Sunday, March 29, 2009

28 March 2009 - WIP.

WIP = Work In Progress.

An apt description of our current Papillon stroke indeed.
Training was like an orchestra learning a new piece, without its conductor - not very impressive, little bit chaotic.

Coordination was lacking in the first half, but after Dawn abandoned the slight-overkill deliberate pause at the back, the boat seemed to glide along better. Which made us a little confused about how/where we should set up the stroke from...

Nevertheless, Papillons can still feel good about the exhausting session - we really pulled and jerked hard for long stretches at a time!
(Vincent must be asking himself why oh why did he subject himself to this punishing session by gatecrashing Papillon training??)


It was also the first time we won a negotiation with our coxswain.
Cameo Coxswain: "Come, let's row to the bridge." (Sheares Bridge, obviously.)
Anonymous Papillon (cannot be named, to protect his identity): "Which one? That one?" (Pointing to the Kallang flyover.)
Cameo Coxswain (overwhelmed by the quickwitted response): "Har?? - Okay la."

After a few uninterrupted long rows, trying to get our rhythm together, practising the pull-through jerk for that extra "nitrous boost" - we truly deserved an early return to the pontoon. Which we did! To wash up and get ready for dear Desmond's wedding to Jennifer.

喜喜 Congratulations to Desmond and Jennifer on their blissful marriage! 喜喜

Paps - I hope you didn't feel that this Saturday's training was 'wasted' because Patrick wasn't around and we got somewhat lost trying to figure out the new stroke. Sometimes we need to take a step back, to evaluate matters - I'm sure we now have some thoughts to feedback to Patrick the next training, and we can progress from there.
(Plus, of course, a major takeaway was the aches... *muscles super snnng arh!!* Who's not aching?)

On another point:
Dear Lin, hope your tummy is feeling much better now!
Get well soon :)

(Note: Your training discount for coordinating our competition outfit has been used up. Hehe.)

= Chief Editor D.L. signing off =

Sunday, March 22, 2009

21 March 2009 - Whistle the same tune, Up!

Practised new stroke. Stroke by stroke, according to the whistle.
From 1, to 2, to 3, 4, 5, 10 strokes per whistle blow, to 200m, to pontoon, away from pontoon, back to pontoon.

TIMING is crucial...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

14 March 2009 - The lull... is over! Papillons gather.

*Blows the dust off papillonem.blogspot.com*

YES. - We are back.

Slightly more than 2 weeks ago, scattered members of Papillon had already planted themselves in various Dragonboat Carnival teams in an attempt to sooth their withdrawal symptoms from approximately 2+/- months of not rowing.
Those who didn't get to row, went one step further by immersing themselves in a frenzy of planning since Dec last year, to orchestrate the grand event on 28 February.
Nothing, however, beats our Captain Courageous Jonathan's (what a long name) dedication to the sport - he donated his birthday to the DB Carnival.
(Happy Belated Birthday, Jon!)

To quickly summarize the above - Papillon was once again a contributor to noise and buzz and whatever action there is. Kudos to Ben (Chua), Jon, Dennis, Su Li and Dawn for taking up the challenge to Connect EM Families; and the rest of us for rallying the EM Families that took part in the carnival!

Fast forward to present...
On another early Saturday morning, Papillon had their very first water training of 2009. Sleepy Heads Jon, Jessica, Desmond, Kenji, Xiuhuan and Dawn successfully dragged themselves out of bed and gathered at the laodifang (usual place).
(PS: It was a very nice feeling to finally hold our competition paddles again, vs the clumsy slabs of wood used during DB Carnival.)

A very auspicious beginning it was - with Dawn condemning her barely 2-weeks old New Balance sunglasses to the depths of the basin right after we rowed away from shore. On hindsight, we deemed it as a generous (albeit very sad) sacrificial tribute to the Water God/Deity to avert all disasters and bless Papillon with a smooth sailing season ahead!

So a new start for the new season - as usual, Coach Patrick had something unusual to gai4 siao3* to us.

*gai4 siao3 = (hokkien) verb. introduce.

Yes, you guessed it - a revamped stroke!
Do not be alarmed - it is actually the same piston-motion stroke, but refined and broken down into steps for execution. The aim is to synchronize all of our movements -
Bring torso into upright position to set up stroke,
Punch down into water (aim for seat in front), and
Pull through strongly until hip,
Exit paddle (with a small twist outward by rowing arm) - tiniest of pause,
(repeat) Bring torso into upright position to set up stroke...

Sounds advanced, I know. (Sounds tiring, too - you're right.)

But it is a powerful stroke, which will be even more devastating once we perfect our movements together.
This is another step in our evolution to become better.
So let's open our minds, unlock our muscle memories, and embark on another learning journey together.
The fun is in finding better ways to defeat your opponents, no?

So the 6 of us gamely took up the challenge (what else could we do...)
We beached the boat and casted away some heavy teammates so that Patrick could give individual tutorials by pairs - which involved some masterful puppeteering by him, using the life-vest to tug us into position at various stages of the stroke.
Meanwhile, the pioneer batch of castaways whiled away their time tossing dead nails-like snails into the water while relating some "asking-to-be-bashed-up questions" (ie. super lame jokes disguised as questions). Know the feeling of the lull before the storm? - This was it.

Because when we finally got onto the boat - HWWOAAH. Every stroke was tiring, man! But it was good practice for the new technique and probably felt difficult because we had to wake our hibernating muscles and reconfigure its memory/timing.

A fruitful and spent training it was, but it felt good!
(The aches are already here...)
Let's have more Papillons the next time, shall we?
(So that the boat is easier to row! HAHA.)

The season has started - let's train together, be focused for that short time during training, and have fun after/before! We've built on the past and reached a peak of triumph in 2008 - but there are always more peaks to scale.
The fun is in doing it together, as one, and better.

May our Beat be as One, and Strokes, Mighty.

= Chief Editor d.l. signing off =
(Yes, I'm back too. *wink*)