Sunday, August 15, 2010


Today was a good sunday.

I managed to wake up early, send my project group mates the
questions that they needed.
I was 5 minutes late for taekwondo class. And sir was right to
reprimand me, as i am the main coach for the day, i needed
to set the tone, by being early. I fully accepted his advise.
He's a man of many virtues and a man i respect. He gave me
a skill that i grown to love and now i am able to share that
passion with the many kids in this sunday class. amazing.
god bless! (ok.. i side tracked)

The conduct of the class was so much better today because i
managed to think of something on the train while travelling to
the class. The previous night and this morning were anxious
times. I tried to recall the 'disaster' last saturday where i
was so tired of teaching. I did not know how to handle the kids,
and their unselfish energy output, i felt powerless last week.
This week, due to sir being around for 3/4 of the class, i was
able to exercise some indirect discipline in the kids. That helped.

But i should not discount myself of my plans today too.
The plan for today (devised on the mrt) was to understand
and appreciate the target audience. In this case, kids ranging
from age 7yrs to 13yrs. They are pretty much kids and they
will behave like one. ie. throw tantrums, talk among themselves,
figit alot, talk back to me, throw me into a tough position,
do weird and at times cute and funny things that just makes
one forget the thing that angered u before.


It's tough. so i decided i will bring myself to their level, that
means trying to think like them and do things that will
motivate them. Injected fun into the whole learning process
so that they will enjoy their lesson, all with the aim to
gain their trust - that coach yong is not just a part timer or
make shift coach. I tried to acceed to their previous week's
request of running stairs. Haa.. it was funny. they have
problem staying in line, they tried to irritate each other,
they have problem listening to my instructions. Haa.. that
was the environment i was in.

How did i go around this debacle?
Haa.. i think i was smart. i made owen, the highest rank boy
in the class, the first runner.. another senior with some form
of authority as the last runner. I also got the two students
that are not feeling well to be our safety i/c. one downstairs and
one at the 12th level.
Somehow it worked, they managed to run up and down the stairs
in unison. But some of them still cheated by taking the lift.
For that, i made them do a forfeit! haa.. back facing everyone,
using their butt to draw the whole words "sorry". haa
they felt embarrassed. Well, that was the point! =)
It hit home to them, that they did something wrong.
and we had a good laugh.

Sir's standard for his students are really high.
I mean REALLY HIGH! (btw, sir is a senior master coach,
a qualified coaching title in singapore)
So yea, he was right to feel let down when he saw the
level of discipline in the kids. He kept telling me that
the kids/youths/young ppl nowadays are really just NATO.
haa.. learnt from hui li. NATO = No Action Talk Only.
So sir was really dissappointed. He advised me not to
teach the kids advanced skills when they could not even
learn the simple stuff. ie. one of the boy dunno how to tie
his belt and he has been in tkd for 2 years.
sir also advised me to be more strict to the kids before
the kids climb on my head and shit. haa.. its an army term.
So yea.. i guess they had alr lao sai on my head alr during
last week's lesson. lastly, sir told me something that was
really saddenning.. i asked him, what is your goal for this class,
or what is it that u expect from this bunch of kids.
He told me, i don't know, i cannot see it. He added, we
just go there and teach, do our part and that will be enough.
I don't know its because he was bogged down and stress about
his current YOG Senior organiser volunteering job. But really
it is quite saddening. I am sadden.
Hmm.. when i came back 2 months ago to tkd. he told me to rem
the 5 Ps that he always preached, about what tkd is.

Passion
Practise/Practice
Pain
Perserverance
Patience

Basically the explanation is one needs the passion before anything
to start tkd, so that u will put your heart and soul into tkd. It's a
way of life to many, and me. Then you practise hard for your own
goal. U need the inner drive to move towards your goal.
Then what happens, in martial art, alike all sports, u will hit the
rock bottom and get injured somehow. It's in this period of time when
you must learn and practise perserverance. Go along with the
recovery, practise less straineous stuff like coaching, breathing
techniques, helping to do some chores like wiping the target
boards etc. And when you recover, be patience, cause results will
appear when u are concious of the 5 Ps.

And i guess i was sadden today by what sir said, because he
basically tell me to ignore passion. just do my job and make sure
they pass their grading and stuff.
I refuse to acceed to his this advise.
I intend to ignite their passion about tkd, make life long friends,
and correct their bad habits.
Ie. being late (me too, i need to do sth about it), forgetting what
we taught them last lesson, not knowing how to tie the belt,
not knowing how to do pattern the correct way, not knowing
how to perform a good kick, discipline issue, not having
a goal to chiong towards, and lastly, their attitude.
Gonna be tough. but i guess i am just too passionate to let them
pass me without correcting them. I love tkd, and everything
it had given me. It's time i give back.

Oh ya, i have decided to take the grading in sept/oct and get
dan 2. (Haa.. in a way i force myself to master all patterns)

---

Today had a good chat with lyon. Lyon is really rong guang
huan fa today. So fresh and filled with happiness. it's
written all over her face. I am really happy for her.
I guess his bf-to-be is really a good catch, so lyon must really
treasure ya! this god-given opportunity! =D
zhu ni men liang xin fu!
Shared alot of my thoughts and current feelings and struggles
with lyon too. she's a really good listener. she provided
me some insights into some of my struggles and i am just
really glad i met her today. It's quite 'qiao'.. cause i was suppose
to meet hl, but she was held up, so i met lyon for a short chill out
at coffee bean post centre. I am feeling so much better now.
but i still need to internalise what u have taught me. So yea, i
guess i am going for a cycling trip later. ~sports is always the
thing that helps to make me think better, to clear my mind and
focus.
---
Met up with hl today for a chat, less the run, because she was
feeling really nua. and i can unds why.. (2-3 weeks of intense
work.. less/no-good sleep everynight and ot at home..) I hope
hl doesn't bring work home anymore. do it, finish it and go
home. at least u do ot and go home later, so much better than
bringing work home and continue working. its not healthy. and
i was and am worried. but i guess.. sometimes its bo bian.
just try to minimise this ya..
we talked bit about everything as we do not really have alot
of time tgt. just time from 4 to 630 pm. but i thank god,
for these short meet ups and individual time i have with her.
Even if its 2 hrs. it will induce a happy py and i hope
she is enjoying my company too. I really treasure the times
that we spent tgt, its really impt to me.
Gotta go do some project work and go for a cycling trip later
for 1/2 hr. at 12 i guess.
Cheers!

posted by py @ 9:20 PM

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