Training with Australians...

Today joined OBT's training... the one with the Australians one.

Wow. The agilities... No, I'm not aching, not at all. But at that time, it was my cardiovascular system that was put to the test. I really, for the first time, had to bend over to try and get in as much oxygen as possible before the next exercise.

What did we do? The usual agilities, the length of 4 courts. But get this, 3 X 3. What does that means? It means we had to continue the agilities back and forth 1, 2, 3 times continuously without stopping, the length of 4 courts! And THREE sets! Of EACH exercise.

Wow. And the people I was training with were all people of considerably high-standards... so I ended up being one of the slowest, had to do my best to get on par with them. But in between each set all of us had the same posture, bent over, trying to get in enough oxygen.

OBT's training can be pretty heartless at times.

Seriously, never in my entire life, not even under Coach Raja's training. It may have been tiring before, but we had breaks. Not this one. I couldn't even talk, and I actually lean on the wall, hand on forehead. It was as if, I could hardly think, couldn't complain, couldn't grumble. Nothing! Just as if... yeah, like I was dying.

At that point of time I remember telling myself, "Hey, even a sprained ankle is better than this torture..." But I survived it. =D He told us to take a 5 minute break... all of us went outside to get the fresh air, just sat, some even in the sun, not caring. Didn't talk for a while. After a while all started talking again.. and dreading the next set... earlier on he told us 2 sets of that! We were like, "Oh no, another set of that..."

But he must have seen us all... he cancelled that set. He gave an extra set in shadow though, but I don't mind that, not as bad as agilities.

Anyway, I think the 2 Australian guys were Chinese, the 2 girls were 'mat sallehs'. 1 of the girls(18 years old) plays for Australia.. the other(14 years old) is a state player, around my level. The guys I don't know, but they are good I guess. But they did tell us something surprising though.. In Australia, they never do agilities! Just some jogging, skipping, and get on the court. We sighed, saying, "Must be like heaven." Lol! They agreed.

And well.. they don't understand my English. Sometimes. Lol. Hey, not my fault okay.. I can't speak like an Australian!

Well anyway, was a good work out today, after that did some shuttle drills, played some games till about 10.45am. Then showered in OBT's house, walked to a nearby coffee shop and ate. Then walked back to OBT's house, basically camped there till 3.30pm. Then 4pm was the next session. This time no agilities(Thank God!). We were joking, "If there's agilities I'm walking out right now!" Hahaha. Just concentrated more on skill.

So.. well, I think I can safely conclude I just went through the toughest training in my life.. for my cardio. My legs not aching at all, good thing. But my cardio system was never so severely tested before. I even thought, "Hey, I just went through hell and came back alive!" Lol.

Have to repeat... I was actually bent over, trying to breathe, and breathe, and breathe! Normally when I'm tired(what I used to consider 'tired' anyhow), I just walk around a bit. Not today. Uh uh.

But my stamina's really gone. Haiz. I believe I used to have better stamina.

Well, anyway, I'm only going for that training again this Friday.. don't want to go tomorrow, got squash in the evening. At this rate squash seems... delightful. Hahaha! Like I said before, I'm enjoying being a beginner. =P

Honestly? I'm questioning myself why I'm choosing to go back to that training this Friday again... sometimes people are quite stupid, aren't they? Lol! Well, may as well improve my stamina & strength this holidays.. even if it kills me.


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Sunday.. Sunday!

Came back from Malacca.. Malacca was okay lah, ate the usual... A LOT. =D

Can't stay in Malacca too long, otherwise will balloon up. Lol!

Went to Ah Ping's house at about 1pm to help with her party. Made some sandwiches. Lol! After that went for training at 3pm.. Okay lah today, compared to last week, chicken feet. =P Only thing out of the ordinary was that coach brought us outside the hall to do 10 rounds of jogging.. it was drizzling so we thought we could get off.. unfortunately, only the little kids got off.

I don't get it man. How come I wasn't given all these special priviledges when I was a little kid? I suffered just the same, if I recall correctly, my coach even made me join the big ones for their shuttle drills. Sheesh. Plus I'm obviously the shortest among the big ones.. why can't I be considered a small one? =(

Anyway, the 10 rounds wasn't too bad. Except that our coach obviously doesn't trust us.. she was too lazy to stay outside to make sure we ran so she sent a lil' boy eating ice cream to check on us.. 2nd round I noticed him standing there.. eating ice cream. Thought he was just curious about us. Then by 3rd round when I saw him again... I suspected that he was our lil' spy.. so I asked him. "You're supposed to count for us?" I said. His reply? "No, not count for you, just make sure you don't stop." He was a gutsy lil' guy though. Lol! After that he had to endure our comments each time we passed him.. some were a bit rougher, "I steal your ice cream then you know!" and some were.. well, bribery, "Come lil' boy, I buy you 2 ice creams if you go inside..."

But no, he didn't buy any of it. He just smiled and shook his head. After that some started making signs at him.. not so friendly signs, if you know what I mean. Haha. But he didn't mind much. Yep, thats one brave hearted guy. Others would have taken up our suggestions of going to buy more ice cream.. or just scared away by our unfriendly reception. Of course, some still couldn't stand it, started to walk.Now I can only hope no one I know saw me jogging out there.. sure ask questions one. Haiz. What do I reply? "My not-so-clever coach lah!" :-S Spoil my court shoes somemore!

Nevermind, no one actually called me up enquiring about it yet... lol.

This guy and I set the pace, ran side by side, 1st two. I pity those who tried to follow.. hahaha. Actually I believe if the 1 of us had slowed down the other would have too.. but being a guy, his ego at stake.. if he slows down and I shoot past him... but yet I didn't want to be behind him. So.. we just stuck to a pace where we were slightly tired at the end, but still reasonable alive.

Actually.. come to think of it, I believe I've just been conned... totally! 10 rounds around 16 courts plus the office area and all... normally I only do about 20-25 rounds(depending on good or lazy day =P) around 4 courts.. Yep. Just been cheated. Haiz.

Then played games.. but each of the 'bigger ones' were paired up with the 'smaller ones'. Wah I tell you, nearly died trying to cover my 'smaller one'! Somemore winner had to stay on court.. so I stayed on court for 3 games in a row, then took a drink, and played the 4th game.. wow. 4th game was slightly different.. one of the 'big' ones lacked a 'small' one... so a coach partnered him, with her LEFT hand.

Never laughed so hard before(okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration..)! She took the front.. so I kept dropping right left right left... to hear her groan everytime she had to hit with her left hand... I had to let go a few balls because I couldn't take it anymore, had to laugh! But I must admit she was still better than the small ones, gave the most fight. We were leading by quite a large gap when I decided to relax a bit.. bad mistake. They actually managed to catch up to tie the score, something like 14-14, then 17-17.. etc. Until 20-20.. then 21-21... Lol. But somehow something happened and we managed to win 23-21.

Then partnered another fella to play with the 2 coaches.. kinda weird if you ask me. Anyhow just made some stupid mistakes, and of course lost the game. Lol.

Then at like.. 4.57pm, I thought time to warm down already. The coach called us to gather there.. separate big ones and small ones. I heard someone say, "Oh, we're gonna do running" and I was just so shocked, I said, "No lah, mad ah??" Come on, it's 4.57pm! But true enough, we were to do some running. Hahahaha. Kinda sorry for my tone now, but hey, I was really shocked okay.. running? No warning too..

Well big kids against small kids. The usual story lah.. small kids less distance to run.. big kids lose.. if you check back this post: http://joannetmj.blogspot.com/2006/10/life-hurts.html it's about the same. This time too lazy to argue already lah, what for, they're mule-headed beasts. *Rolls eyes* Well, I suppose it beats pumping/running/star jumps etc anyday though. Lol. Pretty easy to accomplish.

And no, I refused to run after the shuttle again. So after turning around the shuttle I just picked it up and threw it against my coach. She was holding the shuttle I was supposed to touch anyway, no doubt to torment me. Lol. But she wanted me to do again.. I went and sat down. =P She told me to do again after the last guy did it. Told her that people wanted to use the court already, but nooo... didn't work. Did about 3 circles and got up, dunno what happen lah.. but didn't want to throw the shuttle again at her, enough disrespect shown towards a coach for one day. HAHAHA! Anyway she just let me off the hook.

Yes, in the end I do respect my coaches you know. I've got a few that have taught me stuff that is life-related.. not just badminton. The confidence I've gained is not from anything else other than what my coaches taught me. It's just now out of.. I don't know what, but what I'll go through if any of my coaches ask me to do things, even the stupidest of things. Explains why I'll do all these gong gong things that the Megah coaches put us through. Hahaha!

In squash last Thursday.. we were supposed to do some 'driving'.. on the forehand side. The coach put a racquet cover at the end of the court.. there were 2 of us, supposedly the ball we 'drive' hits the cover, the other person would have to do push ups. Well, actually he asked the other girl to give a number... I urged her to pretend not to understand him.. but... nooo... she said 2. Okay, not as good as 1, but way better than a stupid reply like 5! Anyway, he was pretty kind hearted, he said if our score was like, 2-2, it'll be cancelled out for both of us.. I hit the racquet bag 5 times(10 push ups) but she hit it once, so it was down to 8.

p/s. Reason I put 'driving' is just that.. I don't understand what it means in the squash sense. LOL!

Not too bad, considering usually I'm at the losing end of something.. Lol! Usually it's my mistakes that cost me.. this time it's my 'good' that cost others... I mean, usually if like I smash the coach and the coach isn't too happy about it.. yeah, believe me. Some coaches will go to that extent to prevent their students from making their coach the bulls eye! Once I think I smashed my coach once too many times... he threatened, 10 push ups each time... hahaha! Trust me, a person learns pretty quickly(in my case, immediately) not to make him my target anymore. I doubt he was kidding about that part. Lol.

Anyway, in squash, it feels good to be a beginner actually. Nothing too hard is expected of you, careless mistakes & poor strokes are looked over. =D And somehow the coach always treats you nicer.. hehehe.

Talking about coaches... OBT's Australian players coming here to train already... this week.. hmm.. should I go? He asked me.. but their standards will definitely be way too high for me... haiz. Nevermind, I'll see.

Anyway, then went to CP's place at 6pm. Ate.... well, a lot. Really really a lot. =( From Malacca to a party. Haiz. Lol! The water balloons game was.. well, violent. After I got a bit wet I retreated into the shelter of the house... thats when they started filling up pails and soaking each other. Gilaness. I went to eat somemore.. that explains how my already too-full stomach started to really really ache.

Then cut the cake.. =D Was okay, ate somemore after that. I feel like a total pig now. Lol!

Anyway, it's quite late already, need to do some stuff tomorrow.. so... blog later!


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

What I did..

Today trained badminton 2-5pm. Was asked to at 11am, didn't want to turn down, already turned down a couple of times... Sigh. Deproved a lot in badminton. Sigh. So sad.

Then walked home... and went for squash at 6pm. Till about... 8.40pm I think. Survived through it, not too bad actually. Was still more tiring in badminton because... well.. maybe because squash I'm still at beginner's level, but badminton not anymore.

Squash is well... yeah, maybe slightly tough in the sense that I keep using my wrist. The footwork is not that easy to remember, but pretty much okay if you practice it often enough.

It's quite okay, I enjoy it.. =)

Anyway, it's 3.42am. Have badminton at 10am. Blog later,


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Squash training..

Wasn't too bad.. I enjoyed it actually. I think I'm now more familiar with squash.. so maybe starting to actually really like it.

Of course I still have trouble with the basics.. hahaha.

My timing too fast.. in badminton I've always been taught to reach earlier than the shuttle, more options to do then, less rush. Haha. So in squash as usual badminton theory don't work lah. I'm used to it. *Rolls eyes*

But I think I'll have fun. =D

Till later,
Joanne

Will I ever recover?

Training today was.. arrgh.

For warm up it was terrible.. well, not really, but quite bad lah. Had to sprint the width of 4 courts, walk the length of 1 court, sprint the width of 4 courts, walk the length of 1 court. That was considered 1 round. Had to do 25. Actually not too bad lah, need to improve my cardio.. been going down down down lately. Lol.

Played a doubles game after that. We somehow managed to go into rubber set. Lol. In the 3rd set at our game point(20) I was discussing with my partner whether to win the one point right away or play around with our opponent.. then saw my coach coming and quickly served, didn't manage to decide. Lol. But anyway, we won.

After that was shadow footwork.. I usually don't mind footwork, but this one was especially a killer.. had to squat down and get up in the centre of the court before going to each corner of the court.. before every single corner! But I found it easier to move with the 'spring' from getting up after the squat.

1st 2 sets okay... 20 times each set. Infact, with the squat way I found myself springing up and going faster.

By 3rd and 4th sets the effects of the squats are beginning to sink in.. man, the springing up started to hurt. Hahaha. Nonetheless, I survived through it, reasonably well. The 2 small kids who counted for me were kind.. gave me 'discounts'. LOL. Intentionally or not I didn't ask. =P Anyway by 4th set my footwork was slow. I'm not a machine, after all.

But I really pitied the 2 kids.. hahaha. Their expressions really showed P-A-I-N. Especially the girl.

We took turns after each set.. My group had 3.. the others had only 2 people per court.. so they finished pretty quickly. Anyway.. the 2 small kids with me kept doing the wrong footwork, or forgetting to squat. Forgetting to squat I can understand.. but to still have the wrong footwork?? Those kids have been in this training for quite a long time already.. From when I first joined MBA in March they were already there.. they should have the right footwork by now. Then again, maybe training once a week/4 times a month isn't enough to get the right footwork.. But thats still impossible... maybe by 3-4 months should be able to get it right.

Anyway, then they did wrong and I was just leaning against the pole relaxing.. then my coach starts threatening to make me do push ups if they make a mistake.. *roll eyes* Who's the coach now? Hahaha. Anyway I did shout out a couple of times to "SQUAT!" when they nearly didn't. 2 small kids trying to avoid some pain in their calves wasn't worth my pain of doing 10 push ups. Hahaha. Footwork of course I can't help them lah, takkan I grab their legs and force them to do it right. Haha. But anyway, 1 coach supposedly saw a mistake and my coach wanted me to do 20 push ups.. I didn't, surprised she didn't comment, but hey, who's complaining? ;-)

After that did some shadow side-to-side jump smashes.. wasn't that tiring. Lol. I think I know why. The 4 sets took so long in my group that the so called 'advance' group started without me.. the coach pointing either left or right. They went exceptionally fast! Hahaha. And many times too. =P As for me, I joined the younger group. Coach was forced to go slow.. or slower than the previous group anyway. Lol. So I got off pretty easily.

Then came my worst nightmare.. lunges.

Lunges aren't so bad.. but when you've just endured the shadow footwork as described above, it's one step away from the pit of fire. Lol. Plus I absolutely HATE lunges. Causes pain in every muscle available in my legs.

That was the killer. I say if I didn't do that I'll probably just be feeling slight aches from the numerous squats I performed.. but now.. oh boy.

In the beginning there was this really cute kid, 1st time in training. I was supposed to lead the warm up, and a coach asked me to teach this guy if he did it wrongly. So how was I supposed to warm up while teaching him? Let others hold each position for 30 secs while I attempt to teach him? Lol! I didn't do that.. left the teaching to the coach.. she taught. But that guy.. for a standard 3 guy, he's really tiny. And so quiet + shy! I could barely hear him.. he kept muttering something and looking at me.. he tried to tell me something but I thought he was speaking Chinese.. turns out it was English. Hahaha! Everything I did he said, "I don't know" and lifted his shoulders.

Anyhow, I don't know how my coaches ever taught me until I am where I am now.. looking at that guy he didn't even know how to grip his racquet! I was like that too.. amazing eh all my coaches are. Hahaha.

But the thing about the training in MBA.. what puzzles me is that there are players there who still don't know how to count, how to serve properly etc. I'm not talking about a perfect serve, but just one that is proper. I left MBA in form 2.. there I left behind some kids that are now standard 5, 6... but joining MBA again I find the same strokes, same footwork.. still don't know how to count properly.. Even a few advanced players still don't know where to stand after each point!

But I don't know if it's the coaches' fault.. or the players. At first I thought it was the coaches.. but now I'm beginning to think it's the players themselves that need to change.. I noticed many students in MBA who just want to play games.. when there is some hard training they'll fuss and try to get out of it. I mean, sure sometimes I make some noise for the fun of it, but no matter what I'll continue with the exercise.. what is training for after all? If want to play games then just go and book a court, invite some friends.. join some group.. no need to join training. Perhaps many of them lack the will to improve... maybe the players there are mostly spoilt children of parents who are rich, seeing the training fee is exorbitant, plus its only 4 times a month. If it's 8 times a month the fees are even more.

I am not stopping MBA because I enjoy it. The price may be expensive.. but Megah is by far the most convenient place for me to go.. the training time is suitable too. But those factors aside I just plain enjoy the training. Maybe because I've got some friends there.. but I doubt so.

Tomorrow tiring day... going around the whole of KL with my bro.. by LRT/KTM and bus 11. My 2 legs. Lol.

Joanne

Friendster..

I noticed a trend in Friendster..

People use the testimonials section to CHAT! As in, 1 liners, exchange with each other.

I know I'm not anyone to judge, but I can't help wondering.. why?? We have MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ, AOL... why on earth do we use Friendster?

Only plausible explanation I can come up with.. people want others to see what they are talking about and to whom. And if my explanation is right.. the next big question comes up. Why?

Another long night...

Joanne

Lousy Com

Everything's not working! Stuck stuck stuck jam jam jam!

Someone get me a new com...

Pretty please with sugar on top?

*Smiles sweetly*

Squash!

Yes, me, Joanne Lim Ee Wei, the badminton freak, actually tried squash today.

Hahaha.

Went for squash lesson the 1st time today. Let me tell you, I know nuts about squash. Haha. Absolutely nothing. Not footwork, not stroke, not the scoring system.. I didn't even know that squash balls are meant to be squishy.. I thought it needed air.. the ones I could squish were spoilt ones...

Yes, that bad.

But it was kinda.. tough. I've never plunge myself into such a thing as such a beginner in many many years. Every skill I have now I learnt when young.. cycling 2 wheels at 5, swimming at 7, badminton at 7, piano at 5...

So I haven't actually been a beginner in anything for many many many many years. It's a humbling experience, I tell you.

First off, the footwork is completely different from badminton. Left legs are the important ones here! After 8 years of learning badminton, to suddenly change my 'racquet leg' to my left is.. not an easy task. Man..

Strokes.. since I injured my shoulders, my coaches always asked me to use my wristwork more, and taught me how to strengthen it. With all kind of things.. hard to describe here. One of them was a squash racquet. So I bought a cheap squash racquet..

And used it today. And today my squash coach told me if I used any wristwork with my squash racquet(considered heavy, cheap mah) I'd risk injuring my wrist.

Ironical, eh? The very thing I used to strengthen my wrist may now end up injuring my wrist.

Hahaha. And the exercises at the end was completely different from all I'd learnt before.. except duck walk. The rest.. weirdest ones I've ever seen. Perhaps I'm not used to it. Hehe. Used to strengthen pelvic muscles, apparently an important aspect in the game of squash. Supposed to be important as we need to bend down a lot..

And the control.. oh goodness the control. Ask me to slam the ball anywhere I can do that.. but to control it, to hit it against the wall SOFTLY.. oh goodness me.

May I never feel superior to a beginner again. Never, in my entire life, never.

But, it's fun!

Haha, perhaps not as fun as badminton, yet, but I'm feeling optimistic.. I'm sure if I can get the footwork down pat squash could prove to be one interesting game..

Of course.. less diving(if any) in squash anymore..

But anyhow, it feels good. Kinda wish I can train 3 times a week.. but the Sat. session is 3-5pm.. exactly the same time as youth, so it's a definite no-no.

For this hols I can train twice a week.. when school reopens.. well, it's a different story altogether. Eng. Lit ends at 6.45pm...

Plus it's SPM next year.

Till then, I'll enjoy. =)


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Holidays.. or not?

Oh yeah, forgot to tell, yeah I got my final A1. Would you believe it, 75%! Pregnant teachers don't make lenient ones. MY essays were given extremely low marks, and she wasn't around in school for me to claim more marks. Lol.

Actually at first it was a 73%. Imagine my.. well, utter disbelief when I saw that. I mean, I had friends who got only their objective marks in the teens and twenties and still ending up with an A1! But here I was, 32/40(quite badly done, but still not too bad considering I didn't study for the paper 1) and still ending up with a 73%!

Then when I checked my paper, I realised that my teacher added up wrongly! Imagine how I felt. The 2 marks she didn't add up gave me just enough edge to get my A1, precious A1! =P My class teacher refused to give any marks, not her subject you see, but she had to grudgingly give me my 75% when she counted by herself and found out it was wrong. =D

So my final average was 84.2%. Not too bad, better than most of my other terms results anyway, and a 3% increase from last term. Also an amazing feat, never before have I INCREASED in terms of average for 2nd semesters.

Considering how last minute I was with some subjects.. honestly, I put the most effort into History(Paper 2 at least) and it got me my lowest marks. Lol. Hey, I'm not complaining with my 75% anyway. Compared to some(not my classmates, the pure science kids) the amount of studies(or rather, the lack of it) I put in sure didn't measure up to theirs.

Anyway, I've got some debating to do with myself, so off for now. It's 2am. =)


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk