Play spot the Chaang game. And for ppl who know old birds like xingwei, zm, weicheng, Jesse, XP, try to spot them too.
Now play spot the Vincent game. If you happen to know Xiwen, Audrey. Yifang, Dion.. etc they're not hard to spot either =P
Well this is definitely not about living in the past, but rather about going back to you roots. Because there is always something to learn from those who came before you.
Your coaches/seniors were once noobs like you. We went through trainings with half the efficiency but double the pain. We also went through the phase of sprained ankles, broken noses and team sad stories. Everyone had their fair share.
Have you, however, learnt the gist behind all these blood, sweat and tears?
Like most hotblooded young men ( I am still young ok -.-), I joined cheerleading simply because the zarbo who asked me to join was damn hot (coming from me sounds normal i know -.-). At that time I knew nothing about cheer, and only a cartwheel which i conveniently traded my two front teeth for when I was a kid.
Then came my very first Nationals with ACES back in 2005 when I realised that there was a very big problem: We had no gymanstics for our routine. We had no proper gym coach. We had no proper training facilities. And we were running out of time
But we sure had the guts to try.
If you still can't spot me, I was the roundoff backhands spring that's on the left of the ACES video. And I only got this tumbling pass 3 days before the competition. Even my coach then ( Jesse, currently coach for Europhia) thought I was mad.
But infront of thousands in Suntec City, the feeling you get when you hit the stunt is indescrible.
The price to pay for this one simple pass was 50 DIY backhands springs after trainings by myself. I always waited till everyone left before I proceeded to the highjump mats to do my backhands springs. Then, the sports stadium would be empty, the lights would be off and the surrounds would be cold.
I refused to go back to hostel until i completed what I set for myself that day. My wrists would turn purple from all that impact. But I just had to do it.
More often than ever, efforts and results hardly equate. Because they are different entities to start of with.
You can now try to play spot the regine game =P
2006 was my last competition with ACES and was also a very memorable one for me. 15 seconds into the routine and I landed wrongly during gymanstics. For the entire routine, my left ankle was pratically hanging. The joker with the ugly toe touch back tuck was me. Yes, I was the idiot who did a toe touch backtuck knowing that my left ankle was gone. That additional impact left me on cruches for almost a month.
Finals then were a week away. I was not part of the winning routine during Nationals 06. One bad landing caused me dearly.
So, what went wrong? Sure I did put in effort and I was harder on myself than I was with anybody else. I concluded that:
1) I was too complacent on my gymnastics
2) I didn't train myself hard enough to take the pain.
For those of you who were here with us during 2008, you might have recalled yifang saying that ''even with 10 successful toss to hands, can you guarantee that your 11th one will definitely hit?''
What has motivated me all these years is a regret that I didn't finish what I was supposed to do. Whatever your motivation may be, I hope that my little life story can let you understand where i am coming from.
See you guys tml!
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