*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.)
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.
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*)
(Yes, I'm back too. *wink*)
1 comment:
Thanks Dawn, always find your training summary fun to read !. Guys, let's hit the water together this sat, shall we?
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