National Inter-school Wushu Championships- Behind the scenes

Finally, after an agonising 2 weeks- we have reached the Group Finals.
At this stage each of our divisions has 2 events: Group Quan and Group Weapon.
The C-Div boys were currently ranked 3rd in Division standings- We were secure in it as 4th place was about 30pts behind; but Chung Cheng and Anderson were leading at 65 and 61 points respectively, so it would also be hard to catch up.

For B-Div, we were 5th with 22 points currently but 1st ranking school, Beatty only lead by 6 points with total of 28- so there was a real chance for B-Div to contest for Top 3 placing. With so much at stake, it was an intense 2 weeks for all of us.

How intense? First of, let me show you the HARD CORE training that the boys went through. M18 audience only pls.



We were actually inspired by the hardcore training the Floorball team undergoes from Mr Amir during the afternoons- so on a hot sat afternoon after morning training and then lunch, the boys decided go 'commando' and do it bare-bodied! That's the Victorian Spirit for you!

Then last night, the senior boys stayed back to work with me to refurbish and 'upgrade' their halbreds. The weapons they had been using were rusted through constant contact with skin and sweat so they looked really bad-


but we couldn't do anything to them earlier cos then the rust would set in again, so can only work on it the night before:


Check out the finished product, man!


Check our next blog post for coverage of the final days events.
Stay tuned- video files uploading, will be done by 10.45pm

Since we are on the topic of Wushu

National Inter-school Wushu Championships- Day 6

Today is the last day of our Individual events, in both C and B Divisions, VS and our fellow competing schools are neck to neck in the divisional standings- thus every point garnered today is a crucial one.

Today we had Samuel Tam from Sec 2B taking part in the C-Div 5-Duan Spear event:

Samuel managed to hold on to a 4th position till the middle of the pack but was edged out when the later athletes delivered their well-polished performances. Nevertheless, Samuel proved that he was not a one-trick pony and that apart from his Taiji, he was equally competent in other wushu disciplines. His hard work has definitely made him a versatile athlete able to be deployed in many ways for the benefit of the team

Where Samuel failed to placed in his spear event, fellow team-mate Lee Jingwei from 2H took part in the C-Div Spear 1st International Routine.

Jing came back from the set-back he faced in the Changquan routine the previous week and gave us a much needed Gold medal to boost our divisional standings.

The 'dark horse' of the C-Division was Chee Jay Sian from 1A. Jay had set his sights on Victoria School since Pri 6 and made it an effort to work hard both in wushu and his studies to make it here. Ever since he has stepped into the school, he has pushed himself hard and worked quietly to improve himself.
In the heavily contested C-Boys 4-Duan Cudgel event with 30 plus participants, Jay would have to really distinguish himself just to make it into the top 4:

With his never-say-die attitude, Jay proved that even the underdog has it's day. Jay managed to clinch a Bronze in 3rd place and added some more points to our C-Div for our divisional standings.

The C-Division overall standing is tight this year, with VS and many other teams running head to head with 40 plus points. So not to be out done, our pioneer 'recruit' Fung Jin Jie made it a fantastic swansong in his graduation year. Jingo competeted in the B-Div Cudgel 2nd International Routine and despite a costly deduction of 0.2 for an extra step, he achieved a personal best by bagging his hat trick of 3 Gold Medals in one competition.

Do ignore my sudden outburst- when I heard the cudgel hit Jingo from the extra rotation, I feared that another similar situation like 2008 would happen again where a single error cost him dearly. Maybe it's my scolding, maybe it's my nagging or maybe Jingo finally grew up- he ignored the error and we could see him pushing himself harder to ensure that he impressed the judges and make up for it. The crucial moment was the butterfly jump but when Jingo nailed it flawlessly, I knew he had not given up and was still in the game.

Boys, (and parents- whom I'm sure are reading) and fellow Victorians, that is the purpose of learning martial arts and wushu- it is to make a resounding comeback when we are faced with defeat. I'm sure everyone will be talking tonight of the number of medals VS and our various competitors have and that is only to be expected. After all, it is a competition and we all want to strive to be the champion.

But Victorians, always remember it is who you are, what you do that gives value to the medal that you wear round your neck and not the medal that defines who your are.

We are going to battle against some very strong teams on Friday for the Group Events. My goal and instructions for you is not to go out there and win me a medal.
My goal and desire for the team is to go out there and share your hardwork this last years with your friends and fellow competitors from other schools, win their recognition and respect by showing them the results of your hardwork in our own Group Events.

If you do that, win or lose; medal or no medal, you will walk away from the carpet with pride and satisfaction that no one can take away.
Believe in that.

National Inter-school Wushu Championships- Day 5

After an intensive week of competition, the boys still met up with me on Sat for practice from 10am to 3.30pm. They've been working hard and the efforts are paying off.

Jeconiah Tan How Ruan from Sec 1F scored first-blood for VS today and achieved his hat-trick in this Championship by getting his third individual medal for VS in the C-Div Nan Gun.

With his vigourous performance, Jec mangaged to achieve a Bronze in 3rd place-- just narrowly losing out to the second place athlete by 0.01 point.

In B-Div, Fung Jin Jie from Sec 4B dominated his event, the B-Div Broadsword 2nd International Routine with a score of 8.66, 0.5pts higher than his closest competitor, to come in first with his second Gold medal for VS:


However, it was the Taiji duo of Samuel Tan and Ho Mun Yong, both from 2B that continued to establish our strong hold in the Taiji events. In the C-Div 42-step Taiji Sword, Ho Mun Yong took a Gold in first place with Samuel Tan coming in a close second for the Silver:


Our B-Div boys also competed in the same event, the 42-step Taiji. Ang Kang Jie from Sec 3C showed his progress in taiji compared to his performance in Sec 2. With his score, he was able to hold on to 4th position for a moment, however the seasoned veterans in this event soon over took him.

However, Kangjie remained undaunted and was the first student to return back to school to join his school mates back in training. A fitting example of how our incoming Vice-Captain should behave- Kangjie leads by example. Well done!

The intense competition was enlightened by John Png from Sec 3B. Participating in the same event as Kang Jie, John stunned all of us with his marked improvement- especially since he had just completed his routine.
What stunned the entire crowd of audience, judges and fellow competitors was John's total immersion in his routine until he stepped right out of the performing area.
(You can hear my scream of anguish at 2.19 kekeke)

It was obviously mix up in direction and confusion in routine; but wait... there's more!
This is where John showed the true Victorian spirit of 'Never Say Die'
Despite an error in direction and stepping out of the performance carpet entirely (an incident I have never ever seen before in any Taiji event-- and something which I doubt any of the judges have too!), John kept his cool composure and continued his routine calmly and managed to finish his routine and reface the correct direction!
(See clip at 3.01)
I couldn't help but smile as I watched this episode :P and indeed, while 2 wrongs don't make a right, in John's case negative x negative got him a positive.

And I guess that is the lesson worth learning for all of our boys training wushu- in life, we are bound to make mistakes and step out of line. Some of our mistakes may even be unthinkable and unexpected; but it is the ability to find your way back that makes a man out of you.
So if I may wax philosophical here, let us realise that often in life,"the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong... but time and chance happeneth to them all."

So In Other Words..... none of you athletes control the score that you get on the carpet; but for that brief minute or so, you control the time, the space and the attention of everyone there. It is how your use that time, that space and the attention that everyone has on you that gives your wushu training purpose and value.

The medals, well... they are just (im)material.