Fung Jinjie from Victoria School represented Singapore to participate in the 25th Seagames in Laos this year.
Jinjie and his team mates did Singapore and their schools proud when they emerged with the Silver in their Group Sparring event.
A triumphant Jin Jie said : "The 25th seagames at Laos was really a very good experience to me. I am only 16 years old, so for me to participate in his major event and do singapore pround by winning a silver medal, is really a honour and a very good lesson for me."
"With 2 days of rest, on the day of event I felt really fresh and fit, I was really able to focus on my event and was confident that i would be able to do really well. The moment I stepped on the carpet, I told myself-" This is it." I was really focused on performing the routine well and did not think of the outcome."
"At last, we did a perfect routine and got a score of 9.4 currently first position with only the Vietnam team left for the event. They too, did a perfect routine and their score was 9.5. They won us with a score of 0.1. I felt really delighted with the result as we got second place. Overall, I felt that the process of the competition was really good and it is not any usual competition that we would have that type of feeling. The 25th SEA Games at laos taught me alot of things and was really a wonderful journey and experience for me."
Well done, Jin Jie We are really proud of you.
You have placed Victoria School and Victoria School's Wushu team on the map! Nil Sine Labore
Today, was the presentation of School Colors Award at Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School.
VS showed our strong presence today and we were happy to have many of our parent's join us for the award presentation today!
Also, I felt proud and priviledged to be with our first graduating batch of GCE PE candidates- the "Serious PE" Class of 2009 to share in their pride in receiving their awards.
Of course, not forgetting our VS Wushu Team. This year, our C-Div managed to achieve National 3rd Position. Also, we had Individual medal award winners: Ho Mun Yong (Sec 1B): 42 Taiji - Gold
Well, its the end of the 3rd week of our June Holidays.
I know the Wushu boys have been training hard during the first 2 weeks. So some of you have been wondering, "What has Mr Siow been doing overseas during his June Holidays?"
Well, the Wushu boys have been training hard- so I have also been training hard myself. Ever since I started teaching, I found that maintaining my own personal training regime was a difficult endeavour. Especially, once the VS Wushu Team started to become a main CCA and we started to make a name for ourselves. I found that between the demands of teaching and overseeing the development of the VS Wushu Team, I started to spend so much time planning, organising, and coaching that struggle to maintain my own training (Ironic, right- that's life :P)
So each holiday, I try to make up for lost time by making a concerted effort to catch up on training with various instructors and fellow training partners.
1) MARTIAL ARTS Having explored various martial arts and still continuing to cross-train, one of the important core developments in any style is to have good reactions; second to that will be good conditioning. So this June, I travelled to Manila to do some hard training with some very dedicated martial artists.
We covered a wide variety of material here but one of the most important aspects was using the standard boxing punch mitts to hone our reaction and develop our appropriate energy systems (aerobic and anaerobic) for fight training. So here, we see my instructor and good friend, Flint Tabimina guiding me to refine my basic punching and react to the various stimulus given when he flashed the mitts at different positions.
We had about 3 sessions of training everyday (morning, afternoon and night) and covered empty hands, stick and edged weapons as well. All in all on average, we trainned from 4-6 hours a day. Great way to lose weight, I coming back down to my ideal fight weight! Yay!
2) PADI ADVANCED OPEN WATER DIVING
After a week training, my wife joined me in Manila and we flew together towards the Phillipine island of Boracay to continue pursuing our diving journey.
Ever since we dine our PADI Open Water Dive in Krabi last Dec, we have been hooked on diving.
To improve our competency as a dive buddy team, me and the wife decided to pursue the next step in Open Water Diving by going for the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Certification.
For fulfil the certification criteria, we had to complete 2 compulsory dive modules:
1) Deep Dive and 2)Underwater Navigation Dive
as well as 3 elective dives- for our electives, we chose:
3) Peak Performance Buoyancy 4)Fish Identification 5)Wreck Dive
1) Deep Dive Our Deep Dive was to a depth of 26m and this time round, I had an easier time equalising the pressure in my ears as we descended
2) Underwater Navigation The other compulsory module was the underwater navigation. We had to be able to follow a specified compass heading underwater and return on our reciprocal heading. We also had to be able to navigate in a square grid by using our compass bearingsand counting our fin kicks. We started out by practicing on the beach- here you see my wife, Geri, practicing with our Dive Instructor Jojo. She's trying to navigate a square grid with her head covered and only using the compass to determine her bearing
It seems easy to do on land but underwater, it was a whole new challenge and we each took a few tries to get used to navigating underwater
3) Peak Performance Buoyancy I have always been a natural sinker. During my days as a trainee PE teacher in NIE, I was the only one unable to float- at all. When we broke down the components of the front crawl, we would do the flutter kick with our hands outstretched infront of us. The rest of the class would be cruising along the surface of the water; I'd be flutter-kicking my face along the bottom of the pool!
But diving has allowed me to capitalise on my natural negative buoyancy. In the Peak Performance Buoyancy module, we were required to maintain an optimal level of inflation in our BCD and then by controlling our inhalation and exhalation, hover in mid-water without touching the sea-bed or shooting to the surface.
I enjoyed doing this so much, I almost attained Nirvana already :)
Fish Identification What's the use of diving if all you see are rocks and sand? Like that might as well put my head in an empty aquarium at home, right?
Part of the joy of diving is the chance to see marine life up close- it's one of the reasons Geri and I don't eat sharks fins now. We're not hard core animal activist but our Open Water Dive Instructor, Liz in Krabi impressed upon us one important point-" If you eat the shark during dinner, you don't expect to see many more swimming down here when you dive right?"
After seeing so many black-tip sharks and leopard sharks up close in Krabi, we realised that we enjoyed the experience of swimming with sharks more than eating them.
In this module, we learnt to sight and identify common marine wildlife around the coral reefs. Here's a picture of the Moray Eel we took when we were down in the Camia Wreck. It's well camouflaged and took some patience for us to find and identify
5) Wreck Diving Our final module was to dive on a sunked fishing freighter, the Camia. Wreck diving is exciting because you get to see lots of coral and marine wildlife that has grown up around the wreck to form a new marine ecosystem.
Here's our underwater adventure around the Camia Wreck
Diving has indeed provided a good activity for me and my wife to pursue together- it blends my love for adventure with her love of travel.
Here's a photo stream of our diving adventures so far!
3) SHOOTING I'm back in Manila now and will continue doing some more fight training in the last few days of holiday before I have to return to school.
Today, I got a chance to be invited to play air-soft with the Manila guys.
(Sir Bob, me and Eric)
What's air-soft- think paintball, just with small pellets. It's a great team-building game and allows all of us to dress-up in cool camo gear.
Having no gear of my own, Dr Jon (yup, he's a real doctor) loaned me some combat overalls and an M4 Carbine.
(Sir Bob, me and Dr Jonathan)
(My M4 Carbine)
It's just like going back to NS or doing reservist- but more fun! We big boys get to play with our big toys and dress up as soldiers.
Everything looks realistic but there is a lot of safety procedures in place. Before we began, they made sure I had good fire safety. Basically, the guns are powered by lithium batteries and the pellets are loaded into magazines which you roll-click to load more pellets into the gun. The advantage of having done NS meant that it wasn't a foreign task but more of a refresher for me:
After that, we all divide into 2 big teams for the skirmish. As you can see, every individual or team comes with their own camo attire, own individual firearms- it's like cosplay for men :)
The appointed marshals place plastic bands on my team (we will skirmish against the unbanded team)
We start on opposite sides of the playing field- if you notice carefully, you can see that right outside this vacant plot there is a busy traffic road but the organisers have put up netting to ensure that stray pellets do not hit passerbys.
I followed Eric's team. Eric is an established air-soft player and their team takes part in the leagues here (yup- there are national air-soft leagues where they have various scenarios for different team types.)
After the marshal gives the final instructions, the teams move to take our places
Basically, in skirmish we get 20min per game.
The objective is to eliminate players from the opposing team using good team-work, communication and out manuevering them.
It's an honour system- once you get hit, you raise your hands, stand up and the Marshall yells "Cease fire, Dead Man Walking"
The rest of players will stop targeting you and you quickly make your way to the no-fire zone.
After awhile, I quickly found out that positioning is key.
Finding good cover and maintaining your position helps to keep you safe- even if you don't hit someone, don't get shot: Defense priority first!
But on the other hand, mobility and awareness of your surroundings is also just as important, in our later 2 games I was hit from behind- at first I thought it was friendly fire but later I realised that our opposing teams had actually managed to outflank us and move to our rear where they were slowly picking us off!
I tried to get some action shots but due to the nature of the game, I could only take the following shots from afar. Can you spot some of the well-camouflaged players from our team?
After this, LAN gaming and playing Counter-Strike has no kick oredi lah :)
It has been a fulfilling trip to the Phillipines this June holidays.
I have had the opportunity to further cross-training in martial arts, progress in my diving adventures, and try out a new team-sport, air-soft.
Looking to come back and face a new term in school.
I'm aware of that Phillipines has now reccently been declared as a H1N1 affected country.
From the planning up to the point of my departure for Phillipines, it was not listed on the affected list by MOH.
I have been in constant contact with school management and my hostel office to ensure that I am able to comply with all health and safety guidlines upon my return.
I am in good health (no fever, ya-- yes, yes, I got take temperature twice daily wan)
and will see you all soon in school!
Today, our VS Wushu Team sent Saw Eh Tha Khu to participate in another invitational Wushu Sanshou Free-Sparring event.
Although, Saw is originally from Myanmar and doesn't speak Chinese- he has trained hard in both Wushu and Sanshou with the theme and over come the language barrier to persevere in training.
Today's competition for intended to talent spot athletes for centralised training in Sanshou. Despite it being Saw's first competitive match, we are proud to that he won it 2-1
In China, we gave him the nickname 小强. Let us cheer him on to train harder and live up to his Chinese name!
Yesterday, our VS Wushu Team was proud to be invited to perform as part of Kuen Wushu's "One Heart, One Kuen" Wushu Concert. We began the day early by heading to the Lee Foundation auditorium @ NAFA (Thanks our team of dedicated parents who fetched us all there!) Being our first time performing in a dedicated performance theatre, the boys had to be conscious of audience sight lines, their alignment with the lights, trying not to inhale the fumes from the articifical smoke (hahaha) Here's how we marked our spaces and entrances:
As with all full-dress rehearsals, there was quite a bit of time spent waiting. And as usual, our VS boys amused ourselves during the lull periods. Here, we have our little Png-ster trying hard to be a zombie emerging from a pile of goodie bags:
Sometimes, you guys really frustrate me; but sometimes you all just crack me up too! Keep the fun and joy in you boys; but never lose focus of what you are supposed to do.
Being a performance on stage with full lighting and effects, it was necessary for our boys to don make-up. Yup, make-up. Look at all their nervous faces here. Let's take a look at one of our brave volunteers:
So finally, it was curtains open. Here is a sample of the opening act showcasing the talents of Kuen's instructors as well as their advanced students. It is with pride in our heart that we can see our Victorian, Fung Jin Jie, able to showcase his skills alongside some of the best Chinese wushu athletes.
(Kuen has captured the entire performance on video. So parents interested in obtaining the entire footage of the night's outstanding performance. Please visit their website at www.kuenwushu.com for more details.
Finally, it came to VS' turn to perform. The boys performed a synthesised version of their competition Group Weapons event. Although, we did not have much time to put this performance together because of the exams; the relentless drilling in China and for our Nationals paid off as we were able to put the act together in a unified and co-ordinated manner.
Feedback from the public, parents as well as th organisers was very positive. Even Picasso Tan, SEA Games Medalist for Wushu and the Dean of Kuen Wushu mentioned that our Victorians were outstanding.
Well done boys! You have shown that Victorians are indeed something more!
After close to 3 weeks of gruelling competition, we reach the final day for group events.
At lot was at stake for VS. For C-Boys, we were leading the table with 31 points, followed closely by Beatty Sec with 30 points. With such a close margin, the fight for division title could swing anyway.
Alas, a costly mistake cost us the Group Quan. Although the general movements and timing were good, we messed up one sequence of the routine and it was obvious to all who saw it:
It was an unforced error and it cost us dearly, we probably lost 0.2 or 0.3 points and based on our final score of 7.96, it would have meant that without the mistake, we might bave placed 2nd or 3rd for the event.
This is a team effort boys, so there are no individual mistakes here. You need to work harder to gel yourself as a team so that we can push on to greater heights next year.
The B-Boys tried their best to regain our pride- it was obvious that their Group Quan was much tighter and focused than the C-boys.
Unfortunately, the competition levels from the other team was intense and the B-Div also failed to place within top 4 in this event, even though they gave a good showing.
By now, we knew that our fellow competitors in the C-Div had accumulated enough points and that from leading the table at 31, we were now laggin behind in 3rd or 4th placing. If we failed to place in the Group Weapon, we ran the risk of being eliminated from top 4 in the division placing.
The boys' morale was low at this point but I told them this: If we can't fight for 1st place, then we fight for 2nd. If we can't fight for 2nd place, then we fight for 3rd If we can't fight for 3rd place, then we fight for 4th If we can't fight for 4th place, then we fight to do our school, parents and team mates proud. There is always something to fight for and at the end of the day, it is not the medal you get that determines the value of your fight but rather the strength of your fighting spirit that determines the value of your medal
So we rallied the C-boys together and urged them to lift up their spirits and give it their all:
Personally, I felt it was one of their best attempts at the group weapon event. However, competition was tough and many of our opponents had more complicated sequences as well as technical sequences which we lacked. So again, we were not able to place in top four for this event. With this result, our chances for remaining in top 4 for the division title seemed very slim.
But there was still one more event to go- the B-boys Group Weapon. The B-boys have really matured this year and spent a lot of time working on their group weapon routine. I was really proud and pleased to see their progress and hard work all the way from last year, through the Mar training trip in China till now. You can see the results of their blood, sweat and tears here:
Unfortunately, our esteemed opponents had slick moves of their own and their choreography and timing was no less tight and incorporated more technical and acrobatic moves. So no placing even for our most confident event, the B-Boys Weapons.
With such a series of set-back for us, morale was indeed low as we stayed back for the end of the competition. However, a quick check with friends and fellow competitors from other schools indicated that we might stil have a glimmer of hope for the C-Div.
And lo and behold, our C-Div boys edged their way into 3rd Position for C-Division. Even without any further additions, our 31 points was just barely enough to secure a place for us in division top 4.
It was a small triumph in a day of set backs, but that is what martial arts is all about. Perservering through your obstacles and coming back the better man.
You are always my champions, boys. Not because of the medals and not because of your skills but because I know that I have groomed you all to be something more. Your values and character will be what sets you apart. So for VS, for your parents, for your team-mates and for yourself...争气吧！
Today was Day 6 of the Wushu Competition, our final 2 competitors did well in the events. First up was Darren Tan in the C-Div Nan Gun:
Darren did well and after an agonising tie at 8.26 for 3rd and 4th, results came out with Darren in 3rd place for another bronze medal for VS C-Div
Our final competitor in the individual events was Fung Jin Jie in the Cudgel 2nd International Routine:
Despite facing stiff competition and the usual variance in scoring, Jin Jie did very well and scored 8.81, narrowly missing the Gold by 0.08 only
Well done boys! We now have the important Group Events to train for. We have a fighting chance in both divisions and in order to achieve our goal, you know that the next week will be tough.
But I believe in you- because I know you will fight, not for fame; and you will fight, not for reward; but you fight for your pride and belief in who you are.
Today is Day 5 and we only had one competitor- Ryan Goh competiting in the B-Boys Nan Gun event.
There were a lot of strong opponents in this category, with some of them every from the National Youth Squad! Honestly, Ryan spent about just a month or so learning this routine!
When we first talked about it and I asked Ryan if he was willing to stretch himself and just try and see how much he could absorb. Ryan told me, "Why not?"
So Ryan spent the next weeks training hard with Darren- it was good to see our boys helping each other out. I tried my best to help since I learnt this routine before, but the current interpretation is very different from the way I was taught and I've not actively practiced it in a long, long time, so I wasn't able to be of much help to Ryan. But Ryan perservered and learnt the routine from our coaches, got Darren to help him fine-tune the lessons and still gave a pretty good performance.
Not bad right? Not in contention for Top 4, perhaps, but definitely not bad for less than 2 months work. Now some may ask,"Eh Mr Siow, your athlete haven't even start learning the routine, you sign him up for the event? Liddat how to win?"
Well, it is my belief and philosophy here in the VS Team to send my students for competitions in order to make them better athletes and not to have good athletes in order to win competitions.
Ultimately, it is all about personal growth. Did Ryan win a medal? No. Did Ryan grow and achieve a breakthrough under the challenge I set for him? Definitely.
And that is what the martial arts are all about :)
Today is Day 4 of our competition, Our boys were scheduled for quite a number of events.
First up, was Lee Jing Wei from C-Div who participated in the Spear 1st International Routine.
Jingwei managed to place 3rd for this event- Yay, you get to play computer for one whole week, hahaha!
Next, our B-Div anchor man, Fung Jin Jie gave a fine solid performance today during the Broadsword 2nd International Routine:
Jinjie's maturity and hardwork has paid off and he achieved First Place with a score of 8.68! Well done!
Next we had another participant in the spear event, this time it was Samuel Tan in the 4-Duan Spear for C-Div:
Like so many other athletes who also gave their best, Samuel was unfortunately not able to place in Top 4- but that is the nature of competition. Boys, I value of you in the team because of who you are; not how many medals you win for the school.
Concurrently, with the 4-Duan Spear event was the 4-Duan Cudgel event for C-Div: Kang Jie decided to participate in both Broadsword and Cudgel this year in order to complement his skills; rather than stick to doing just Taiji. I must say that he has improved tremendously:
Although Kangjie didn't place in the event, Bernie Ang, who competed in the same event managed to place 2nd! Woots! But as I was covering the Spear event for Samuel, I wasn't able to get footage of Bernie- sorry!
Well, it may seem to my readers that I'm using the following phrase alot ".... although xxx tried his best, but he didn't place in Top 4.... but we are happy with his progress" Some of you may wonder whether this is just a token phrase of encouragement to those of you who 'didn't make it'; but let me assure you it is not. As I mentioned above, in VS, we value your presence in the team for who YOU are; and not for the amount of medals you bring in.
The difference may not seem obvious to you young guys now but I'm sure your parents will understand the following words perfectly: If you win a medal for VS in competition, I'm sure you'll feel the pride at having contributed to medal to our competitive efforts.
But for me, it is the day I see you graduate and move on to JC, or Poly, or wherever; and yet come back to help train your juniors and still be part of the team, that is when my heart swells with pride for each and everyone of you here because then I know that the practice of martial arts for you all here in VS is not about winning medals or being number one in competition-- It is then that I say with pride that in training in VS Wushu brings out the best in you and makes you something more.
That boys, is my pride in you and it is worth more than gold.
Today was day three of our competition and for our team, it was all the taiji events.
We began the day well with our first Gold medal of the competition by Ho Munyong in the C-Div 42-Step Taiji
Taiji sounds easy to most people because it's slow compared to the other forms of Wushu-but to those who do it, they know that it is a very technical event. Taiji is not just Changquan done slowly, it's mechanics are completely different. The 42-Step Competition form is a tough one to master
Our other athlete to attempt this was Tan Yuda from B-Div boys. Yuda learnt this routine in less than 3 months just so that our B-Div could also field one member in Taiji. Though he didn't place in the event, the Taiji crash course has helped him improve tremendously in his Group Event. (Don't have footage of his even cos I was on a secret mission at that time. Yup, Yuda is sworn to secrecy for the time being)
Our other C-Div boys did competed in the simplified 24-Step Taiji They both showed a great improvement from last year.
Ang Kang Jie improved this year, showing better stability and fluidity. He was tied for 4th place with a score of 8.05 but final resolution of the highest of and lowest discarded score placed him at 5th. Nevertheless, I am happy to see his improvement. You can reference this clip with last yeat's competition clip to see his improvement.
Next, was our mischievous little baba hero, John Png. John too has shown good improvement. However, he still needs to polish his fluency and fluidity in the Taiji. However, his focus and posture is a good improvement from last year. Doing taiji has also helped John in his general movement and I'm sure you'll get to see this in his Group events:
So although we've tasted success with our first Gold medal today, let us not be complacent and push on We'll be up early tomorrow for training as usual. Come on boys, we're only half-way through! Monday, we continue our fight to challenge ourselves to greater excellence!
Today was the 2nd day of competition for the Inter-school Wushu Championships. First up was Lloyd Teo in the 5-Duan Nanquan for C-Div Although Lloyd wasn't able to place in the Top 4, he's shown improvement especially in his jumpling side-kick and flip-jump
Jingwei took part in C-Div Changquan 1st Int Routine Competition and skill level for this event and their age group was just so intense.
Well done, Jingwei! You gave your best and that is all that matters.
Despite having 2 upsets, the VS Team still managed to clinch one medal today and we didn't have to walk away empty handed. Darren Tan competed in the Nanquan 1st International Routine for C-boys and managed to secure a 3rd place.
Well done boys! Tomorrow, our Taiji competitors take the field and I am sure we can continue to persevere and push ourselves to achieve greater heights!.
Today was Day 1 of the National Interschool Wushu Championships,
After all our months of hard work and sacrificing our Mar holidays to train in Beijing, China, we approached this day with a mixture of excitment and anxiousness.
First, up was Lee Jing Wei in the Sword 1st International Routine
Jingwei's final score of 8.31 gave him a tie with 4 other competitiors for 2nd place. We kept our fingers crossed and our hard work training in Beijing paid off when the final results were announced with Jingwei placing 2nd!
Next was the B-Boys Nanquan, despite not having access to carpeted training areas, our team boys still managed to training for the technical movements in this event. Ryan Goh, our Team Captain managed to give a strong showing and managed his jumps well despite the lack of opportunity to practice.
Kong Wei Chung, our 'foreign talent'-- our first ASEAN scholar with wushu background proved that he works hard not only in studies but that he is able to have a balance between CCA and academic achievement as well. Weichung was awarded most hardworking athlete during our trip to Beijing
But despite their best efforts, our fellow competitors were too strong for them and both boys remained unplaced in the Nan Quan event.
Darren Tan was next to take part in the Nan Dao event.
Likewise, competition in this event was intense with strong, vibrant performances from our fellow competitors. Although, Darren was unplaced in this event, he remained undeterred and determined to strive harder for his following events. That's the spirit!
Our biggest boost in morale came with the appearance of Bernie Ang on the scene today. A few days ago, Bernie was diagnosed with a severe eye infection and it seemed likely that he would have to withdraw from competition. However, his fighting spirit allowed him to overcome the infection and recover fast. In fact, he showed up straight for the competition right from the doctor's appointment. This spurred our other athlete Kangjie who was also competing in the same event. Although Kangjie's designated routine is actually Taiji, this year he decided to push himself and sign up for one more event in the 4-Duan Broadsword. Bernie's appearance must have encourage him because today's performance by Kang Jie was indeed his best ever:
Even though Kangjie didn't get to place, the entire team's spirit was lifted by Bernie's presence and Kang Jie's improvement.
Encouraged by Kang Jie's performance, Bernie gave his best:
Bernie's fighting spirit to overcome his illness and recover was rewarded by a second place in the event! Well done Bernie, we are sure you are on the way to a full recovery!
Last but not least, Fung Jin Jie faced tough competition in the B-Boys Changquan 2nd International Routine:
Despite tough competition, Jinjie gave a flawless performance and it was a close fight for the championship. Jinjie's score of 8.93 lost by a narrow margin of 0.12pts to his fellow competitor Yuxiang who scored 9.05. It was good to see our boys pitted against such strong opponents- in this way both parties are pushed to excel and give off their best. Although Jin Jie had to contend with a second place, we were all very satisfied with his performance.
So we have gone off to a good start on our first day with 3 silver medals.
But boys we cannot be complacent now- you have seen the standard and effort put in by all our competitors. Let us be inspired by them and work harder so that win or lose, we will earn the respect of our supporters as well as our competitors!
Thank you all parents who met us at the airport yesterday night. We have all arrived back safetly in Singapore. I would like to thank Mr Tan Ngan Boon was assisting in securing the clearance permits from A&E to expedite the customs clearance for our equipement
Thanks to the Png family, the Ang family, Hung Family, Tan family and Teo family for helping to transport equipment and boys back to school.
This trip could not have been possible without the support of the parents. I hope the boys have thanked you on their return. I know I'm starting to nag alot (I think signs of old age) but it is important for all Victorians to be grateful because none of us make our successes in life on our own.
We have a tough month ahead of us, but I am sure that we can do it So boys, you all know what we have to do in the following weeks, right? You must .....
On our last day in Beijing, the Wang brothers, Master Wang Shangzhi and Wang Shangxin, invited us to visited their restaurant at Beijing Palace.
It was our last day in Beijing and time was short, so we only managed to take a few pictures with them. But the conversation was good and it was rewarding to touch base with respected seniors in the martial arts community.
We covered everything from martial ethics, to chinese history, to medicine! Thank you both, Master Wang Shang Zhi and Master Wang Shang Xin for making our last morning in Beijing such a memorable one.
This afternoon was our final session with Coach Yang Yongli and the young students under him.
Shi Cha Hai Sports School prepared certificates of completion for each of the boys:
We invited Coach Yang to give away the certificates of achievement:
Prior to the trip I had also prepared some medals for the boys to reward their hard work. We also had 4 Special Awards to give away: Kong Wei Chung was awarded the Spartan Award for best effort and determination
Our Myanmar wushu warrior, Saw Eh Tha Khu aka Xiao Qiang was awarded our medal for Most Improved Athlete:
In terms of overall skill and achievement, the Overall Best Athlete award, without a doubt, goes to Fung Jin Jie for his ability to perform well and above expectations in his Wushu training:
Finally, our Special Effort Award goes to Team Captain Ryan Goh, who continually pushed himself in training, as well as supervising the team during their self-study time, assisting with the administration. Ryan is the most well-rounded team member, learning and gaining competency in Routines, Sparring and Lion Dance.
Here, we see Coach Yang presenting our special awards to the recipients:
It has been a great training trip and cultural learning experience for us. We will be leaving Shi Cha Hai Sports School tomorrow and will be back in Singapore at 10.25pm on SQ805.
We do not train for fame, nor do we train for reward- we train in order that we may fight to become true Gentlemen, Professionals and Sportsmen. 我们不争名， 不争利--维中武术队只争气！
While in Beijing, Sifu and I managed to visit his Senior, Dr Ge Feng Lin (葛凤麟). Sifu Loh was a formal disciple of Dr Ge Chang Hai (葛长海) in Ge-Style Tendon Pinching 葛氏捏筋.
We had the chance to visit Dr Ge Feng Lin at Beijing TieLu Hospital:
We were also invited to his home to visit Dr Ge's mother and family:
This is our last day of training and we hope that the boys will be able to give off their best.
We will be giving out certificates of participation and performance awards later in the day. I have been closely monitoring the boys performances with our 2 coaches and we will give awards for Best Athlete, Most Improved Athlete, Special Effort Award and Spartan Award.
From this clip, can you tell who our likely recipients are?
Tonight we went to Wang Fu Jin, Beijing's equivalent of Singapore's Orchard Road.
Each time I visit Beijing, I always visit Wang Fu Jin- there are 2 places that I always go to. 1) The Foreign Language Bookshop where you can buy a lot of good English translations of Chinese Books- including Wushu and Medical texts
2) The Night Market Street where you have grilled lamb skewers and other exotic stuff, like silkworm cocoons, spiders, crickets and scorpions.
That is a must for me each time there. So tonight, like the typical Singaporean, I eat to my hearts content So here's a look at my supper treat:
My biggest treat for myself during the cold Beijing night was a nice, deep fried scorpion.
Yup and I ate it all by myself too!
I treated the boys to caramel fruits- check out the size of the strawberries from Xinjiang! The boys have worked hard and tomorrow we will have our last day of training. So a small treat to reward them :)
