Coaching....nothing comes close!

Hi team,

With the recent conclusion of the HO cheerleading competition, I am glad to have reached another milestone in cheerleading. Having got my coaching certifictation just about a year ago, i decided to take the plunge and took up hall 3 as my first competitive cheerleading team and boy what a journey it was. It was tough, stressful and yet was one of the most immensely fulfilling time of my life and i encourage more people to dare to take up the challenge for the benefits it offers.

First of all, I would like to thank every one who have helped me reached where i am today. From my team mates, to my coaches, to my bros and many more. All these would not have been possible with you all and I just want to share a few things I learnt along the way.

1) Besides knowing how to handle people, a coach has to constantly upgrade his skills to stay relevant

One of the traits of being a wildcard, is that we never stop learning. And i am thankful that I had the fortune to be introduced into this sport through Wildcards. That being said, becoming a coach really woke me up, telling me that I can no longer stall at this level.

As a coach, with limited ability, you can only be able to impart limited skills.

With that in mind, no matter how good you are at coordinating your people, there is only so much you can offer to impart to them. As a coach, i feel that i would be a let down to my students as i am short changing them. And if you are unable to do it, how do you expect your students to be able to or believe that it is manageable.

Hence, one has to continuously upgrade to make sure that your students are able to learn the best set of skills.

2)The power of team spirit and mentality

The power of team spirit is often brought up in many sports stories. And rightly so given how important it is in real life too.

If the goals and mentality of a team is not aligned to a single focus, it would be hard for them to work together as they would have different levels of motivation.

On person in doubt can cause the downfall of the whole team.

3)Trust and believe your team

One thing that really struck me was my team's ability to learn. Due to the rather massive sizes of my team mates (YES! YOU ALL!) I had the mentality that only big guys could stunt well.

Damn! i was proven so wrong. Hall 3 surpassed my expectations, learning at such incredible speeds. At first i was apprehensive and unwilling to put too much pressure on them. However, their passion to learn was so overwhelming and it really left me feeling stupid. I had to admit that my eyes were opened and I learnt that a coach must believe in his team and never put a cap on someone's opportunity to grow.

Hence, impart all that you know and allow them to absorb these skills at their own pace. Drop the inhibitions and let your team surprise you. If you don't believe in them, they never would believe themselves.

4)There is an "I" in every team

Contrary to the famous quote " there is no "I" in the team", i beg to differ. There is an "I" in every team, and that is called taking up one's personal responsibility. Every one has a part to play and every one is important to the team.

Being an "I" in the team means taking charge of your stunt and carrying all your responsibilities right to hit your routine.

At the end of the day, there is no one that would save your stunt if it falls. Hence, we have to be responsible to our team mates as in our hands, we are holding up the fates of 20 over people.

5)Being a coach enriches your life

Lastly, as a coach, i felt my life being enriched by those that I take charge of and those that took care of me along the way. I miss them now even as I type this. Its rare to have 20 over people working to help achieve the same goal, watching them go through the pain, sweat and all that embodies sacrifice on their part and finally that immense joy as they hit their routine beautifully as you look on, so proud of them.

Being a coach changes your life, not only in cheerleading but in life in general as well.

Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people.

Chaang:

I am really honoured to have you as a coach. Thanks for all your faith and believe in me and thank you for passing on the good ways of cheer leading. Thank you for never giving up on me and always challenging me to push new frontiers, assisting me along the way. I was privileged enough to learn from the best and I hope to spread the good ways of cheer leading as I coach more and more people.

My team mates:

My dear team mates, my bros. Thank you for helping me develop as a cheerleader, being my fiercest critic yet my closest friends. I am lucky to have met you all and without you all, i wouldn't be where i am today. Special mention goes out to Hann Bin, Zhi Liang, Gary, Jayson, Augus for being ever encouraging and helpful with my team. I owe you all much =)

Eunice:

Thank you for being so patient and understanding throughout my time of coaching =) I LOVE YOU!

NTU Hall 3:

Last but not least !My champions, as i write this post and remember all the things we went through together, i can't help but to feel a tinge of sadness as some how i know, i might not be fortunate enough to coach another team as wonderful as you all. I thank you all for being ever so receptive to what i have to coach, being forgiving for the times I screwed up and for believing in our routine and making it look so beautiful on the competition day. When it was all over, it did not matter that we were not first or whatever. You all gave me the best coaching experience of my life and i have nothing more to ask for. You all are a big part of my life and as i said, medals only mean so much to me. I was sad on HO day not because we did not win, but because it was the last day that i was coaching the bunch of you. You all made up a great part of my life and made it so much better. To me, you all were like my family, learning and growing together as you all taught me important life lessons as well. Treasure each other as you all are a special bunch of people and i can't wait to meet up with you all! Thank you again GOJIRAS! it was such an amazing feeling watching you all hit your routine with so much pride! I love you all!

Im so so proud of you all!