Random Thoughts

Full of cheerleading thoughts recently.

Thought of some stunts for SAJC's SKM routine.
Will have to make sure they can do them.
It's gonna be tough for the next 1 1/2 months.
I hope the kids are ready for it.
Really wanna see them grow as cheerleaders.

Thought of Spectrum.
Nothing in particular.
Just about the different generations and the friendships formed.
I miss them, and the crazy times we had.
Really wanna fly with them soon.

Thought of the stunts that I wanna do, yet I didn't have the chance to.
Like 1-man bear and basket toss kick twist...
I doubt I would ever get the chance to do the former.
As for the latter, I'm pretty sure I wanna try it.
It will not mark the end of my cheerleading life if I manage to master it.
It is gonna be another milestone.

Random Happenings

Why must people take this as a come-and-go sport?
How can people join and leave and come back again as if it's no one's business?
Dun they know bases have to coordinate and practise with each other for a period of time before a stunt can hit?
Dun they know a routine has to be planned WAY before a competition?
Dun they know that KIV means I can't plan routine?
Dun they know that I need to change stunts if they keep changing their mind?

ARGHHHHH...

Alrite I feel better now.

Anyway, the team's progress yesterday was not bad.
Quite happy.
Had a talk with them regarding what happened that day.
We were training at the netball court and it was pretty breezy when I talked to them.
1 of the junior base almost fell asleep.
H - A - H - A.
I asked him if he wanna go and run round the court twice.
And he thought I was serious and actually got up.
H - A - H - A.

I love coaching this team.
But sometimes, I just wanna strangle them.
Maybe I should take pic of them training next week.
I'm pretty sure I can get some hilarious shots.

Bad Fall: Update

Update on the condition of the injured flyer:
She doesn't need to go for operation cos she is too young.
Need only to put a cast on.

Good for her. Really.
If it was me, I would need the operation *touch wood*

Bad Fall

One of my SA kids fell during their sports day performance.
She slipped past the loader.
Spotter didn't react in time to catch her.
It was so serious that Sam and I had to rush to the mat and stopped the performance.

An ambulance was called.
She was sent to the hospital.
A fractured shoulder.
And she needed to be operated on.

Sam and I told the kids not to blame each other.
And most importantly, not to blame themselves.
Since the whole school witnessed the whole accident, I'm sure my kids, Sam and I will have to face lotsa pressure in the future.
Pressure from the school management, the rest of the students, and most importantly, the team itself.

From where I was standing I could see what happened exactly.
(I dun wanna go into the details here)
Nobody wants this to happen.
But like what Sam said, they have to take responsibility.

It was a stunt that had 100% hit rate so far.
Thus they were not ready when the stunt fell.
The thing is, 100% hit rate doesn't mean 0% chance of the stunt failing.
This is something they need to learn.
Complacency can be deadly.

We did provide the necessary safety precautions.
And Sam knew I have been nagging them about safety every training.
But when such things happened, I, as their coach, need to take responsibility too.
I would need to work even more on safety from now on.

This was the first time I sat in an ambulance.
It felt unreal.
But the tears and pain were real.
It was barely 12pm when I left the hospital.
But I was already drained by then.

SKM Cheer Competition Prelims Results

My SA kids made it into the semi-final!
Can you imagine how proud I am, as their coach?
It also means more hard work from now on!
Jiayou to Ah Teck and PJC too!!!


Some pic (of Spectrum) taken during the prelim.

The chant position was the only neat part of the routine haha. The gladiator on my side din go up... still I gave the typical cheerleader-happy-face.
Luckily the gladiator on the other side went up *phew*
The screwed-up three-men bear. I really miss my two-men bear *sob*
I think this is the best pic Spectrum took on that day haha.

I'm really happy to get to know and be part of Spectrum.

Especially my fellow flyers.

They have injected lotsa fun and crapz into my life!

SR looked so happy in the three pic below.

From meeting her at orientation, to "pulling" her into Spectrum, and then being there as she becomes the midtier she is today, is an experience I will always hold close to my heart.

Too bad not all of my fellow team mates were there that day.

Whatever it is, I hope all of us stay close, as friends, and as team mates.

PS: Regine and Jianning, we must meet up after exams k! I miss you both!!!

SKM Cheer Competition Prelims Updates

Things went well for my SA kids on Sat.
I was so happy.
Really proud of them.

Although one of the judges was real harsh on them, to me, they were good enough for the semi-final.
The results would only be out in a week.

As for Spectrum, it didn't go too well.
It was easily the worst performance of Spectrum anyone had ever seen.
That was the price we paid for not being well-prepared.
Luckily I didn't join to win, so I didn't really take it too hard.
One of the judges said that she heard that Spectrum is a very good team, but she was disappointed with what she saw that day.
*pout*

Count Down to SKM: 12 Hours

My kids hit all stunts up today.
Really happy =)
Hope everything goes well for them at SKM.

A very big thank you for those Spectrumites who showed such strong support just now!

Things didn't go too well for Spectrum though.
Guess SR and I had not done backtuck for far too long.
It was better for me, since I dun usually think when I tuck (haha).
But SR has real high expectations for her.
She cried real badly today.
She really wanted to do it, but she couldn't.
Both Wenfeng and I know how she feel, and we feel so sorry for her.
We are flyers who had been through it.
Head-over-heels stunts are really scary, esp when you lost the feeling.

Sucky.

New Waist Line

I need to wear my uniform on Sat.

I have been doing my work, with my butt stucked to the chair.
And with all the stress, I have been eating all sorta crapz.

Wed nite:
beef noodles (all the meat went straight to my waist line) + Cafe Mocha (non-fat so hope it din do much damage) + ice cream (BAAAAAAD!)

Thur Afternoon:
choc steamed cake (from Four Leaves... damn nice) + veg (good!) + chicken (protein!) + potato (I'm becoming one) + rice (all that carbo!) + coffee (AGAIN!!!)

Thur nite:
Filet-o-fish + fries (without salt... see, I tried) + 2 pieces of nuggets + ice milo

I think my abs had disappeared into my new-found folds of fats.

A Ray of Light

My kids did well today.

It started off bad.
It almost seemed like Monday was repeating itself.

4hours into the training, I talked to them.
This time, I was holding back my tears.
I was feeling sad.
For them.
For the stunts they had wasted.
I told them PJC can no longer take part in SKM, as much as they want to.
My kids have the chance to do so.
Yet, they did not treasure this chance.
It doesn't matter whether they win or not.
All I'm asking for is for them to show everyone what they had been working for.

And all of a sudden, stunts started going up.
And they managed to run the routine 5times, without NG in between.

Thank you Kangjun for rushing down to SAJC although he only had an hour to spare between his appointments with clients (I list you before CR! Dun be angry liao k hehe).

Thank you CR for the SMS.

Thank you Rachel and Sheryl for coming down (dun worry, u heard how I screamed at them - they dun dare to bully me).

Thank you kids (keep it up).

PS: Dun spend so long warming up stunts on Fri and Sat k!!!

For the First Time, the Taste of Disappointment...

Monday's coaching session was a little disappointing.
There seemed to be a lot of complacency and (ironically) uncertainty in the air.

I've been repeating the same things for the past months.
"Midtiers must never arch back, bend forward, or bend knees on a stunt."
"Bases must cradle high, and absorb flyer's fall by bouncing."
"Top flyer must never unlock on a pyramid."
"Flyer must never lean forward during a pop down."
Blah, blah, blah...
Basic stuff.

But somehow, I still see stunts failing cos of the things I told them not to do every training.
Serious. I said those things every training.

The thing is, some of them started to be complacent and refused to listen when I point out their mistakes.
They heard me... but they didn't listen.
They nodded their head... but they didn't remember it.

When I was told they talked back to Wenfeng when she went down with me last fri, I was reali disappointed.
Recently, a few started to argue with me.
It is clear to me if stunts are not executed properly, or the timing is wrong.
Cos I planned the stunts, I mixed the music, I wrote out the timing.
And most important of all, I was standing right in front of them, looking at every stunt.
I told them they can argue with me, provided they are right.

I put up with these craps sometimes.
But during monday's training, when the timing was obviously wrong, I kept reminding them the timing.
At their n-th attempt, when I told them the timing of both side of the stunt differ by 0.5 count, they gave each other that I-think-she-is-wrong-and-being-ridiculous-and-I-sure-I-am-right look.
That was when I shouted.
It was so loud, I shocked myself.
I made one of those not involved in the stunt stood beside me, and observed the stunt.
And obviously, the conclusion was, the timing was off.

I really do not wish to shout.
I really do not want to be mean.
I was teaching and joking with them before running the routine.
But once I started being nice, no one took the stunts seriously anymore.
I could see people smiling when a stunt failed.
I could see people forgetting whatever I taught them.

And then, flyers started falling.
Be it the flyers' or bases' mistakes, they started losing their trust in the bases and midtiers.
And they started to hesitate on stunts.
And stunts started to fall again.
That was when I told them straight that I can't let them try higher level stunts until the flyers can trust them again.
And until I can trust them with the flyers again.

At the end of the day, they were tired... yet nothing much was achieved.
They were tired cos they had to do their stunts over and over again.
They had to repeat the stunts cos they repeated their mistakes.
They repeated their mistakes cos they did not remember what I said at every training.

There are those who have been trying very hard.
And it is unfair to them that they have to repeat the stunts just because their teammates refused to concentrate or acknowledge their mistakes.

I have seen the stunts hit.
That's how I know they can do it.
They had done it well.
And when I see them throwing everything away, I feel sad.
Sad that I'm the only one anxious.
Sad that they are not showing everyone what they have been training so hard for.
Sad that the tears they shed in the past amount to nothing.

Still remember what I said when Sam asked me if they can make it through the prelims?
I still wanna believe what I believed then.