Reliving memories...

Today, I went back to my junior college for wushu training with the juniors… It’s really been a long long while since I’ve gone back for training. Somehow, with all the work from university and other stuff, I always manage to find a reason not to spend that 1 hour traveling down from my house, and another few hours torturing myself in training… but today, guess I was in holiday mood… there’s homework to do, stuff to catch up on, but nah... Today I decided I shall take a break and go back…

I’m glad I did… although stepping onto campus and seeing everyone in uniform again makes me feel really quite old… it’s been what? 2 full years since I’ve graduated… 2 full years since I went to school in that familiar brown uniform… haha… this year, I will be what is typically know as J5 senior (J1 being 1st year in JC… oh and keep in mind that JC is only a 2 year thing) hahaha.. sounds old huh? Seems only yesterday when I was training as a J1 and looking in awe at the J5 seniors who seem so pro and wise…

You know, I wonder if the juniors did look at us (or me) in awe… for most of them, this is their 2nd month into wushu training… and from what I saw today, well they have a long road ahead of them… but then again the juniors always do… training with them today really brought back many many memories of mine…

I remember the steps where we used to practise stretching… we’ll be doing splits with 1 foot propped against the step (i.e. elevated split) and counting at least 1 minute before switching legs… I remember the whole bunch of us trying to figure out how to do 仆步穿掌 properly and fast enough to our seniors’ liking… I remember doing those frog jumps up that dreaded slope, and the 100 v-sits exercises, and that 四六马移弓步 across the central plaza… I also remember very clearly all those times I thought I could just die from the exhaustion, the pain felt when I wake up the morning after training day, the moments when your butt and thigh muscles seize up after being brutally tortured in 大量… I remember being so tired during a particular training on a Sunday (we were training at least 3 hours on Mon, Wed, Sat and Sun each) that I was ready to cry and give up… I remember almost crying again when after 3 months of intensive training, I found out I could not compete due to a lack of competitors who signed up for my event...

But I also remember all those times we spent up in 会所 eating our watermelons after trainings. I remember sitting on the roof top staring at the star-filled sky (yes we trained till that late) and singing crappy songs. I remember that training with Robin where we almost died laughing from his jokes. I remember always having a place to go to for friends, food, TV, mattress, radio… You name it, the 会所’s got it. I remember that weird ad we did during morning assembly, which supposedly scared away all the junior guys from joining wushu. I remember the adrenaline rush whenever I was about to do the 400m sprint, or when I did my routine. I remember the joy of having a cool bunch of people to share my frustrations, joys, crap, whatever with.

Many times when graduated seniors go back for training, they look upon the fresh faces, shake their heads and think to themselves “The way they’re training, they won’t make it”. I think at some point of time I felt like that today; and then I wondered if I was being over-critical. But then, I thought some more and figured, Hey it must be normal to feel like that. I mean, look at us. For every batch, it’s only after soooo much hard work that we get to the stage of senior (and that’s just in 2nd year). The J1 juniors are fresh, just like we once were. They haven’t experienced all the joy, the pain, the frustration, the bonding that we did to get to where we are today. And honestly, I don’t think you will get anywhere in wushu if you don’t go through all those emotions and experiences first. It’s like an initiation rite: only the toughest survive, but you can bet your ass that those who survive will be one bonded bunch.

Today, 教练 made us sit down again and tried to explain how to do some moves properly. Most of what he mentioned, I have heard before countless times. But I don’t mind listening to him again and again. It reminds me of when I was just a fresh junior in wushu. Also, I’ve come to realise that what教练 says is usually quite right, especially the following:

In wushu, we talk about 团体精神, about unity and bonding. Why? Look at it this way. If someone were to train all alone, yes he can become very skillful, he can win many medals in competitions. But will he be happy? Maybe, maybe not. Because he is all alone, he does not have team mates, buddies. He does not have people to inspire him on when he feels de-motivated; he does not have people around him who understand the challenges of doing wushu; he does not have competition to spur him to greater heights. He will only have himself. And that is not enough, because wushu is not all about winning… it is never only about winning…

Ok so he didn’t say every single word above… my memory isn’t that good (forgive me I’m J5) but you get the flow…

But anyhow, at this point, I just wanna shout out to the people in my batch… people like Jie An, Aileen, Siying, Junqi, Annabelle, Randal, Fung Nien, Han Wei, Eugene, Wu Yan, Yuan Wen, Gary, Kun Ming… thank you so much for being my team mate, my buddy. Wushu would not be the same without you guys… Thank you… =)