We are a team

One of the great experiences in sport is to be a member of a team that gets along well and works as a cohesive unit. Harmony grows when we take the time to stop long enough to listen to others and when they listen to you; when we respect their feelings and they respect yours; when we accept their differences and they accept yours; when we choose to help them and they help you. Harmony is rooted in mutual trust and respect.

When we know that someone needs you, cares about you, appreciates you, respects you, believes in you, and accepts you – with your imperfections – harmony is nurtured. When we help others and they help us, we begin to appreciate each other. When we get past the surface and begin to understand another person’s problems, challenges, or perspectives in a more intimate way (don’t think otherwise), we feel more connected with them.

It is rare that teammates or coaches intentionally create conflict or resentment, or set out to hurt others’ feelings. It has happened before in the past. No one gains from that process; it usually puts both parties through unpleasant turmoil and creates stress that ultimately affects team performance negatively. A lack of awareness of other people’s feelings, or a misinterpretation of actions of intentions is the root of many interpersonal conflicts.

There are vast individual differences among members of all teams… different experiences, different perspectives, different responses to stress, different ways of focusing or coping with distractions, different strengths. These differences can work to our advantage and make us stronger as a team if we are willing to learn from each other, to work together, and to share our thoughts and strengths. No one knows everything. But when teams of people put their heads together, they can contribute to a team’s success.

Everyone on a team is linked together like a family. What we do and how we respond to others have an effect on how others feel and how they respond to you. To make this kind of family happy and productive, each of us has to do our part. It may take a little extra effort in the beginning, but it’s worth it in the end. When we encourage each other, help each other, listen to each other, support each other, and interact with each other in positive ways, everybody will be happier, work harder and learn more. In sport and in life, the most powerful teams are made up of individuals who have chosen to work as a team.

This song "Brothers under the Sun" by Bryan Adams is dedicated to the team. You are all my brothers.

Value Time

To realise the value of 1 year
Ask a student who has failed his exams

To realise the value of 1 month
Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby

To realise the value of 1 week
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper

To realise the value of 1 day
Ask a daily wage labourer who has 10 kids to feed

To realise the value of 1 hour
Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet

To realise the value of 1 minute
Ask a person who has missed the train

To realise the value of 1 second
Ask a person who has survived an accident

To realise the value of 1 millisecond
Ask a person who has won a silver medal at the Olympics

By the time you've read this post, it's about 100 days (105 days from today) from the Regatta. Start working on your strength, power and endurance. Value every moment that you have during training. Time is a coin that we can spend only once. Use it, invest it, make it count. Time waits for no man.

New Season, New Rowers, New Beginning

We start the new season by welcoming a group of new rowers into our team.

I could hardly believe that the response to the recruitment drive was so good. A total of 20 newbies turned up (2 could not make it last minute). Even as late as Saturday, I was getting enquiries and I had to turn them away.

However, in dragon boating, attrition among newbies is always high. I would be happy if half of them like the sport enough to continue through the Regatta at the end of the year.

We have not grown beyond one big boat before. Now that we have two boats training together, there will be new challenges in managing the team.

I make no pretense that the team would change, with the infusion of new personalities and dynamics. We'll all have to navigate this together as a team -- the old birds together with the newbies.

Unlike some time ago, when most people take a hands off attitude, there is now a good sense of enthusiasm among everyone. And people are starting to contribute their efforts to make the team work.

I am sure we will emerge a stronger team: not only in terms of performance at the race, but hopefully in character as well.

It's a new beginning for all of us. We aim for a good performance at the Regatta.

1 star kayak weekend

We went for a 1-star kayak certificate course this weekend. 1-star course covers the basic skills in kayaking such as moving forward, turn, and even how to do a rescue when another kayak capsized. It was just so much fun. In the beginning, I was doing so horribly. The others started to turn left, but I had no idea how to turn, so I kept going forward hahaha. Luckily NK went back for me and helped me correct my course. But then afterwards, I was not able to go straight, so I had to keep stopping, correct my bearing, and go forward. Haha, and then when I tried to twist exaggeratively ala dragon boat, the kayak kept rocking dangerously, so I had to twist in moderation.

The first test was to swim 50 meters using the life vest (or Personal Floatation Device, PFD for short)... yeah, 50 meters swimming in Kallang river. Ugh yuck, the water was really dirty. I kept trying to keep my head above water, but accidentally tasted the salty water a few times. Bleh, wanted to puke it out, but ended up getting more water in my mouth. Haha, so the only thing I could do was finish the test as quickly as I could and got to dry land. Of course, it was good that I didn't see the dead rat that Ch mentioned before doing the test. Next was the capsizing drill, i.e. what you're supposed to do when your kayak capsized. It was actually quite fun when I had to do it. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. In fact, as an added bonus, the sun was really hot so it felt nice (never mind that the water is dirty. When you capsized, you don't think of such things.)

We also learned to move sideways. There were 2 techniques, J Draw and Classical Draw. To me, J Draw is much easier. To do Classical Draw, I tended to lean too much to the point of almost capsizing.

On the second day, we learned how to rescue other people when they capsized. Wow, lifting the kayak onto the boat was quite tough. I just couldn't find enough leverage to do that, so the "victim" had to help pull the kayak from the other side. But overall it was a good experience. By the end of the day, we played a game called the "Captain Ball". Basically we were divided into 2 teams and had to chase after a ball and pass them to each other until one of us are near enough to the coach to pass the ball to him. More or less similar to water polo, but with kayak, and the coach moved around from time to time, so we had to repositioned ourselves and tried to get the ball. We had to employ all of our learned skills to be able to move fast and retrieve the ball. I might have gone a bit aggressive on the game, but it was just so much fun. Of course, with that much enthusiasm, I ended up being quite reckless. As I mentioned before, whenever I did Classical Draw, I tended to lean too much. So I was drawing to reach the ball on my right, and I leaned a bit too far and I capsized. Twice in fact, hahaha. But it was really fun.

We got 1 Star!

So over the weekend, we manage to get most of the team members on 1 Star kayak certification.

Now we can incorporate kayak into part of the training program and increase our water mileage!

Need to work hard to improve our results at Regatta!

Dinner at Hans

Only managed to take 2 pictures during the dinner at Hans

Picture of everyone


This guy arr, he's special so must be in a photo on his own :P Just kidding, since he was sitting next to me, couldn't capture in the first photo.


I'll write on the kayak next time.

A new season

Well, here we are, starting on the new season next week. We didn't manage to do as well as we would have liked, but hopefully each one of us will be able to take this positively as a drive to be better for Regatta. After all, failure only serves to make the upcoming victory even sweeter. As quoted from Batman Begins: "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up"

A new season. We are starting over, carrying with us the experience, and with a new determination and goal in mind, to row together as a team. Regatta will arrive pretty quickly, in about 4 months we are racing again. Can't be caught unprepared this time. With such a short timespan, training will presumably be a lot tougher than the ones I've been through so far. Why do I row? I suppose some of us will think about this once in a while. After all, this reason is what causes us to stay and persevere on. It's probably a good idea to think of this before deciding to commit for this new season.

Equipment? Check.
Determination? Check.
Fitness? Err.... lacking -_-"

Train, train, train, MRT... err I mean train.
Hehe, sleepy, mind starts to wander off. Ok then, better end this here. Until next time

P.S. Dragon boat rowing is a team sport. The strength of an individual is the strength of the team. With that note, I hope for everyone's cooperation in the new season. After all, we are driving towards the same goal.

We work hard, we play hard, and enjoy life to the fullest.

Learning from Setbacks

"The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Challenges, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Friends. You will have flats called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, and a driver called You, you will make it to a place called Success."

We did not make it through the semi-finals. On both heats, we were lagging behind quite a number of boats. I don’t dare to count how many. From now till Regatta, we have a lot to work on our fitness level, including my own. We have a lot to work on coordination, endurance and rapport.

I asked myself, “What did I learn about myself? What did I learn about those around me? What did I learn about performing in stressful circumstances? What did I learn about that can help me in the future?”

We tend to be most susceptible to feeling down when we expect to do well and do poorly instead, when we expect to win and we lose, when we expect love or acceptance and experience rejection. In such cases, sometimes our expectations have been unrealistic; sometimes we have not prepared or focused as well as we could have, and we can work on this. Sometimes we have done everything in our power to make things happen given the constraints of our time and resources and events do not go as we hoped or planned.

Loss can make us feel miserable, inadequate or helpless. But it can also challenge us to draw upon our strengths, persist through obstacles, get to know ourselves better, examine our priorities, put things in perspective and reflect on where we are going, why and how.

The route to excellence is full of ups and downs, progressions and regressions, great leaps forward, backslides and plateaus. But as long as the overall direction is up, we will ascend our many mountains in life, ride many waves in dragonboating. The better we can cope, the more fulfilled we will be. Finding the lessons in loss is a way of putting us back in control. So, Regatta, here we come!

Row Like A Winner

Some of us were not familiar when we first came together
Some were experienced while others have to struggle
Over weeks and months we got to know one another better
Through rowing, circuits, makan, movies & bananas

The time has come for us to race on the water
A test of speed, endurance and power
Every stroke counts, every stroke matters
Every stroke brings us a few metres further

Control our mind, have a clear visual
Control our body, flex our muscles
Control our destiny, surpass our rivals
Control our pursuit, realize our potential

Whether you are a back pack, engine or pacer
Give our best & support one another
Feel the rhythm, feel the desire
Row as a team, row like a winner