Hello team, it’s a 3 pages long post! So, take your time to read.

Team dinner is on this coming Saturday(27th June ’09). Please meet at Somerset Control Station @ 0630pm. Sakura Buffet, again. Latecomers will have to treat the rest of the team. (Kidding) =D

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ATTENTION #1:

It’s been a long time since I saw the whole senior team training together already. For this coming Monday, it’s COMPULSORY for ALL seniors to be down for training. There’s no reason you guys should miss this training since it’s the extended break.

So this coming Monday (29th June 2009) @ 6pm will be having land training. I really hope to see every one of you. Venue to be confirmed again but most probably it’ll be at Yishun Stadium because we can’t use the school for gym that week due to H1N1.

From now on, if anyone of you can’t make it for training. Please inform your captains/vice-captains. When comes to attendance, I noticed that you guys are coming as and when you like. This shouldn’t be the attitude from all of you since you guys are seniors now. This is not a recreational sport club where you come whenever you feel like it. We’re still a school team. Please respect the team by turning up for training regularly.

Set a good example for your juniors. You guys are the ones that they look up to. This applies to all.

I expect all seniors to turn up for compulsory land & sea trainings from now on unless you’ve a valid reason.

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ATTENTION #2:

For those that are not competing until POL-ITE, I think it’s time we focus more on our juniors now. I know all of you want to take this period to train more and improve but sometimes we’ve to sacrifice our training for the greater good. If you want your juniors to be as good, we’ve to give them more attention and guide them during this period while there’s still time.

As seniors of NYP Sprint Kayak Team, they’re our responsibility. Guide them well cause they’re our future. I believe they'll do us proud real soon.

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ATTENTION #3:

I know I’ve been congratulating those who won during SIWF and NCC. I’ll just congratulate all of you here again.

WELL DONE!

All of you have trained hard and done our team proud. And, congratulations BENJAMIN for completing & winning in his 1st C1 race in NYP Sprint Kayak history! (If I’m not wrong)
And also Sherlyna for doing well in her 1st K1 race! They deserve a round of applause! *Claps in circles*

Anyways, keep it up guys!

Oh and, thanks Hafiz & Jingting for being a good team manager!

Here are the results for National Canoe Championship:

Womens

K1 10km – Jingting, 2nd Finals
K1 1000m – Joyce, 2nd Finals
K1 500m – Joyce, 4th Finals
K1 200m – Ai Xing, 3rd Finals

Mens

K1 10km – Wei Yi, 8th Finals
K1 1000m – Jun Wei, 4th, Semi finals
K1 200m – Alfred, 5th, Semi Finals
K2 500m – En Kai/Marcus, 1st, Heats (DQ – Weights dropped out from boat)
K2 200m – En Kai/Marcus, 6th, Finals

Results for Singapore International Water Fest:

Mens K1, 500m

• Jun Wei, 1st
• Nathan, 3rd
• Luqman, 5th

Mens K2, 500m

• Jun Wei/Nathan, 2nd
• Wei Yi/Yee Keng, 3rd
• Yong Kun/Kelvin, 4th

Mens C1, 500m

• Benjamin, 3rd

Womens K1, 500m

• Sherlyna, 3rd
• Melissa, 4th

Womens K2, 500m

• Rainie/Evangeline, 3rd
• Joanna/Huey Yen, 4th


This is for all of you to reflect on your own performance whether you’ve achieved the results you wanted and set a new goal for yourself.

For those who did not get the results you wanted, do not be discouraged! All the more you guys must pick yourselves up again and train harder. The real winners are those who never say quit even after you’ve faced some obstacles. Take it as a stepping stone and strive harder!

Quoting from Adam Van Koeverden:
“There are more to come - because nothing helps me appreciate victory, more than failure”

And I agree with it.

This is for those who’ve done well:

There will always be better paddlers outside. Winning doesn't mean you can be complacent. You have to put in more effort into trainings and push yourself to the next level. It's not about how many medals you can win, but the improvements you've seen in yourself, the sense of satisfaction that nothing can make it up for. Always aim for something better after every race and beat it.

Focus on improving your technique like kicking & twisting, stronger long hard pulls, improving on your stamina when rowing, physical fitness. There are always things to improve upon because nobody's perfect.

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ATTENTION #4:

Okay, I know this post is super uber duper long but please bear with me.

There’s only 5 more months left to POL-ITE. It’s time for some serious training. As much as I hope all of you will train hard but in the meantime, please take care of yourselves during trainings too! I really do not want to see anyone of you getting injured before POL-ITE.

The journey may be tough but no pain, no gain right? Be positive, encourage your teammates and stick together. We’ll definitely make it.

I’ll leave you guys with something Damien(Btw, we miss you) wrote in the past blog entries:

We humans are creatures of habit. We do pretty much the same things every day, because it is comfortable to stay within our "comfort zone." It is comfortable to remain essentially unchallenged on a day to day basis, mindlessly performing the same tasks.
Dare to question the reasons for your actions. Identify those things that are truly important to you. Challenge yourself. Do something different. Interrupt your thought patterns. Think.
The infinite power that lies within you, is ... you.

Change begins today. Change your mental outlook, engaging in "possibility thinking." Change your body. Take action. Change your life.


YES YOU CAN! Continue pushing yourself. Next time you feel your body aching while paddling JUST KEEP ON GOING. It means that you are getting stronger and better the next time you paddle. The longer you endure the pain, the better you'll be. Never stop and give in to comfort because it only makes you a loser wallowing in self-disbelief. If you tell yourself you can do it, nobody will tell u otherwise and you'll find it hard to tell yourself otherwise. Give it a shot. Aim for a goal. POL-ITE? Yes lets all race for something at the POL-ITE!! :)

So ya, that’s about it! Hope you guys enjoyed reading.

With plenty of love from ME,
Ai Xing