here's to 2005

happy new year to all ac canoeists and dragonboaters!!! ahahahaha!!!
hello grandseniors of 04. for the three sad boys going ns in jan (yes, you know who you are) enjoy your last few days of freedom. for those of us with jobs, happy working. remember that we have to meet up every now and then cos i miss you guys LOTS. and then when uni comes and some of us go overseas, we'll find it so much harder to meet. so treasure the time we have now.. as it is, working already marks another stage of our life and we seem to have passed through jc so fast. too fast. i really miss those days when all we had to worry about was doing pullups fast enough so we could eat before the recess bell rang..
hello new seniors, it's the beginning of your senior and j2 year. i know you all probably don't want me to type this but i'm going to. it's the year you all will have to learn to manage time in order to tread that fine line between mugging and rowing, family and school. *cue: screams of horror.* i don't know how you all are going to manage the incoming batch, but i'm pretty sure you all will be ok. =D just remember that whatever approach you guys take, do it as a team and do it with spirit. grandsenior girls will be here at least til the end of your nationals in july, guys at least til april. and if i'm not wrong, even a few great grandseniors will be looking out. you all can do it and make your team great. all you guys have to do is want it enough.. cliche but true. fundamentally, things don't happen unless there is desire for it in the first place.
no doubt, some of you are going to be confounded by the prospect of handling a competitive sport and the horrible a level syllabus. (term exams every term! eeks!) well, put it this way. the life of every jc student consists of: cca, studies, social life. unless you are some scholar wannabe, most pple only manage two and a half of these clauses, or even just two. here, you all will have no room for doubt. you'll have to pick something which you're going to sacrifice for the year 2005. please, please, DO NOT MAKE THE THING YOU NEGLECT YOUR STUDIES. IT'S NOT WORTH IT. you'll be a rower for the first half of your youth. but you're going to have to learn all your life. with regard to the remaining two choices, i will state an ugly truth that isn't often spoken about. if the club doesn't pick up and start performing as per moe standards.. we will go the way of the sailing club. and you all know what happened to the sailing club. they don't exist anymore. it's not an ultimatum i'm presenting you guys with, but a fact.. think about it when you're deciding and when you think in a super bochup manner 'winning doesn't matter so i don't train hard'. alas, it does. not to us, but to the school.
well, having said that, one more thing. whatever you do, do it with spirit. yours is a small team and for you guys, the adage 'small but mighty' is more true than ever before. you guys are mighty, or you have the potential to be. i know you all will have great team spirit.. but that's provided you bring that spirit to the team. just one person (and i mean a senior, because as senior you set the example for your juniors) who comes to training with no spirit and with no passion can kill the whole team. you exist for the team and not vice versa. as much as i can say with absolute certainty and truth that those who stay in the club never regret it, i think there are also those who leave who never regret it. if you can't dedicate yourself to the team and to the club, if you find that your heart is not in training, if you find no joy in pushing during training, if you slack and feel no guilt.. then you're probably better off leaving. strictly speaking, it's rude to pull pple down with you. everything negative you do affects everybody else, and the longer you stay the worse it becomes.
dear seniors. you have a tough year ahead of you. i won't lie about that. we are in danger, make no mistake. but take heart. as long as you all hold on to each other, as long as you all reach for your dreams together, you all will make it. it's up to you to lead now. the fate of the club, at least for a few more years, rests upon each of you. it's a big responsibility for you to take up. and i wish you guys all the best in leading. we'll always be here if you need us. all you have to do is ask.
YOU CAN DO IT. LAI AC.
God Bless.

Camp Schedule

Camp Schedule

17 December 2004 Day 1

0930 – 1200 Water Session 1

1200 – 1330 Lunch + 1 hr Break

1330 – 1600 Water Session 2

1600 – 1700 Debrief + Cleaning up

1800 – 2000 Dinner

2000 – 2100 Back to School

2100 – 2300 Free Time + Admin

2300 Lights Out

18 December 2004 Day 2

0730 – 0830 Wake up for Breakfast

0830 - 0930 Long Run + circuits

0930 - 1200 Games

1200 – 1400 Lunch + 1hr Break

1400 – 1600 Gym

1600 – 1800 Talks/Presentation

• -Sports
• -Video

Team Activity

1800 – 2000 Dinner + Break

2000 – 2100 Games

2100 – 2300 2005

2300 Lights Out

19 December 2004 Day 3

0730 – 0930 Wake up for Breakfast + Packing up

0930 – 1030 Movement to SDBA

1030 – 1300 Dragonboat Session

1300 – 1400 Washup

1400 – 1530 Debrief

Training 8/11/04

• Warms ups (10min)


• 1 set 54321 alternate pushups and crunches (20min)


• 4 rounds track;guys 1:45 per round, girls 2:30 (10min)


• Gym (look below) (60min)


• 3 sets circuits(Look below) (20min)

Gym 15,15,12 reps: (60min)

1. 10 pullups


2. Benchpress


3. Shoulder press


4. Seated row


5. Upright Row


6. Lats pull down


7. Snatch


8. Bicep curls


9. Hyperextension X 20


10. Dips guys15 girls 10


11. Rotary torso


12. Situps 20

Round the world:
4 stations:

1. Pushups


2. Crunches


3. Burpees


4. Flutter Kick

Each set is one round of the track. Carry out each station after every 100m. since the team is small. Guys one row and girls one row. Nadim and liyanna beware of this; do at your own discretion.

Training 6/11/04

warmups
5 sets pushups/situps (15min)

Dry rowing for 6 mins each before going down

3 X 4 Laps ( projected time: (3 x 4 x 6) + (2 x 5min rest betw sets)= 82 mins on water

Projected Total time taken: 15 + 6 + 82 + 10(time wasting) = 113 mins excluding washing up and launching off
Training shld be 2 1/2 hrs which means we have about 7 mins of time to launch off, take paddles and getting ready.


K2

1. Chong-Yihang (Yihang control your lower body, relax it coz u are making the boat rock with your stroke, add more twisting; chong dropping shoulders, punching more force forward instead of downwards)
   
2. Nadim-Ben (nadim dropping shoulders and kicking; ben your forearm must stretch out when you punch)
   
3. Shijia-Liyanna (shijia dropping shoulder, better the last time round, work on keeping the elbows parallel to the water surface, dun lean so much forward becoz it will obstruct your twisting; liyanna go for catch, practise direction, go in a straight line; both of you try to be add more pull to your stroke)
4. Weiling-Margy (Weiling work on your rhythm of kicking, sit behind and use your kick to balance your K2; Margy Add more catch, lean forward slightly)

Weiling and margy will go into K1 after the first two sets in K2

T2

1. Sherman and the new guy (Sherman help to teach the new guy the basics)
   

Points to note:

1. Speed in launching off(Time to practise before juniors come in)
2. Try to pace each other; guys k2 row side by side to practise direction; no more than ten strokes together and no more than ten strokes apart.
3. Bring water with you
4. You will not be going back to shore the moment you launch off; except for those who have to change craft
5. Work on your mistakes

Training Program for 25 Oct

1. 2km runs (average lap for guys 1:45; for girls 2:30)
2. 1 set 5432
3. Pullups 3 sets 15 for guys; girls 3 set 7
4. Gym - 5 BX
5. Ckts: 20,20,10; 20,20,8, 10,10,5
   

Gym(5BX) 3sets 1 min

1. benchpress
2. shoulderpress
3. upright row
4. bicep curls
5. seated row

Program for open hse demo

Gym demo
20reps 80%

1. 1set max pullups
2. Bench press
3. Shoulder press
4. Seated row
5. Upright row
6. Lats pulldown
7. Bicep curls
8. Wrist curls
9. 2sets 15 pullups after weights

Land Demo

1. Dry rowing-dboat and canoeing
2. 1sets 54321
3. Ckts:
4. 20,20,10
5. 15,15,8
6. 10,10,5
7. Medicine balls

the importance of being earnest

hey guys now that your promos are over, i hope that you passed cos if u didnt, i heard 3% of those who failed are going to be retainees and the 97% left are gonna be expelled.

so well, if ure one of the few people left, congrats

if not, than always remember that you have the power to make the best of any situation. poly isnt a bad option. for some of you, it is a better environment cos its more "free" and "open" in nature. so yea, i guess life sometimes throws you a curveball but that doesnt mean you cant still hit a home run on it.

assuming you still continue in acjc canoeing and dragonboat, i do hope that you will be true to yourselves and hold the flag high for us in the years to come.

you guys are supposedly seniors now but i dont think that any of you will grasp that concept just yet. not at least until your first juniors start pouring in and then leaving cos they find traiing too tough/parents/teachers...blah blah. you wunt feel the emotional turmoil just yet of having your training disrupted for these "lanjiaos"

but thats another matter. really the importance of this post is just to remind you guys of the importance of being earnest. that is, being earnest with yourselves. if you guys stil lack the required standard needed in canoeing, that is, you still dont know your stroke, you still are crap at fitness, then i do suggest u start doing drastic things about it now. starting training again is always a pain in the ass. youll definitrely feel like puking on your viery first , second and maybe up till 5th training. so if u dunt feel like puking, then something is wrong---with you.

please do not make the same mistake as your seniors. we all thought there was a lot of time left till the juniors came in and as such, our fitness was not as ideal as it should be. you guys should have a team benchmark and a personal benchmark.

for me, the benchmark was always my seniors and here are a few stats for you guys:

2.4 run: fastest time by hong cheong, 8 min 24 sec. average senior ran about 9 plus minutes
pull ups:most ive heard of by Ganesh, 50. average senior pulling around 22 to 26
situps:dunno how to measure. make sure u can do at least 150 straight or ull crap out in front of your juniors. and need i mention that the driving force comes from your tummy?
pushups: try to hit at least 10 sets continuosly by end of december

yea that was the team standard back then. individually, its up to you guys to set your own standards. your own standard should be higher than the team standard obviously.

but again, these are all that. suggesstions. i remember i hated my seniors for being busybodies and trying to be smart and giving smart suggesstions but hey, im just doing my job.

just want to warn you of the fact that time is NOT on your side. consider the other teams. if in any way you THINK they are better skilled, stronger or fitter than you at ANY ONE POINT, then i guess you have to do soething about it.

and even if u are better skilled/fitter/stronger, theyre gonna catch up mighty fast.

in any case, nj has a few national rowers next year and peeps from acs i and chinese high may defect to them as well, which means interesting times ahead of you guys.

so train hard, train right and be a good example to your juniors. i wish you all the best.