers themselves. And she got to try advance stunts such a cupie pop over, liberty tick-tock, full-around, full-up liberty and lots more with the bases from Taiwan. In all the whole experience with the Taiwanese was really like a dream come true and she really benefited not just through looking, but also physically trying out the stunts.
Xuewei carried on to train hard and now armed with all her experiences from 30 over performances live, coaching, local and overseas competitions, and guidance from overseas coaches, she was fully equipped to raise herself to another level. Seeing is believing and now there are no limits or boundaries to how far she can go. Tosses such as pike open, pike kick open and twist layouts now seemed attainable by her.
Xuewei got her IFC Class 2 certificate in Dec 2007 and became 1 of the 4 only IFC Class 2 certified coaches in Singapore. After getting the IFC Class 2 certificate, she went on to put her coaching skills to the test again. Xuewei again co-coach NTU hall 4 in their annual Inter Hall Cheerleading competition in Jan 2008. Other than coaching hall 4, she also performed in HO with Aces as guest performers, the first time in HO history. They put up a great show and it was also her last performance before Cheerobics 2008.
Xuewei trained very hard for Cheerobics 2008. Not only did she improve a lot again this time round, she also helped a lot of new, inexperienced bases hone up their skills. Although she took many falls and injuries during Cheerobics trainings, she held back her tears and went on to put up the show of her cheerleading career. Together with Aces, she put up a routine worthy of setting the standards for many years to come, with Xuewei doing ground breaking tosses in Singapore, such as twist layout and pike out. She also did the only full up 2-2-1 in Singapore during the routine. Xuewei had captained Aces to the champions. Aces and Xuewei will always be remembered as one of the greats in the history of Singapore cheerleading.
Xuewei definitely had grown from a fresh fragile little cheerleader into a tough, matured, experienced one. Xuewei is a great player, a great captain, and most importantly, a great cheerleader. The road is still long and unfinished, her legacy lives on. Xuewei is truly a living legend that had grace the cheerleading scenes in Singapore.
Performance for Singapore Recreation Club 29/June/2007
This performance was something special for me. It was my last public performance for NTU ACES. Having been involved in over 50 performances in my past 3 to 4 years, I still felt stress with this last one. This performance had to be one of the most pressurizing I have done. It was the first time I was going to attempt a cupie in a performance routine. I wanted to go out with a bang.
But sadly, I did not manage to do my cupie in that performance. I guess the stress is getting to me too much. It was my first try, and also my last, at my last performance. I remembered that snow was not willing to do it at first, but it being my last performance, I kept insisting and plead her to do it. I was desperate.
This performance was also the performance that I did my first standing back tuck with jeans and all on hard concrete, the one I did at Clementi MRT station. Why is it that it always has to be till the last moment before one comes up with things he never thought he would ever do? Is it so that he will not have any regrets?
But what about if you failed at your last attempt? Does it signal that the time is not ripe yet, that you still have unfinished business for it to be the last? Well I guess I will not find out until the moment comes. Will I go for it one more "last" time?
This story just tells me there is no such thing as the last time, there is always unpredictable number of times, and the road is never ending, unless you decide to end it yourself. It is about how much you wanted it.
Hopes and dreams are always out there to be achieved, you never know when you are not going to make it, unless you give up on your on hopes and dreams. The last time may very well also be your first time. Never quit on your passion, for one day your dreams will be realised in one form or another. You just have to believe!
P.S> I used to tell myself that I will only quit when I did the toss cupie. (It was at a time when I can only do very basic stuff, and I never thought that I will be able to achieve something like the toss cupie at that time.) Now that I have achieved toss cupie, I still felt like there is alot of other stuff for me to learn. I will not quit yet. Do not set limitations for yourself, free your mind, you can achieve anything. Reach for the universe....
I remember the first time I tried doing handstand was when I just got into ACES. I saw a few seniors playing around and I thought hey like quite fun then I started following them. They also did not told me why they are doing it, they did not say anything about handstand being the basics and is very crucial or anything like that at all. Either they were just playing around, or they wanted me to find out myself. (In the past, knowledge is very limited and real live examples were not there, you have to turn each stone to find out and try for yourself.)
My handstand was ok when I started out, can hold for a few seconds, but I never took it seriously. I only started to take it seriously after 2 years, after I gain more knowledge and got more exposure. I started to train more and more handstands. I remembered by end of 2006, my handstand was quite ok, able to hold for more than 10 secs. It was before I started serious training for cupie.
Ever since I started training hard for (right)cupie, I stopped doing handstand for that few months. It was all the way till near the end of 2007, after I am quite comfortable with doing Right cupie, then I started back my handstand training regime. To my horror, I was not able to hold my handstand anymore, not even for 2 secs. I was very puzzled and I did not understand how could it be so. I seek advice and asked alot of people, even ex gymnas cannot give me a answer to my dilemma. I did some research and readings but still was not able to come up with an explanation.
The only thing I know is that I need to solve this problem, and that I have the determination to do so. I kept trying, even if I were to just fall each time. After a while, I started to suspect that it was because my left hand was too weak, the inbalance was so much that my body was leaning to one side, hence my handstand kept falling. No one can confirm this with me, therefore I had to try myself, only I know my body the best. I started to train arnold presses with only my left arm, increasing the weight gradually till it matches that I can do with my right. At the same time I also carried on my handstand training.
True enough, in one months time, my handstand improve alot, surpassing my previous standards(I now can handstand for over 30secs). My theory about the left being much weaker was correct. Now I know the reason, while training for Right cupie, my right master arm grew much stronger than my left, so much so that there was a huge inbalance. It is definetly a bad thing, especially in cheerleading and when you want to progress to more than just being only a "right side guy".
Sharing my experiences from my point of view, so that anyone out who reads this can benefit and learn from them, and do not have to take the huge detour to learning, because I know how tough it can be.
This is not the first time I emphasize, remember to train your weaker arms at the same time as you train your master arm. Do not delay the difference by too much, or else you will have to take the long way around. Start before its too late.
I was in total shock when I heard our grp stunt came in 2nd runner up during cheerobics. Our full around stunt failed and hence our tick tock low tick tock high also did not get to do. I would say we absolutely did not train for it.
People will go, you must be kidding, how can be never train at all... Well if you let me explain what training means in my point of view and you will understand. Training is when you put in effort to learn to do a new stunt or to perfect it. For us the training part was way before cheerobics, where we learn those stunts, and after that short period, the skills where just put aside. (Its like I know how to do shoulder stand but I never did it since a long time ago.)
For us, we did not train, we merely join the counts together to form that routine. We ran through that grp stunt routine like only 2-3 times with music and off we went to compete, just for the fun of it. I am not trying to sound boastful or talk big here, but its the truth, and if one were to ask people around us, they will tell you the same thing.
This is also one of the reason we were dumbfounded when the result were announced, the main reason still being because we failed stunts. After everything settle in, I thought to myself, how come we won? Then after some thoughts and viewing the routine that we did with "eyes" from few years back, I realised how difficult our routine actually was.
Lets just talk about the simplest stunt of all that we did, 2 toss to hand liberty. It has become a everyday stunt for us, something like a shoudler sit, which you know will not fail. But in actual fact, it is something that most in Singapore cheerleading scene will find it a huge challenge. This is when I realised how come we won, we won simply with the ease of doing toss to hands single lib.
I never fail to emphasize on basics over and over again, and I guess some people are bored of hearing it. Even few years down the road, I will still be talking about it, just because it simply is so important, and safety comes hand in hand with it. Basics is a chore, but if you do it well, you will definetly see progress and the level of your basics will raise us well. (Basics for a start may be elevator, then as you improve, your basics may become toss to hands, then as you move on your basics is now single extension, then maybe next to liberty, then to cupie, so on and so forth. Each person's basic will be different from another, depending on the level you are at.)
For us the grp stunt win was merely a showcase of our basics. It is not the training prior to the competition that really mattered, it is the years of training way before it that mattered. Competition training merely help you boost your confidence and help to take you to another level.
On a side note, I know I should not say this, but I do not feel any sense of achievement with this win, we did not work hard for it, nor did our stunts go up nicely. The feeling is a vast difference from winning the open team catagory, where we train our hearts and souls out for it. If given a choice, I rather not have this grp stunts medal, it should go to a more deserving team that trained hard for it. It does not feel good to win by going out there to do "shoulder sits and elevators", if you get what I mean. Afterall winning is not everything, the process matters much more.
Again I am very sincere and meant what I said, and I am definelty not trying to be boastful nor a hypocrite here, just doing some self reflection and writing about my thoughts and feelings.
I want to truely feel what it is like to be a winner (Grp Stunt), I will take this year and train real hard for next year. Its going to be a different game next year. I will show it!
Japan, Taiwan, Thailand... How I wish I can go for all 3 of them in this upcoming "holidays". Not my holidays, but for those still studying. To say I dread my work also cannot, at least it does not eat away all my time.
I am just feeling a little restless these days, its like nothing to look forward to. I doubt I can go for all 3 trips coming up, unless I want to burn all my leave and suffer for the rest of the year.
It seems like there is time for me now, but at the same time also not enough time. More time than during Cheerobics, but then still not enough pursue alot of things that I wanna do. Sometimes, with the extra spare time, it can also becomes an agony, too much time to rot, but not enough time to focus on what I want. Sometimes I just wish that all my spare time is taken away from me, at least then I do not have to rot so much and feel so useless and alone.
Humans are just the greatest contradictors. Always looking for the grass out there. And I think I am the worst of the lot, not only looking for green, but also looking for grass of other colours.
What rubbish am I talking about, pardon me for my random rumblings. I just need a direction or a sign.
Lets hope watching some videos can lighten up my mood.
"I wonder does superman need a compass when he flies..."
