HO 2010

HO 2010 is finally over, but the fever will last long into the semester as some cheerleaders try to get over the feeling of having alot of time, and also the urge of doing stunts, build up from the "addiction" over the last 2 - 3 months.

As usual, days after HO, videos, photos, comments, discussions will be going around on facebook, msn, blogs, tag board, youtube, twitter, status, emails, etc. (The ever increasing moods of online communication)

For me, unfortuanately and fortuanately my comapany block almost every means as stated above, except email. So my "Email Kakis" too had our own little discussion of HO, like everyone else.

As I am lasy, I just copied and paste the whole email thread here. I also hidden their names except mine,(although they did give me premission to use their names)just in case some people decide to be funny with them.

Pls read from bottom up. (Those working should know how email threads are like)
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From: Liu Xingwei [liu.xingwei@AAA.com]Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 10:20 AM

To: AAA; BBB; CCC; DDD

Subject: RE: Outstanding notifications

I think what we discussed here quite valuable and informative.

Dun mind I kop all the discussion and publish on my blog? Haha.

Liu Xingwei
Engineer
Mechanical

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From: AAA Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 10:39 AM

To: BBB; CCC; DDD; Liu Xingwei

Subject: RE: Outstanding notifications

i feel like helping out again..if there's a chance.I would like to do it better than this year.

AAA

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From: BBB Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 10:23 AM

To: Liu Xingwei; AAA; DDD; CCC

Subject: RE Outstanding notifications


but its true la...hall 7 had leslie all along, and chee hong who was the choreographer b4..thats y we could mix creativity with stunts...leslie always made sure the coaches didnt go the aces si ban lu xian...so doesnt it mean ur gonna help out with HO again next yr?


Best regards,

BBB

This e-mail is confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify us immediately. You should not copy or use it for any purpose, nor disclose its contents to any other person. Thank you.

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From: AAA Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 10:21 AM

To: BBB; DDD; CCC; Liu Xingwei

Subject: RE: Outstanding notifications

ya.. I agree on that. That Aces coaches more si ban.I realized it too late.Ha.. Hopefully, if there is a chance, can do it better the next year. Ha!Nevertheless, I still feel that they should not neglect on the Cheerleading aspect. I felt that hall 7 had the balance of both.

AAA

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From: Liu Xingwei Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 10:04 AM

To: BBB; AAA; DDD; CCC

Subject: RE: Outstanding notifications

Creativity for HO still very important as it will give the crowd appeal score. And prof also like it.

For HO the stunts hall 7 did was also considered difficult for hall standards liao, that is why plus with the creativity they won (and very stable, clean routine). If only creativity with simple stunts, my guess is that they wont win also.

So you have to see you what is the competition you joining. If its for Nationals, you have to use the nationals winning template. Which is not the HO kind. Everything has to be fast pace and stunts must be of very high standards.

As for ACES coaches, it is because they were primary trained for nationals, so their mind is more tuned to the nationals kind of template. Therefore more “si ban” as you all put it.

so when ACES coaches try to implement to hall, but yet hall cannot do as fast paced and difficult routines, they will lose out. so the only way is must counter the pace and difficulty with creativity.

Liu Xingwei
Engineer
Mechanical

___________________________________________
The information of this e-mail is strictly confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.

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BBB 01/29/2010 09:51 AM
To "AAA"; "CCC"; "DDD"; Liu Xingwei

Subject RE: Outstanding notifications

aces more on the si ban side? non-aces halls not zai enuf to whack whole routine of stunts prolly..haha

Best regards,
BBB

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From: AAA Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 9:58 AM

To: BBB; CCC; DDD; Liu Xingwei

Subject: RE: Outstanding notifications

but those halls coached by non aces are focusing more on the creativity aspect. Aces- more on stunts.hall 7- well balanced due to 2 different coaches.Leslie and Neville.

AAA

___________________________________________
The information of this e-mail is strictly confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.

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BBB 01/29/2010 09:37 AM
To "AAA" Liu Xingwei; CCC; DDD

Subject RE: Outstanding notifications

no la didnt copy this yr routine..haha i think cheer is still the focus lei...the marks are still majority on stunts n other technical stuff...

Best regards,
BBB

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From: AAA [AAA.com]Sent: Friday, January 29, 2010 9:41 AM

To: Liu Xingwei; BBB; CCC; DDD

Subject RE: Outstanding notifications

anyway, I think HO is too skewed towards creativity. Somehow, the focus is not on cheerleading. It has become the supporting actress and creativity is the main.I still feel that it should be a mixed. or rather cheerleading be the focus.

AAA

___________________________________________
The information of this e-mail is strictly confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited.

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"You can fool some of the people all of the time, all the people some of the time, but not all the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln

Sums it up

SG Cheerleaders

Cheerleaders who came into my life at any point of time, regardless of the duration, everyone made a change and impact on me in big and small ways (Those with blogs I know of, may be still active blogs or inactive ones)...
*Scroll over their names to go to the links.


ACES

Awesome: From the ranks of Hall Cheerleading to World Cheerleading; Cupie/Pop Over King

Heidi: Half of GPIGs

Kah Weng: When you finally decide to join ACES; you found your greatest passion

Li Jing: One of my favorite Hall 4 cheerleader

Lixiang: Friendly, Fun loving and Direct

MDK: A group of "talk cok sing song play MJ" cheerleaders from all walks of life

Minghui: Great as mid base, flair for stunts and great tumbler

Qiuyan: Top flyer and great dancer

Ruth: Email "kaki" at work

Shuning: My first batch of junior in ACES, 1 of ACES grand senior and made big contributions to the of start of ACES rise to become one of the best team in SG. All the best to your future and continue to support cheerleading =)

Ya Yun: My partner stunt partner for my last Cheerobics 2008

Yilyn: Finally found your blog, haha. A super lively, bubbly, open gal cheerleader. Very good in her language such as Jap and also some @$#% =)

Yirong: First few people who taught me about gymnastics

Yuen Bo: Best Gymnast in ACES to grace the mats of sports hall 1


WILDCARDS

Candy: Small and cute flyer who always tries her best to improve

Chaang Ru: First person to tell me how many grams of fats there is in a can of coke

Small Gary: Small guy with big dreams

Geraldine: Heard you are overseas now. All the best to your future and may you continue to cheer

Huishan: First knew you as the cousin of Shufen. In my opinion this girl works hard and put in her all for cheerleading. The most improved cheerleader of the team to me, since the first time I see you trained back in 2008

Jasmine: A flyer I know who will achieve greatness the first time I met her

Jayson: Very nice and humble person; national group stunt champion:- a great future lies ahead for you

Joanna: Did not get to stunt with you much, but a great top flyer you are. Love your full ups

Ka Hau: Think it was really by fate that we got to first meet in NYP

Ken: Guy who is obsessed with beating me in handstand

Regine: My partner for the first Cheerobics that we got champions; my first time doing toss to hands in a routine

Simin: Still remembered the happiness when the first time I did cupie with you

Vincent: This guy is one of the pioneer pioneer of cheerleader. Great player and continues to strive for excellence. As a coach, he is one of the best in the industry; got the whole package from stunts, dance, jumps, cheer, arm motions, ribbons, uniforms, music, etc. You can expect him to produce the results

Wei Hoe: I never fail to feel younger around you; always game for a back tuck

Winston: Very happy, fun loving and funny guy, never see you lost your temper even a bit before. Young and strong cheerleader; bench presses over 100kg

Yan Heng: A very self motivated and talented base; you improved by a great deal since we first met. Keep up the work to become an all rounded cheerleader


DENVERS

BB: One of the flyers that I had great admiration for; the kind that stands out immediately when I first met you

Harlis: One of the very powerful base in Singapore

Pamela: I remembered I still did not succeed a toss liberty with you since the last time we stunted

Sharon: I can still remember you were my partner during a partner stunt segment in our joint performance few years back; it's been quite some time

Sky: Hey, you are getting better and better in cheerleading since I last saw you stunt; will meet up with you when the time is right ok, you know what I mean

Wei Wei: First flyer to do Pop Over with a Singapore Base

Xinyi: I remembered the few times we used to chat on MSN, was really great chatting with you


LEGACY

Citra: A always hyper cheerleader, one of the strongest and most flexible mid tier, excellent dancer and also the few SG Cheer female who tumbles; put all that together - a great cheerleader

Jay: First met when you were in Magnum, now you have become an important base in Legacy. Great cheerleader and great job for Nationals Group Stunts this year. Continue to support VoM ok. =)

Michelle: It's been a long while since I stunted with you, but I can tell that you have improved tremendously from photos and videos; would love to stunt with you again someday

Superman: Heard of this guy before I actually met him; that is how great a person Andra is in SG Cheer


STEPPERS

Jiahui: Heard of you and was very impressed by your gymnastics before I actually officially got to know you when we decided to compete in CWC together. Hope you can continue to train hard and show your immense potential

Melissa: (Thought I should add more cheerleaders' blog from KR other than Jiahui's, so went exploring Jiahui's blog and got this link). Got to stunt with you a few times; remembered we did toss cupie. Very good and flexible flyer, my pleasure to stunt with you

Shiqi: (Got your link from JH's blog too). Seen you around cheer for some time, but only got to tried some toss to hands, toss to extension with you recently; the few times I went down to KR. Jiayou

Xinyi: Love your tosses and tumbling. Don't know if you remembered, I did a few Btoss with you as backspot during KRWC exchange. Glad to have spotted you for trying your FHS too


GENESIS

Karrie: Nice to meet you at NUS the other day. Work hard and you too can become a great cheerleader

Shermeeny: First got to know you when Ken brought you along for our gymming session. Then got to see you a couple more times and even got a chance to stunt with you. Very determined gal, the way I see you gymed the other day, work hard and listen to your coach Ken and you will have a great future ahead


GUSTO

Ainslie: A flyer I just got to know recently, another 1 of those that has full of potential to become truly exceptional if you train hard and train right

Clement: You have great tumbling skills and will become a great base, great cheerleader and also a great guy

Huimin: Only met you once, but from that I can tell you can become a very good mid-tier with your determination and strength

Kathe: Remembered I first stunted with you and we did arabesque, liberty and cupie in one go. You have a cheerful and lively personality too, the most important attribute of a cheerleader

Lydia: I think you were trained as a mid-tier, but you definitely have the qualities as a top too. Hope you enjoyed doing the toss up Swedish falls, which you got on your 1st try, and also 2-2-1 and gladiator. Good partner stunting too

Poh Kang: You are a nice and humble person, someone always willing to learn and help. You are definitely going to captain Gusto to greater heights. It’s really nice knowing and chatting with you

Rachel: First met you sometime last year and then got to do some stunts with you like toss cupie. Then recently got to do stunts with you again and I must say that your jumping has really improved significantly. Fun to be with person, hope to see more of you and Dominic stunting

Shihui: First impression of you was when I saw you mid-tier, very strong and solid; the kind flyers will feel very safe in your hands. Heard you are graduating soon, but hope that your passion in cheer carries on, if not it is a real pity for cheerleading to lose someone like you

Tinglei: A petite cheerleader, great flyer to stunt with. Congratulations for getting your full up 2-2-1 on the first attempt. Though we did not get the full up gladiator that time, but I hope to see you doing it in the next nationals

Weihan: You must be the most talented 17 year old base I have met in cheerleading so far. Toss cupie, pop over, tick tock all mastered within the space of a few months. Train even harder and you can become a truly magnificent base in future. Also work on your tumbling to become a true all rounder

Vanessa: Stunted with you a bit during the first time I went down to Gusto. Hope you are still cheering and doing fine now

Yiqian: If I did not get it wrong, you were trained as a girl base, but you really did a great job being a mid-tier the other day, which is not an easy transition. Hope to see more of you in future


MAGNUM

Careen: Hey, Met once I recall when I went down to Magnum. Keep on working hard

Fadzli: All the best for the future, till we have the chance to see again

Hwee Peng: A great MF top flyer. I love the way you are always very cheerful and laughing when you do stunts. Hope to stunt with you again

Hwele: Though we meet only once at MF training, I feel you are a very joyful, outgoing gal to be around

Rachel: My first thought was you are so small. A flyer with lots of potential if you continue to work hard

Siwei: Met once also during the time I went down to MF. You have a good stunt feel and will definitely grow to become a very good MF cheerleader

Yvonne: I am always very impressed by your full up 2-2-1, it is seems so effortless and you spined up so gracefully. Great partner stunter too, hope to see more of your videos in future again.


REXAZ

Karen: This girl must be one of the most amazing girl bases around. I remembered in the past how tiny you were, and then suddenly, you grew and grew and become a damn zai base. Eh brother you still owe us a cupie as flyer hor.

Kyra: I remembered the first time I met you, you told us that you like our Full Up to Hands. First impression - sweet gal, dance very well and have great jumps.


Work in progress, more teams' coming soon

Building in progress...


FYI

Never Ending Project

Blogs are a great place to share our ideas and also connect with people we know.

After chatting with Giappy and R of RnA Bulldogs yesterday; it dawned upon me to come up with a "project" to link all the cheerleaders I know to X-Wonder blog. I already have a list of links for all the SG Cheer Teams (that I know have a website), now it's time to link the SG Cheerleaders (at one point or another) whom I have the pleasure of meeting. Note: "SG Cheerleaders" does not refer to the nationality; but rather more of those doing cheerleading in Singapore.

I know this sounds like no big deal to everyone, but it is a huge task for an "IT Idiot" like me. As I do not wish to flood my side bar, so I shall link them in the form of a Post. I hope that the list can keep expanding, which means there are more and more new cheerleaders in Singapore and it also means that cheerleading is growing in Singapore.

SG Cheerleaders -----------> Check link at side bar
(May take some time to come up with the list, and will constantly update as I go along.)


P.S: I may not know everyone's blog, but I will try to find them from links here and there. Please suggest to me too if there are blogs which I do not know of, and did not include. Also in the case that you do not wish to be linked, or want the link removed, please let me know and I will gladly accede to your request.

Well I hope that this time round it will really make a difference.

Spectacular

Something which I picked up during today's seminar.

Success is neither magical or mysterious.
Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.
-Jim Rohn-

Just realised that Blogger has many interesting functions

Did BHSBT once again

2010 Resolutions

If what you’ve been looking for was where you’ve been looking, you’d have already found it!

If you have been failing, doing more of the same harder and longer is usually not the answer.

Willingness to change usually creates better results.
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By now many people will have already set their resolutions for 2010. How does one typical resolution look like? Something like below:

1. Earn more money
2. Become stronger
3. Learn toss cupie
4. Spend more time with family
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.
.
etc etc etc

However, I just realised that instead of planning my resolutions in this manner, I should have focus on making changes instead. Only making changes to the things you are already doing will bring you a different result. So for example if you want to become stronger but you are not making any progress, stop doing the same thing and change. Maybe always carrying weights does not work for you, then change and try doing more push-ups or carrying a sack of rice and run up the stairs etc (Just for example sake).

So my resolution should look something like this:

1. Change the way I make money
2. Change the way I train myself
3. Change the way I do stunts
4. Change the way I manage my time.
.
.
.
etc etc etc


So if you want something, but have not get it after a long time, try changing your approach. Change and focus on a good change.


P.S: Always turning the bigger rocks may not get you what you want, try turning the smaller rocks and who knows what you might find underneath one of them.

I want to learn break dancing

Last night was a great inspiration to me.

Sometimes I look in amazement at break dancers doing their thing; how they can bounce from 1 arm to the other and then spin in circles effortlessly.

My own definition of break dancers is: people who dance on handstands.

Trust me that these people do not have a master hand or weaker hand, they are equally good with both.

Watching him perform his skills, shifting weight from 1 arm to the other, brings my mind back to the past where I was still struggling to even hold a normal handstand for a few seconds. I cannot stress enough of the importance of having a balance between your right hand and your left hand.

Below is a post I wrote almost 2 years ago now during the times when I was still struggling with my handstands:

Click Here


P.S: At this stage, even being only able to pick up just 1 new thing/thought/or idea each time is going to be very valuable.

8 again

This picture has to be back dated about a week; was a bit lasy to upload. Saw the 8 digit again, but this time it is not at the front.

P.S: Strength is still very important!! But it does not means you have to be fat and heavy to have strength.

Goodbye to 2 soon

It's 2010, everyone has age another year. When the next decade comes, some of you may be feeling how I am feeling now.

I have always been telling young cheerleaders that cheerleading is not something you can become a master in a short time. It is something that requires passion, commitment and sacrifices. Though it is hard to admit, but I was not talented nor born with natural attributes of a cheerleader. I told them that it took me years of hard work and dedication to reach where I am now, and that it is still not good enough.

But I also let them know that now they are much more fortunate and had much better coaches (local and foreign), facilities, and flow of information in cheerleading as compared to the past; that they do not have to "find their way in the dark anymore". What took me 1 year to master then, will only require them a couple of months now.

The key to improvement is belief and work hard. In times now, the belief factor is not as much of a stumbling block as compared to my time, when we cannot even believe that toss to hands was possible. The rest of the equation now is to work hard at it.

And 1 most important thing which I always emphasize is that they are young and had time on their side. Alot more cheerleaders start cheerleading when they are 17 or younger now, which is at least 5 years earlier than when I started at 22. And considering what I had achieved in 6 years together with the improvement in cheerleading, 5 years head start is really a big deal. Alot of cheerleaders in future, by the time they are 21 or 22, will probably become one heck of a good cheerleader.

However I had been thinking a bit today and I have come to this conclusion:

"To all young cheerleaders, do not listen to a single word I had been saying."

Yup that's right, do not try to follow my footsteps, do not take me as a model, don't listen to my stories if that's what's lowers your comfort zone. Yes, the reason being that all of what I said were all stories of the past. It is the present day now; what you already know probably will work well for you NOW, but not in the FUTURE if you stop learning. I took 6 years, but does it means that it is ok for you to take 6 years? A big fat NO! It does not make it ok for your improvement to be slow just because Xingwei also took so long.

You are damn right that it is not ok if you take 3 years to learn a cupie now. Don't console yourself by saying Xingwei(or whoever your coach or senior may be) takes 3 years to learn cupie too. Times are different now. I challenge every new cheerleader to be able to do toss to hands in a month, single liberty in 3 months and cupie in 6 months. Some may be faster some slower, but if you cannot even meet the challenge, you better be working harder. Yes this may sound harsh, but the bar is always raising and bench mark getting higher.

Also all that being said above that you are young and had time on your side, does not means that you can literally take your own sweet time to learn. If it took you as long as your seniors did - then you have failed, your coach has failed or you have failed your coach. You have to always be better than the batch before you; this is especially so for cheerleading in Singapore as we are not a "matured industry" yet and still have alot of room for progression, unlike Japan or USA, and even they are improving every year. My expectations are to see more 18 year olds doing Pop Overs or Tick Tocks etc soon.

If you want to play a part in helping Singapore cheerleading, start from yourself. Everyone has a role to play regardless of their age; Singapore's cheerleading depends on you. Is that too much burden to be placed on your young shoulders my fellow cheerleader?


P.S: BTW as I am a base, the examples given in this post may seemed more relevant for bases; but the general sentiments and message applies to all flyers as well.

2009

It's the first day of 2010, 6 full years has past since I started on this path.

Let's re-count the major events, milestones and achievements in my cheerleading for 2009:

1. NTU HO Cheerleading - Led NTU Hall 4 for HO Cheerleading as coach, my 6th year with them since 2004. It was also to be my final year with them, and I will miss you guys who had been on this road together with me at 1 point or another.

2. Cheerobics 2009 - First cheerobics that I did not take part in a single event since my first cheerobics in 2004. Well you can say that I still did play a small part in last year's cheerobics by helping RnA Bulldogs with their training and even got to still step on the mats even though not competing as a spotter. Was very pleased that ACES won the title again for the 4th consecutive time.

3. Taiwan trip cum training with Taiwan cheerleaders - Went to Taiwan with Snow and KC. It was a very fun trip and also very tiring. Out of 10 days, we probably train at least 4 to 5 times with either Monsters or VU. Achieved a couple of new stunts over there and also made new frends.

4. Workshop with Kentucky - Got a chance to see the elites in life, doing amazing stunts which we only get to see on videos before. With Monsters and VU also in Singapore, I am very fortunate to learn from them all at 1 time.

5. ICU Judges Course - Invited to participate in ICU judges course. I have been to coaches courses for a few times, but this is the first time taking part in a judging course. We learnt the fundamentals of judging and did video judging. I am now a certified ICU Level 2 judge. After being through cheerleading as a player, a coach and now being a certified judge, all I can say is: be it players, coaches, judges, or administrators, not 1 is more important than the other, all have their roles to play in helping cheerleading progress.

6. IFC Cheerleading World Championship - It was quite a struggle at the beginning to go to the Worlds. We tried to get players to form a team to take part in the team event, but because of important issues such as funding, schedule, logistics, it did not come to materialize in the end. But we still did manage to form a 5 man team to take part in the group category. We trained hard and had the belief, allowing us to clinch 2nd runner up; coming in only after Taiwan and Thailand, who are both considered our mentors in cheerleading.

7. Personal skills achievements - I had always talked about the 4 basic skills: Full up, Full Around, Tick Tock and Pop Over. I had achieved all 4 in 2008. 2009 was used mainly to refine them and train on the consistency. After getting more comfortable with these 4 basics, I started to look into rewind. During the period I went Taiwan and when Kentucky came down, I tried doing rewind. It will take a longer time than I first thought would, but I will not give up. Still 2009 was not a bad year in terms of achieving new skills though I did not get to achieve Rewind. Couple of first were achieved again.

Some skills achieved 2009:
-Pop Over from Right to Left with Snow
-Tick Tock Low Tick Tock with Snow
-Low Pop Over with a Monster flyer
-Full up Cupie with Dian Dian from VU
-Full Around Cupie with Snow
-Toss left Cupie with Snow


To sum it up, 2009 had been still a relatively packed cheer year for me, even after taking away the daily rigours and trainings of pervious years when I am still an active player in a team. After taking a foot off the pedal from competing, I found myself with more time to be involved in helping cheerleaders everywhere. I still return to ACES in 2009 to help them in whatever they may need help in, such as spotting or teaching the juniors. I also get to be involved with very passionate cheerleaders from Wildcards; thanks for naming me as your guest instructor. Was also invited down to workshops or clinics for teams such as SMU Flares and RP Rexaz. In 2009 I also got to go down a couple of times to teams such as NP Magnum Force, SP Gusto, KR Steppers. Not forgetting to mentioned moving around NTU halls abit after stepping down from coaching hall 4. It had always been my pleasure to be able to pass on what cheer had given me in the past. Thanks everyone of you who had given me this opportunity.

Let's make 2010 will be as fulfilling as 2009.


P.S: I still have alot to do.