What you in it for?

I just watched a cheerleading documentary on University of Kentucky cheerleading (3 times). It shows a season ups and downs the team faced in a year. It started with their annual tryouts, training sessions, camp, retreat, football games, basketball games, and finally ends with their UCA competition finals. The show touched on some issues and difficulties which a team would face, which I can personally relate to. But more importantly, it gave us an idea of how the elites and really professional cheerleading teams work, their culture and methods. It gives ideas and directions which we can study and implement the relevant things that can apply to us, to help us grow and develop.

The cheerleaders in Kentucky all know their stuff, and from the video, I can see that they can train very independantly. The coach is acting more like a facilitator role, more of bringing out the best in everyone and keeping everything in check. He never has to worry about the stunts and technique of the bases and flyers, as they are all very well polished. The cheerleaders gave me a image of being very discipline, they look after themselves, and knows what it takes to be in the squad. Not only do they have to train hard, they have to balance their studies, or they will be kicked out of the squad.

If it is possible, it will be very good for everyone to catch this documentary show and see for yourself. I hope that teams in Singapore can develop a program too that can suit us to improve and do well. And as individuals, appreciate what we have and not take things for granted, have more discipline and train hard independantly. Everyone should think more maturedly, and act more professionally. I am not saying to take all the fun out of cheerleading, but if that is what it takes to be successful (Kentucky 16 years Champions), and if that is what you want, there is always a time for fun and a time to be focused. Think about what you want, do you only want to be playing around having fun all the time or do you want to make the best out of your time in the sport and have some achievements and acomplishments?

P.S: Do you want to do it for leisure, or do you want to do it for the victory? There is always a place for either.

Irritating

Arrgh... My neck is hurting like mad now! So damn sian, think have to rest for a few days for it to recover.

100th Post

Our blog has been around for about 1 year and 3 mths. And finally this is our 100th post. Well there shall not be any elaborated "top 10 whatever" like in MDK, this blog is a simple blog. And i guess the best way to commemorate the 100th post is non other than just being simple, just like what this blog set out to be in the first place. 100 post ago and 100 post later, this blog shall remind the same, that is to share our experiences and passion for stunting.

Since the start up of this blog 1 year 3 months ago, we have grown and improved, and its nice to do through our experiences again from reading archives. From reading the archives, we can see how our thinking and beliefs changed in the past year. I guess as stunting improved, the mind improved too.

Ok, just to share with all some of my experience gained in the past couple of weeks. As you all know that I had been training physically and running quite a bit in the last 2 - 3 months. Haven really been able to train much of PS except the basic set of toss cupie, liberty tick tock and left cupie. No chance to try anything new, but can only revised on the old basics(Toss cupie which I first hit on July 2007, Left cupie first hit on January 2008 and Tick tock first hit on May 2008), due to the lack of training mates.

However, in the last few training sessions, I just discovered that I can actually do single base arabesque, something which I tried a few times b4 ages ago, but failed terribily. It just came out of the blue, like I unknowingly became equiped with that skill. Also there is this lying down and popping the flyer for 1 round on your palms drill, I also could not do it ever before, and in the last 2 days, I realised suddenly that I can do it. (It feels like in the matrix, they install the skill into your brain that sort of thing.) So how do I explain such sudden, "light of the bulb" phenomenom?

I guess its down to the basic physical conditioning that I have been doing, and also the basics. I am not a genius, and I wont say that, "oh I zai so suddenly just can do", it never happens like this for me. I was talking to Jiahao last night regarding a similar issue, that when you are injured, rest the injured part, but you can still make full use of the rest of the exercises you can do, unless you cannot even move out of bed. I am not injured, but it is the same sense, training your physical self is the most important, and you do not even have to do stunts, and then before you know it, you suddenly just up level. Basics also played a big part too, I have been training nothing fanciful, just my basics, and the results show.

Alright to sum it up, if due to injury, or lack of partner, etc, when you cannot do stunts, it will not go wrong if you do your own physical conditioning. Invest time to do that, someone told me investment on your ownself is never wrong. And never forget your basics, keep doing them.


P.S: How I wish I next can unknowilling do pop over.

Cupies

So how many cupie bases are there in Singapore as of now? I am wondering it should be around less than 20.

Leave a comment if you can do a cupie =)

Playing with cement

I have been putting up posts in this blog for sometime already. If you noticed, more of my posts are meant for guys instead of gals, or rather bases instead of flyers. This is naturally because I am a base; I have more personal experience for basing. This time round the post shall be dedicated to both flyers and bases, with some words for flyers towards the end.

In the past month or so, I have been roaming around a bit and got to interact with many cheerleaders, be it flyers or bases, from all sorts of places. I am very happy and glad that I can help them from my personal experiences. Most of the times, they will leave the training satisfied and happy that they had learnt and achieved something new. Then they will show their sincere appreciation, and I will feel faltered and a sense of achievement too, in being able to help them improve and most importantly to see them happy, with a boost of confidence and morale. However this is just most of the times, there are still some exceptions to this senario. Some may think along the lines of "I lag too far, or impossible to be done" and get demoralised, or they will think that I am "spoiling" the flyers. Gathering from all their inputs, good and bad, it sets me thinking quite a bit.

I would like to touch a little on what I believe are the basic fundamental roles of a flyer and of a base in a stunt, to a certain extent. To put it simply bases have to become like the ground that we are all standing on, and flyers just have to do like what they can do when standing on the ground. i.e holding a liberty, heelstretch, etc, while standing firmly on a spot on the ground.

So which role do you think is the easier one after reading the above? I would have to say that the flyer got the easier role, as all she have to do is to be able to be stable and do as what she will do on the ground. And as for the bases to become firm and sturdy like the ground is alot harder. This more or less makes the flyer the "passive" one and the base the "active" one. Flyers just lock and bases have to provide the platform and balance for the flyers.

From above, bases may feel that I am being very hard on them, expecting them to become like the ground, and all the flyers have to do is lock like they do on the ground. This is again due to the bases taking the "active" role and flyers the "passive" role. A prove for this fact is that when a very experience base, for example, tries a single liberty with a flyer who has never tried it before, (but can hold a liberty on the ground)chances are the experienced base can become like the ground, and the stunt will go up. However if you reverse the order - get a very experience flyer to try a single liberty with a base that never tried it before, chances are the stunt will not go up at all, because the base cannot become like the ground for the flyer to stand on. Therefore we can conclude that bases are the ones "active" and flyers "passive", bases are the ones more in control.

Ok now this part is for the flyers. Flyers, although I said that you are the "passive" role in a stunt, you definetly still have a important role to play. For example, do not think that you can do a heelstretch with a certain base then it means that you are the "constant" already. That if another base tries with you, and fails, it is not your fault. Do not think that you can do the stunt a few times means that you have mastered it. Ultimately for a stunt, it is the cooperation of both the flyer and the base for it to work. Do not make complaint or compare your base with other bases, just do your part to make the stunt work.

I shall use the analogy of the base being like a concrete ground and a wet cement ground. If the base you are doing with still have yet to become a "concrete ground", maybe just a "wet cement ground", the way you control your ankles will play a major role. If you stand putting more weight on your toes, i.e tipping, on a concrete ground, it may not matter. However on a yet solidified "wet cement ground", you will cause an imprint that is slanting, and you will not be able to stand as you will be sinking down forward. The same goes if you have loose ankles and keep twisting and turning them, you will end up causing the "wet cement" to form such an uneven surface that you end up falling too. Therefore, as a flyer, one way you can help is by locking your ankles and staying flat. This way you will be able to stand, even if it is on "wet cement". What I am trying to illustrate is that as a flyer, there are still many areas you can work on to help out the bases, and not only depend on the bases to become "better".

Therefore, up to a certain level, the base should aim to "harden and solidify" as soon as possible, and the flyer should aim to stand on different degrees of "drying wet cement", from the softest to the hardest. These forms the fundamentals for bases and flyers. Only with strong fundamentals then there can be further advancement, where flyers proceed to spinning and shifting weight on a stunt, instead of only standing, stunts such as full around and tick tock.

The most important thing I want to bring across here is to progress together as a partner, as a group, and as a team. Work hard, but be contented at the same time, the rewards will come in due time.


P.S: It is always just a matter of time, cement will always harden to become concrete.

"X-Skills Intermediate 6"

To those who noticed, X-Skills Intermediate 6 was not aired yesterday as scheduled monthly. This is due to some delay in production caused by our hectic schedule. We apologise, and will resume production as soon as possible.