CNY Performance @ VS

Today VS had our Chinese New Year celebrations, last year due to scheduling clashes and last minute changes, our VS Wushu Team performed for 2 Primary Schools but was unable to perform in VS itself.

This year, we were determined to make up for our absence and practiced hard to wow our home crowd. Our season due of Lion Head and Lion Tail- Ryan Goh from 4A and Tan Yuda from 4I are graduating this year and this would be a great way to celebrate their coming of age in the team.
You can see how seasoned they are now:


Even better this year, I finally handed over all aspects of the performance to the boys. John Png from 3B took over the helm for drumming with the cymbals played by Kang Jie, Saw, Hui Dhar and Zhenyu.
We had our 'gong specialist' Liu Weilie come back from NS to join us today even! Weilie managed to earn a day off for attaining a Silver in his IPPT test! Well done!


After our Lion Dance, we had our wushu performance by the team.
With many of our veteran members graduating this year, we showcased some new talent in the C-Div:


I believe that Kong Wei Chung from 4D made the biggest and loudest impression on everyone.
It is this passion and ROARING love for Victoria that I feel deep in my heart and wish to share with all staff and students this Chinese New Year.
In the year of the Tiger, may we fight tooth and claw to surmount all challenges that come our way;
may we hunt out opportunities to make ourselves something more;
and when we after we crest these seemingly insurmountable odds, may we ROAR our name for all to hear- we will ROAR out loud that WE ARE VICTORIANs and WE WILL ALWAYS BE SOMETHING MORE!!!

RAWR!

Beijing Wushu Team visit to Victoria School

On 7th Feb, 3 boys from Victoria School will be part of the performance team comprising of members of the Beijing Wushu Team and Kuen Wushu in during the Wushu performance, "The Champion" at Victoria Theatre.

The 3 boys are:
TAN JIA SHENG DARREN 3I
FUNG JIN JIE 4E
KONG WEI CHUNG 4D

Victoria School was proud to play hosts to the Beijing Wushu Team who visited us on Thu 4th Feb to mingle with the boys and have a joint training session to acclimatise themselves upon arriving in Singapore
First all, we had a brief introduction of the team and our VS boys and then both groups, began to do their warm-ups and basic exercises:


It is immediately apparent that the level and proficiency at which the Beijing Team members execute even the most fundamental movements set themselves in a whole new level of skill:

Even casual warm-ups are executed with a crispness and fluidity that are the distinctive hall-marks of true professional athletes

Later, when the team started to do their more complicated aerial movements, the VS Team gave way to the Beijing Team and watched attentively as these professionals pushed the boundaries of excellence.

In this session, it was obvious that the Beijing team was not training at their regular intensity but were just limbering to acclimatise to Singapore's hot and humid weather after their arrival here.
Yet, we can see that behind the casual execution of each jump, flip and turn; there is a huge difference in the way their air-time, fluidity and technical poise.

It is not often that student athletes are priviledged to have an inside look at how professional teams train; so for the boys they were thrilled and awestruck by the performance of these highly skilled athletes.

So for those who haven't got your tickets yet, there's still time!
Don't miss the Beijing Wushu Team (not to mentioned JJ, Darren and Weichung from VS!) in "The Champion"

VS Wushu Team CNY Performance @ SGH

Today the VS Wushu Team went down to Singapore General Hospital to celebrate the festive season and bring some Ox-picious cheer to the patients there.

We were there early and had the chance to wish some of the patients a Happy Chinese New Year!


This was followed by our Lion Dance and Wushu performance:


Throughout the world and all across society, many have predicted that this will be a tough year. But it is especially in times like these that we have to stand by some of the principles laid down in our Victorian Code of Honor:
Be Kind, Be Grateful and Be Engaged

Learning wushu is not just about learning how to fight your opponent; it is about learning how to live you life- with meaning, care and integrity.

The VS Wushu Team has been blessed to receive support from so many parents, VWOs and kind, well-wishers. Boys, this is our time to give back and give of ourselves.
Only when we can achieve that, can we say that we have achieved something in our practice of the martial arts.

VS Wushu Team CNY Performances for Pri School

Today, the VS Wushu Team was invited to Chong Zheng Primary School as well as Coral Pri School to perform for their Chinese New Year Celebrations.

Jinjie was formerly from Chong Zheng, so it was a good way for him to go back and perform since his sister is also still studying there.
Our team was even more fortunate to have the assistance of Jin Jie's father, who skillfully played the part of the Big Headed Doll in our Lion Dance! Watch him tease and toy with our VS Lion played by Ryan and Yuda


Our C Div boys did a great job, even though many were just new members that have just joined us in Sec 1.
Here they are doing their Group Quan:


At Coral Primary, the crowd as so enthusiastic! It's really fun performing for Primary School kids- so much joy and energy!


The 'Waaaaahs' and 'Ooooohs' from the Primary School kids definitely made our boys feel good!

Ryan and Darren were given a chance to share their wushu experiences with their juniors in Coral Primary school. Indeed it was with joy and pride that I was able to see our VS Wushu Team share their pride in how Victoria School has nurtured them into Gentlemen, Professionals and Sportsmen

After this, is off for a few days rest with family before we begin our next round of demonstrations.

Congrats to the team, especially Team Capt Ryan for his hard work in mastering the Lion. Well done Yuda for being a fantastic Lion Tail- the both of you are dynamite.

The next few months will be tough, with many demos and preparing for competition- that is why you must drop by my place in the hostel, like Ryan and gang, and use my Osim I-Squeeze to soothe your tired muscles.

Have a Happy New Year boys! We will perserve and strive hard in the year ahead.
Regardless what obstacles that are placed in our way, I promise you that we will overcome them all together as a team!

1-2-3, "HHHHHUUUUUUAAAAAAAAATTT-aaaaahh"

Baguan Seminar by Master Sun ZhiJun (28th Dec)

On Sun 28th Dec, Victoria School's Wushu Team round up our last seminar presentaion with Master Sun Zhijun from China.

Master Sun, his senior disciples Madam Ge Chun Yan and Madam Mi Jin Pei gave strong theoretical insights into the nature of internal Chinese Martial Arts.

Students were then given a chance to show case their learning and to recieve pointers from the various teachers regarding their form, movement and applications
Here we see the students going through the core footwork of Bagua Zhang:


Members of the public were present at our seminar and it allow martial enthusiasts and novices alike to gain an insight into the depth and breath of Chinese Martial Arts.

We hope that Victoria School will be able to continue our efforts to contribute to the growth of the martial arts community in Singapore so that we can spread the love and passion for Wushu to benefit all practictioners.

Join us as we work diligently towards this goal!
Nil Sine Labore

Even more shooting ...

Today, I brought the VS Wushu Team down to DM Archery at Suntec

Well, it was a good outing for all of us. As DM Archery were keeping track of scores for Top 6 shooters, there was a mood of friendly competition amongst the boys to see if they could qualify against the ladder board.

Our little DSA talent, Lee Jing Wei managed to score 104, placing him amongst the Top 6 shooters in Under-12; team captain Ryan Goh blasted his way with 110 to place within Top 6 for Under-16 (tying my score for the day at that time!)


Last session, I hit 114 and was tied for 2nd place in the Open category but a check on the ladder board showed that I was relegated out of the Top 6 cos some ace had hit a 120pt perfect score. Subsequently, 2ns and 3rd position were 116 pts with the rest of us mere mortals trailing at 114pts.

Inspired by Ryan Goh's fantastic scoring, I aimed to better my personal best. After some meticulous zeroing and consolidating my grouping shots, I took my final round for the day.
With 11 shots on the yellow and 1 on the red, I'm back in the running for 2nd place in the open category with 118 points! An almost perfect score.

Woots! Not let's keep my fingers crossed... and see if I can stay at 2nd position on the ladder board

Day 2 of "Aspire- 我武维扬" VS Wushu Talent Development Camp

Today is Day 2 of our camp, so bright and early we got the boys and girls to wake up and begin the day with some sports and games:

The VS boys introduced our Primary School friends to a favourate VS sport- Floorball.
In no time at all, our little wushu juniors had picked it up and were going at it with their hearts out.


After that, we began with more stretching. Darren had a taste of what it meant to undergo 'hard core' partner stretching exercise.


After that is was back to our fundamentals. Although the boys and girls were tired, I was glad to see some pronouced improvement in some of the VS boys. I'm sure that the presence of their little juniors working hard must have spurred some of them on.




We ended the day with the small competition. All participants were divided into groups. Each group was given a task to choreograph a short 15-30sec routine for their group.

Here we have Zhen yu's Group



Next we have Ryan's Group



After that came Yuda's Group



The winner of the this little mini-contest was Jinjies' group. Jinjie and group showed the most dedication and in the short time they had, they managed to stay focus and work on their routine to showcase the best of their abilities.



It has indeed been a fulfilling camp and today being Teacher's Day, I couldn't think of a more fulfilling way to spend the day :)

Thank you to all our little boys and girls from the various primary schools, we definitely enjoyed your presence here. We hope you'll all join us for future events and we can learn and train together again!

Day 1 of "Aspire- 我武维扬" VS Wushu Talent Development Camp

Today Victoria School Wushu team hosted 20+ students from various Primary Schools in the East Zone for a Wushu Talent Development Camp.

The camp was sponsored by South East CDC

Judging from the eager faces and excited chatter, I'm sure that many of the Primary School students had been looking forward to the camp.

It was the first time VS Wushu Team had invited guests to join us during our training and we were equally excited at hosting the lively boys and girls from the various Primary Schools.

We began immediately with the basics:

Yup, ssstretching!!!


Joining me in running this camp, was Coach Di Guangwen and Madam Ge Chunyan, both of whom were highly accomplished athletes when they were competing during their time in the Beijing Wushu Team.
Here see Coach Di leading the group in explaining the finer details of how to execute the basic fundamental movements of Wushu- our 基本功.


As flexibility is an important part of all martial arts training, we wanted to make sure that we spent adequate time stretching. This will improve their flexibility and allow them to accomplish more technically complex movements. More importantly, it will also help them to avoid injury from sudden movements or during their jumping/aerial techniques. So let's see how low we can all go!


After a sumptous lunch (Sphagetti and Honey Glazed Chicken!), we took the boys to East Coast for some games and team-building activities. Victoria School is located right next to the beach, so we had a nice stroll across to the sea via the underpath at ECP leading to the lagoon:


At the beach, we started out with a traditional game of 'Dog and Bone'. Tried and tested, it never fails to get a large group of people to start bonding quickly:


Later, we had the kind services of Alvin Lee and the great people from CastleBeach - Beautiful Minds to show us how to use their innovative Beach Works sandcastle building kit to make sandcastles. Alvin and team run free workshops on sandcastle building every weekend at East Coast Park from 3.30pm onwards. To find out more, see his website here www.castlebeach.org

Here we see Alvin give the kids a lively and interesting introduction to Sandcastle building. Good to go back to good, old-fashion fun in a natural environment, ya?
I'm sure many parents will miss the good ole kampung days:)


So after the demo, we broke the students into 4 groups and gave them 45 min to see which group could come up with the best Sandcastle in that time:


Here are the final products of our budding new wushu architects. Let's see what they came up with:

1)Tan Yuda's Group


2)Ryan Goh's Group


3)Fung Jin Jie's Group


4)Jin Zhenyu's Group


And the Winner of the Best Sand Castle goes to Ryan Goh's Group! Well done, boys (and girls- sorry, so used to only teaching boys that I kept refering to everyone as 'boys'!)

In the evening, Miss Atiqah Halim from South-East CDC came over to talk to our kids on community involvement and giving back to society. They might be young, but we figured that learning to give and having good character should be a core component of any martial arts training.


It's been a hectic first day with lots to do and I'm sure all the boys (and girls) had loads of fun. I could see the older VS boys enjoy themselves being Big Brothers to their younger wushu friends from the various Primary Schools.

To my VS Team, I hope that as you grow stronger, you gain strength in character as well. And as you grow in skill, you also grow in care and concern for others.

Always remember boys, that Victorian's are Gentlemen, Professionals and Sportsmen.
Nil Sine Labore