stunting with insufficient sleep is a no-no

was pretty disappointed with my performance on saturday. granted I was very zoned out due to my lack of sleep after orientation camp but looking back I think I could have gathered more energy and strength during that short 2.5 minute performance. didnt really get a good stunt feel while warming up my stunts, it just feels as if I had to use a little bit more strength to toss and stuff, resulting in a pretty huge and unacceptable drop in control. even my toss shoulder with jasmine failed once which was really the low point for me for that day.

tried to fight for my opening cupie but ended up still dropping simin 1 count early, dismount timing for group stunt was late, the 270 was successful due to jasmine, candy, jen and gerard fighting for the stunt. dance was totally flaccid, which made me-the-not-so-good-dancer look even more pathetic.

probably should have expected camp to be this tiring and perhaps opted to sit out of this performance. oh wells, lesson learnt I guess, if I am going to put up such a dismal performance it would be much better if I dont perform at all.

on a better note, managed to get my toss lib during the subsequent stunt fest, still working on my toss cupie. really want to get my left cupie within two weeks if possible. direct right cupie lib feels awesome when I hit it with perle, more practice needed to bring up the hit rate.

recognition

didnt do too much during diy on thursday as there were quite a lot of bases around and they wanted to try a different set of trainin meant for the flyers. apparently it has been very easy for them to do liberties and cupies, so during diy this time we were trying stuff like heel stretches, bow and arrow and scorpions.

tried heel stretch and scorpion with biyi for the first time after president star charity performance and it wasnt too hard to hold her stunt that time, it just feels like a lib just that the flyer's cg moves a little bit more. will keep trying these stunts with other flyers too, helps them with their flexibility and aids my stability a lot too.

was really looking forward to gymnastics on friday actually as I wanted to try my round off back tuck that day and learn how to do a back handspring. managed to hit a toe touch back tuck on saturday after chickening out a few times, seems like I just need to get used to the feeling of connecting stunts, apparently robt feels very similar too.

managed to hit more toss libs and chaang asked me to start trying to get my toss cupie. still havent succeeded at all but I'll just keep trying and trying, hopefully I'll be able to get it by stunt fest. yup that shall be my target.

stunt fest practice

training with simin did pay off in the end, managed to hit the cupies with her on saturday and it really felt quite accomplishing, went on to try toss cupie with biyi subsequently and was quite surprised chaang didnt stop me. have forgotten to ask him if I could try the stunt but he seemed okay, at the end of training eric did say something about "being responsible for our own training curve" which I found quite meaningful. =)) still havent succeeded for toss cupie but it should be coming soon, shall work more on this and my left cupie.

did lots of backtucks too and it was quite fun doing it with jen, weihoe, isaac, though we all did get dizzy really fast after 4 consecutive backtucks or so. my round off feels much higher and controlled, perhaps I'll ask alan about a robt this friday.

learnt and finally managed to get the hang of being the assistant for the assisted full up, i'll have to remember to move more or less together with the flyer, instead of waiting for too long. toe pitching with biyi and gerard for pyramids feel much better and controlled already.

its nice seeing hardwork translating to performance once in a while.

pstunting

really wanted to get my cupie sequence during diy after dropping the stunt 3 times when we tried on saturday. apparently simin was heeling a lot then and I did not have the strength/know how to fight back which resulted in the cupie falling back alot.

simin managed to fix her heeling in 1 session and towards the end the cupies were very very relaxing already. still trying to grip the sides of the shoes but it seems like I'm still having problem with my thumb, need to try to spread my thumb a bit more. the floating in to the stunt feels very comfortable too.

tried a few left libs before trying my left cupie, the float feels the same as my right cupie already but I think I need to hit the gym more as I cant seem to take the weight at all. my toss feels much better already, seem to be able to hit my toss ex-es quite easily. towards the end we tried toss to ex before popping down and tossing to ex again, but we can only go to hands level only. will try again next time.

really want to show my cupie to the team this sat, hope we don't lose the feeling!

trainings and performances

gym training on friday left me really sore for a few days, was simply just backtucking over and over again into the foam pit before trying on the ground. I need to be more conscious about jumping up straight with my heels on the ground so that I dont end up throwing my knees forward and losing power. apparently I started getting the feel at bazgym but I keep reverting to my old ways on cheer mats for some reason, perhaps I'm just afraid cos I'm not used to the new feeling yet.

was quite happy with president star charity performance, felt that the stunts were hit very cleanly so I didnt have to end up using a lot of energy to fight stunts. and tried pstunt heel stretch and scorpion with biyi for the first time and it felt quite good. the photos taken also looked quite impressive even though its basically just a lib for me hahaha.

macs performance was quite fun and a bit confusing too cause it was finalised at the very last minute. was quite happy as my lib went up very comfortably even without warm up before that, think I'm slowly getting used to stunting without having to warm up stunts prior to that. dropped my single take extension with biyi early for the final stunt though, acks.

was doing a lot of btosses during training on tuesday and I'm quite sure I've gotten the feel for btosses already, to the extent that it feels quite relaxing and second nature for almost all the tosses. I'm slowly enjoying watching flyers do their elements in the air instead of fearing injuries like last time. 7 cupies at the end was still not stable, ochi had to help me support my wrist, have to keep gymming to get more strength.

weekend performances

was involved in the BT55 celebrations and *scape opening on saturday and sunday respectively, and we had to wait for a really really long time on both days before getting to perform.

really glad that the pstunt+pyramid segment for the BT55 performance went well but for some reason my shoulderstand with chengyee went up a bit late. felt that what eric said was very true, no one will be interested in the reason why stunts do not go up, all they will remember is that something went wrong. and that particular incident stood out like a sore thumb (at least to me) when we were looking at the video recording after that. surely getting the shoulderstand eventually would be better than not going up at all but this is no consolation, not too sure what I could have done to ensure a higher hit rate.

wasnt supposed to be a involved for the *scape opening but went early instead just to support and to play, in the end gary and I were btossing alan and it was really fun for some reason. the baskets were really really high and alan has amazing body control, just that the landing were a bit heavy cos I think he's not too used to cradling. its the first time I've seen someone do an arabian kickout (??) anyway.

since we had so much time before the performances, we diy-ed as usual. managed to hit my left cupie for the first time with perle, and at the same time stabilising my right. I'm able to hit my right cupie fairly consistently already, but I'm still a little perplex how some of the cupies seem to slip out of my hand. perle said that she doesnt feel like the platform's tilted or she's tipping, perhaps will get someone to take a look and get some pointers soon.

started trying toss to ex with closed legs to try to get the feeling for toss cupies, its still a lot of work in progress hahaha!

gym+more yog

went for gymnastics training at bazgym on friday, and for some reason I had this bad feeling before going for training that I may get injured during training, so was just being extra careful. thankfully everything went fine and I didnt get any injuries at all, besides the fact that my body was aching tremendously all over after that.

alan really emphasized a lot on stretching and I do feel that he has a good balance of when to have fun and when to be strict. any kind of fun will surely end when an injury happens and I'm quite sure he wanted to stay away from that.

spent the first half of the time doing more basic gymnastics like rolls and cartwheels so that he could get a better gauge of our abilities, and it was also a good time to revise and clean up my basics. almost everyone can do a cartwheel, its just who can make it look nicer.

did roundoff before jumping onto a crashmat to get both the height and the feeling of the ride, must try to get this one ingrained before going for all the tucks so that the stunt will be nice and high. have always wanted to do my gymnastics like the thais/taiwanese or even the DECS tumblers, they really make it look so effortless.

sat and tuesday trainings were just more of the yog trainings and the more I practice the more comfortable I feel with the performance. thanks to gary and eric and everyone who have been giving me small pointers about smiling and enjoying myself so that the audience will feel it too. have to stabilise my shoulderstands and pstunts more I think, and work more on the delivery for toepitch.

finally tried being part of a pyramid during training yesterday even thought I'm still pretty raw, but its really a huge sign telling me to keep improving on my personal profficiency.

on a side note, I've reached zhiliang's target of toss ex before the stipulated deadline, next targets: left/right cupies, low/high, tick tock, toss cupie and toss lib! this is pretty exciting.

yog routine

spent the whole training on tuesday practising for the yog routine on 19 jun and for some reason I was thoroughly tired after the end of training. I was trying to be sincere every time we ran routine, and even though most of the stunts went up I felt that there were still quite a lot of room for improvements.

opening partner stunt segment feels quite shaky, even for the initial extension, not too sure if this is due to me or biyi or perhaps just due to us having to do with timing. still need to work a little on the transition to shoulder stand and the moment back into pyramids.

apparently my shoulder stand is done with my back arcing back quite a lot, which results in the midtier tipping quite a bit. this leaves a dull ache at my lower back after training which hopefully is not a strain. the tips given to me were not to tilt my head up so much just to look at the stunt (rather just rolling my eyes upwards to see), and to hunch and roll my shoulders inwards to keep my upper body compact. shall keep trying to improve the next session.

feeling quite confident of my full up and btoss already, and its a nice time to catch my breath during the routine.

toe pitched for the first time yesterday in a really long time, the last time I did that was perhaps during ACES camp. was glad I didnt lose the feeling at all, just that the first time I tried it I overestimated the strength required and ended up almost throwing biyi over nellie =P. subsequent tosses were more controlled and much better.

inspired

Eric from Vancouver came down for saturday's training and even though we didnt have a place to train cause of some admin miscommunication, I must admit that I probably learnt the most in one single session. its even quite awe-inspiring just watching him do stunts and I thought he was a little limited by the standard of our flyers!

shall just list out the things eric taught me in one single day:

1) all the power from tossing comes from the legs, keep your back straight and try to jump off the ground when tossing

2) visualise every single stunt and control my strength to just hit it, not too much not too little

3) try to toss extension every single time and your toss will improve. this really worked as I was able to toss nellie and huishan almost to an extension towards the end of the session.

4) relax, before and during the stunt

5) full ups are just mega tosses with a small flick at the end.

6) press upwards with the balls of my palms, I should be able to counter any flyer tipping forward

7) pop down and catch my own flyer as if there are no spotters at all, not being able to do so is simply wimpy

yup that's almost everything, and I am still very very inspired.

diy

I'm slowly hitting and holding my cupies more consistently now and it feels like my training has been paying off. even though I must admit that I am pleased with myself, there is still a lot of room for improvement. as ochi says, I have no stunt feel at all so its either a nice hit or a spectacular fall, which will put flyers in unnecessary danger too.

seems like the trick I have to work on now is opening my thumb and pressing it upwards during the cupie. realised that when I'm doing that the entire platform feels very flat and stable. most of the times when the stunts fail, its due to my keeping my fingers closed together. much more confident of popping already and there was one particular time yesterday when I managed to catch the stunt even though I overpopped.

toss extensions are getting more consistent too already, seems like I'll be able to hit zhiliang's target early! need to concentrate before the tosses though cause sometimes it feels like all the force disintegrates halfway up the toss. my legs and back are aching from all the tosses but I guess that is a good thing haha.

backtuck

apparently I'm not jumping straight up first before going for the tuck resulting in me jumping straight back into the tuck. not enough height.


keep practising.

diy

diy at smu was shifted to yesterday as jayson's enlistment is this coming thursday, and we wanted to give him a chance to hit a toss ex before going to ns. ken and kahau's ite cheerleaders came down too to play.

was just experimenting and trying my toss ex with carmen for most of the session and it's slowly getting there. still feels like I'm pressing the last 10-20% up but there were a few tosses which I manage to catch at a full extension height. not too sure what I did differently but with more practices I should be able to get the feel. much more confident about catching the flyer at extension height already, almost feels like second nature, which is surely a good thing.

ochi challenged me and carmen to hold a 5 sec cupie, the reward being an ice lemon tea but sadly we didnt manage to hit that all night. felt that I managed to catch her cg and get my hand in the sweetspot but somehow there'll be a tipping action which I wasnt able/strong enough to counter. apparently if I use the gripping method I should be able to control the tipping but ultimately cupies are supposed to be held with a flat palm, not too sure if I should learn both methods.

ended the night hitting a few very stable cupies with huishan and was feeling quite happy about it for the rest of the journey home. I think I get satisfied quite easily hahaha. hopefully we'll be able to do more pstunts later during training =)

trainings

went to the gym on wednesday and did some light exercises as I was a little tired.

bench press: 1x8 (40kg), 1x8 (50kg), 3x8 (60kg)

wrist: 3x10 (15kg)

shoulder press: 3x8 (40kg)

snatch: 1x8 (35kg), 2x8 (40kg)

leg press: single leg 3x8 (full rack)

calf raises: 3x30 (both legs), 3x30 (single leg)

went for diy on thursday and my cupie feels much much better already, I'm slowly getting used to the feel of the stunt and can even fight to keep up some of the cupies. ochi says that I'm not stepping forward to use my entire core to support the weight which means I'm just using my shoulder strength to take the weight, shall work on that later during diy. injured my left knee when huishan landed on it, its much better already thankfully.

did nearly 70 toss throws on saturday at the start of training which resulted in my thighs hurting for the rest of the session and even today. didnt know that we had to do so many initially so I really used most of my strength on the first set of 15, had to grit my way through the rest of the sets. it was fun doing shoulder stands once again for pyramids, its really becoming my comfort zone, but I'm not too sure if I'll get to be shoulder stand for long anyway, think I'm a bit too tall. quite confident of my toss to shoulder stands already.

got back my feeling for btosses, really hope that I dont lose it once again. I just have to remind myself not to wait for the flyer's weight to start sinking in before throwing, the trick is just to follow the timing and move up. did a few btosses with xuewei, she really trusts the bases a lot to catch her, and despite not btossing for nearly 2 years, she's still pretty good at it. huishan was trying her layout and got the first half of the stunt, the landing is a bit awkward which resulted in bruises and scratches, acks.

zhiliang challenged me to get my toss to extension by july during thursday's diy session so I started trying just that during saturday's pstunting with biyi. really happy that I managed to throw to a comfortable extension (without pressing up) towards the last few throws. tried toss to hands pop down toss to hands a few times too. thanks biyi once again for your patience and willingness to keep trying until we can hit stunts.

stunt endurance

yesterday's training was mainly focused on practising for the yog performance and I'm learning a lot during the entire process. pstunts to shoulder stand sounded easy but I was trying to get my stability and sharpness which makes things quite challenging. not to mention that I have to hold the stunt for quite some time, which gets pretty tiring after 2 or 3 consecutive runs. thankfully biyi's such a nice flyer who's always so obliging when I want to practice a few more times.

had some time to try walk to glad shoulder stand, and I seem to be able to hit it quite easily. however I think my left right imbalance extends even to my back muscles, my left back seems to be working way harder for shoulder stands for some reason.

tried rewind for a while at the end of training, looks and sounds interesting but I'm only at the theory stage only haha.

gymming

went to the gym for the first time yesterday to start training up my arm strength, shoulders and left side. managed to accomplish quite a lot in 1hr15 mins actually.

dumbbell bench pull: 1x8 (10kg), 1x8 (15kg), 1x8 (20kg), 2x8 (25kg)

shoulder press (free weights): 1x8 (10kg), 2x8 (15kg), 2x8 (20kg)

wrist: 1x15 (15kg), 4x15 (20kg)

shoulder press (machine): 1x8 (40), 1x8 (60), 1x8 (80), 2x8 (90)

bench press: 1x8 (40kg), 1x8 (45kg), 1x8 (50kg), 1x8 (55kg), 1x8 (60kg)

snatch: 1x8 (35kg), 4x8 (40kg)

didnt really do too heavy cause I was focusing more on my left side and posture, will slowly increase the load over the next few weeks.

weekend training + selections

its fast becoming a trend of me coming to office on monday with my mind refreshed but my body aching all over due to weekend trainings haha. we had selections on saturday and I'm quite glad that I made it even though I'm still very raw at many places, really appreciate vincent's effort for frantically writing down all the pointers during the tryouts. it's the first time I've been put through the paces and its a really interesting experience.

lost my feel for btosses after coming back from japan, apparently I reverted to my old habit of sinking too much. it was a little frustrating but I should be able to get that feeling back after a few more practice, it really is hard to unlearn something that I have been executing for nearly a whole year already.

saw my pstunts video for the first time too, and my right biased problem is really apparent. also discovered certain things about myself that I did not know previously, like squatting quite a lot pressing up to libs and cupies (probably due to my lack of arm and shoulder strength), and shuffling around a lot which seem to make the whole stunt very unstable. not too sure how to correct these problems yet but will ask and learn.

gym on sunday was super fun but tiring as usual, and I finally manage to do a straight round off after quite some time. used to be able to do it but for some reason it just got worse and worse. my backtuck on the springy ground felt really good too and I even managed to land standing for a few of my tucks. isaac and weihoe asked me to do on harder ground after that to get used to a jump with less height. shall attempt a robt next gym training if everything goes well, looking forward to it already.

on a side note, I was super glad this morning when I woke up with no pains in my ankles and knees. don't really want to go through the entire experience again, it was really kind of scary.

refreshed!

trained for the first time in one whole week and I must admit my body had a very good rest after the trip to japan. my ankles and knees feel much much better, I practically do not feel any pain anymore, but I'll have to see how well they fair after gymnastics on sunday. of course I am keeping my fingers crossed that they are fully healed!

went to stunt at smu yesterday and my toss feels much more powerful, and I can actually feel my back muscles at work. not really sure what I'm doing differently but my toss feels very straight and fast now.

learning how to fight a cupie now and my right wrist and forearm are aching a little due to the lactic buildup but it should get better. was really happy hitting a toss ex double take lib double take cupie pop down, but I still need to practice more to get the consistency.

missing japan a lot for some reason, and its stirring my desire to compete in the 5th CAIO next year.

4th CAIO in Japan

just returned yesterday from Japan, went there with the senior team who was competing in the 4th Cheerleading Asia International Open in Tokyo's Yoyogi stadium. the competition was held over the weekend (15-16 May) and the scores over both days were combined to determine a winner.

there were a few categories at the competition, most of the teams were actually all girls team, with only a few mixed teams. for the international mixed category, taiwan was represented by two teams (CMIT and TPEC), thailand sent vanquish and there was another team from korea.

got to sit right in front of the cheer mats for the entire duration of the competition as a member of the press, and I must say that its probably the best seat in the stadium even though its cold hard ground. being only 5 metres from the mats just meant that everyone's facial expressions and actions were super clear. there was really a stark contrast between the top teams and the other teams when there were difficulties hitting stunts, most of the girls from the top few teams really had their smiles fixed on their faces even when the stunts don't hit nicely, its really something to learn from. even the bases had their smiles fixed on even though most people wouldnt be even looking at them.

all the competing teams also prepared colour cards which they flash during every team's cheer segment. its really quite electrifying seeing the entire stadium chanting out the team's colours and flashing the corresponding cards. the japanese cheerleaders also seem to boundless amounts of energy cheering and waving their pompoms.

CMIT won first, TPEC came in second while Vanquish wrapped up the top 3. the competition was between the two taiwanese teams for first and second spot as vanquish was quite comfortably in third while aces had a lot to do after the first day to overtake vanquish. both taiwanese teams had double base rewinds, while CMIT had 2 720 221s in their routine. most of their cheerleaders have 6-7 years of cheerleading experience and even the youngest there have at least 4, which is really apparently in terms of their stability and their tumbling.

what I felt was lacking among all international teams as compared to the japanese teams was the short dance segment. most of the jap teams didnt have very complicated dances, yet they manage to execute their dances with a lot of rhythm and neatness which makes even the simplest dances look very refreshing and energetic.

I also had to give it to the jap girls with their tumbling, most of them can at least do a backhand spring and during the whole competition there were some really horrendous headplants but every single one of them picked themselves up smiling and continued with the routine as if nothing happened. ditto the crazy pyramid falls where the shoulder stand probably got stepped on by midtiers and tops.

would really like to be back there for competition next year, but in the meantime, its time to up my training already.

weekend trainings

was pretty exhausted after weekend training this week, partially due to my flu/cough which I have yet to fully recover from. went to see a doctor today to get some antibiotics today, hopefully it will get better before going off to japan.

did more basics on sat and I finally got the hang for btosses. felt much more relaxing and the heights of the tosses seem to be generally higher than those previously. quite happy the jayson is starting to get the hang of the btosses too, when he finally gets it I'm quite sure the btosses with him will be super high considering his height advantage (>8cm taller than me). realised that it can be quite enjoyable when flyers do their elements cleanly in the air and cradle properly, must have done more than 50 tosses on sat without even realising it.

managed to hit a cupie with perle too, which is my fifth time hitting it and the first time succeeding with someone else besides huishan. hahaha I'm pretty sure huishan compensates quite a lot to ensure the cupie stays up so I was pleasantly surprised when I hit it with perle. being a bit more conscious bout dropping my shoulders before going into libs/cupies and it sure works quite well. really need to get well soon so that I can start gymming and improve my left side.

gymnastics was really exhausting on sunday, and most of those who were there were already soaked through after doing the warmup+strengthening exercises. could barely last halfway through most of the strengthening exercises, think it might be useful for me to start doing those everyday to train up my legs are core.

starting to perfect my standing backtuck, apparently I havent been jumping to my max before going into the tuck, which results in my calves being slightly bent and me landing in front of my takeoff spot. looking at a faraway point and delaying my tuck to the highest point feels much better as I can open and almost land standing straight. need to improve on my tuck tightness though, looks like I'm doing a backpike instead of a backtuck now.

played around a little and managed to get the hang for a front tuck too thanx to chris simin and jasmine, I'll probably do that for recreation for the time being considering the most important thing to get now will be my robt.

coach taught me some of the exercises I can do to straighten my round off, and one of the most important one is to get a very stable handstand. he said that once my round off is consistently straight, it will be easy for me to add elements after the round offs. I'll be doing the backhandspring exercises in the meantime too to slowly get it, will need it anyway if I want to do a 3-pass eventually.

on a side note, wearing contacts during training really makes a huge lot of difference.

may!

it has only been a month since I started this blog but I realised that I've made some improvements reading some of the earlier entries. my ankles are feeling much better now, at least I don't wake up in the morning with both my ankles feeling tight. my right knee is still sore though, feels like my knee cap is a little loose, perhaps I need to do more strengthening exercises so that it doesn't get worn out so quickly.

went for 2 diy sessions on sunday and yesterday and was just spending time getting my toss and cupie+stabilising my lib. apparently my right shoulder droops subconsciously a bit in anticipation of a cupie/lib, and the resulting pop is a bit too uncontrolled. popping into stunts feels much more controlled without the unnecessary anticipation.

my right hand is already visibly larger than my left, will be gymming on non training days with much more emphasis placed on my left side. stunting should be much easier with more balanced left right strength.

another sprained finger

managed to stabilise our assisted full up by quite a lot yesterday, its slowly feeling more smooth and its relaxing to hit this stunt already. catching the flyer's turn early really is the key to getting this stunt right, even the 540 we tried subsequently didn't feel too much different. tried a heel stretch retake to another heel stretch and surprisingly manage to hit it within 2 tries, I'm really starting to like group stunts even more, the variety of stunts that are possible is quite mind-boggling.

still trying to get the right feel for my btoss with gary, hopefully I'll remember to stop sinking down and just move faster. huishan really seems to take a long time to fall when when we manage to hit the basket right. sprained my right middle finger during one of the btoss backtucks after ramming my entire hand into gary, acks shall just keep pulling it till it feels okay again.

my popping in for cupie feels more natural already but somehow I still can't seem to hold the stunt up, not too sure if its my inability to fight or my delay in catching the flyer's cg, but it feels like the stunt is beyond saving by the time I try to stabilise, hmmm. tried lo hi tick tock another time and it feels much better with a more stable lib. changed my lowering and it is already a non-issue, just need to be able to catch the shoe more quickly I reckon.

need to recover from my flu and cough soon, really limits my strength and stamina.

time to start training my hands

I'm starting to slowly realise that most of the time when I'm doing stunts, all the power comes from my legs to the extent that I really have to charge for a long time before being able to burst/blast. makes me much slower than almost everyone and when I try to use my hands, the direction gets a bit wonky sometimes and my arms get tired really easily. guess this means that I really need to start training my chest, shoulders and arms already.

quite glad that my feel for assisted full-ups is getting better, even did a 450 retake after that but I'm not too sure how much of that is due to my main base being zai.=P.managed to do more 2 to 1 exercises and I can really feel my pstunting stamina improving already, and its nice that my lib is finally starting for feel very very stable already. perhaps next diy I should start trying some lo-hi tick tocks.

there will be proper gymnastics training at a proper gym with a proper coach too, looking forward to that, should be super exciting after neglecting that portion for quite long.

first cupie

yayy still a little bouncy after getting my first cupie with proper technique yesterday, was really glad I made the decision to go all the way down to rp even though it was raining and I was a bit flu-ey.

haha didnt really try anything else except for toss to ex and libs but it was the cupies that were super memorable. now I just have to remember the popping in, right leg stepping out, left hand at my waist and keep practising until my hit rate goes up. my stability seems pretty decent but I'm quite sure it can be even better.

perhaps next time I will try my left libs, my left hand feels really neglected now and my body symmetry seems to be deviating slightly already. yay again ahaha!

training muscles I didnt know I have

went for wc training again ytd and what struck me most is that they really cram in as much as they can within their short training period, doing everything from stretching to pt to jumps, pyramids and pstunts training. they dont really have a target they have to hit for each segment, just have to try their best before moving on. it seemed much less stressful and I was able to pick up a lot of the stunts fairly quickly (granted it was off season).

zl made everyone do this leg lift exercise which I havent tried before, apparently its supposed to help with the height of our jumps. its super tiring for the abs and this band of muscles around the groin/inner thigh which I didnt know existed, much less know their name. shall include this in my daily personal routine, seems to be quite helpful.

was doing the backspot role for assisted full up and retake, and I'm slowly getting the feeling. really have to give a lot of credit to ken, isaac and huishan, think I managed to get it fairly fast cos they were all quite zai with this stunt already. quite liked their versatility drill after that, especially the pop from shoulder stand to hands part.

tried this pstunt drill called 2 to 1 which is basically 3x extension + lib (and apparently this is level 1 of 3), and the first time I tried I only managed 2x and apparently it was due to me holding my breath too much haha. much better after learning how to control my breathing. really need to be more aware of my pulling backwards during the toss, and aligning my legs such that I'm using both legs equally when stunting. gary was trying to explain how to use my wrist to flick during the toss, shall try that tomorrow then.

will try to get my cupie within 2 sessions and improve my pstunting stamina.

magnum

super thankful that zm and neville agreed to let me go for magnum training just to play and see them train, seeing both of them coaching really allowed me to see them from a different perspective haha.

warmups was normal but it sort of occured to me that my stretching has been stagnant for quite some time already, which directly affects how my toe-touches look and my jump stamina. they did the standard magnum arm motion + jumps till neville's satisfied, and I can barely last all the way. towards the end my pikes and toe touches were super cui already.=/

did assisted toss to hands and it was then when I realised the sheer number of flyers they have in their junior team. magnum supposedly has like 5 junior bases and only 2 were there to train, and when we were doing the stunts, they had more than enough flyers to form a circle 2 person deep. was focusing on trying to improve my tosses and control since many of their flyers are still learning their body control.

tried pitch tosses after that and finally started doing 360 toe pitch with zm and evan in between magnum senior team's full routines. felt really different from the last time i attempted with the nbu guys, I think it might be due to my toss improving a little bit. can't wait to try 360 2-2-1 or 360 something but I guess it should be some time before an opportunity presents itself haha.

looking forward to learn more at wc later!

lots more to learn

went for wildcards training on saturday to take a look at how they conduct their usual trainings and to learn new techniques and stunts. I must admit that it was really an eye-opening experience. have always been hearing/watching youtube videos of some of their players doing stunts and finally getting to learn first hand from these guys was truly valuable.

started off doing backspotting for elevator pop twist before moving on to assisted full up+retake. the assisted full up part feels very similar to a 360. tried the retake part a few times but I still cant seem to get the repositioning of my hands, do understand the basic idea behind it so its just more practice. this stunt isnt too complex, but it really involves a lot of control.

got to do btosses with gary after that and he taught me yet another method. apparently it was what the kentucky cheerleaders taught them the other time and it feels very powerful especially when I catch the timing properly and use all the strength from my legs. this method seems to remove the strain on my knees and ankle which I felt constantly last time when using the close-legged method.

I must admit that my impression of gary has changed a lot since the first time I saw him glare at the pstunts spotters during cheerobics 2009. he's actually a very approachable person who's very willing to teach and explain the finer intricacies of stunts repeatedly. ahaha and at the end of the day, he's another one who's trying to slack as much as he can. i'll really want to emulate his tossing strength and power, he really makes it look so effortless!

relearnt my lib during pstunting sesson at the end of training, they do actually have a fairly structured pstunting training programme which seems quite beneficial judging from the stability and locking tightness of the bases and flyers in general. i think it was joline who noticed that I was taking a long time to move my left hand into the final leap position, and simply changing this really made the stunt almost totally stable. zhiliang also taught me how to use my entire core to control the stunt should the flyer's cg start wandering.

tried a bit of lib hi lo tick tock after that, i have no idea why isaac just started teaching me that instead of asking me to try a cupie which seemed more logical. I seemed to have some problems lowering the flyer into the low position, which was due to my elbows' positions (haha I only realised this much later on the way home). I'm quite looking forward to trying this stunt again for some unexplained reasons haha. my toss to ex is getting better too!

got chided a few times for unnecessary loading/cushioning by various people who all emphasised that its important for flyers to do their own things properly so that the stunts can be executed properly. really havent seen things from this point of view as I've always thought that doing a bit more to help flyers/bases is a good thing, but come to think about it, compensating unnecessarily for them will just hinder their learning progress. this seems to reiterate what the nbu cheerleaders were saying the other time, when everyone does their part properly, stunts will go up much more easily and effortlessly.

really learnt a lot in this short 5 hr session and would really like to thank everyone who gave me the opportunities to try, and helped me with pointers+advice. looking forward to magnum's training later on.

group stunts

there were quite a few people who could take a break from their studies to stunt a bit yesterday so we organised a small group stunting session to try out some group stunts. the focus for unofficial trainings have always been pstunts so I wanted to try out some new stuff just to develop overall technique. I remembered learning and improving a lot last year when we were trying out all sorts of group stunts for cheerobics (which we didn't take part in in the end), so was looking forward a bit to trying those again.

we ended up just trying out 270 with variations and its quite nice to see everyone starting to get the hang of it, py finally knowing what's letting the weight sink in, yx controlling his extension much better, and the flyers knowing how to step and turn at the highest point. I was tossing more at the start, which was also beneficial as I can slowly feel my tosses feeling more effortless.

managed to hit a 270 to direct single lib with amanda which was quite surprising cause it was meant to be a 3 base stunt but somehow py and yx didnt know how to catch so it became single base. it really felt super good and I should think it looks super good too, didn't use much strength at all going up into the stunt! even though its may be a simple stunt to others, it really proved to me once again that most of the time we end up erecting mental barriers even before we try certain stuff, convincing ourselves that its not possible/will not be stable/doesn't seem to make sense even before we try.

I remember I was once like that in spectrum and it really hindered my progress, I really started learning when I just decided that its okay to keep failing cause eventually I'll be able to hit stunts. I did for a point in time think that round offs will probably be my max for gymnastics cause I was heavy, and that the only pstunts I can do are those two handed ones. Maybe I should think less and be convinced that I can get my cupie, left lib, tick tock and round off backtucks in a matter of time.

Top Gun Unlimited Co-ed 2009 Worlds

this team won second at the co-ed 2009 worlds but reading the comments, they had the most difficult routine by far and yet lost cos of their execution and certain errors. but nonetheless, there're still many positives that can be taken from their routine.

they are really neat considering the number of cheerleaders in this routine, their jumps and gymnastics especially. even though their pyramids may not be as difficult as some of the other US teams, their left right coordination is almost perfect for most of the stunts.

their gymnastics really wowed me, especially the part where the entire team's doing front tucks in every direction. probably not a high level gymnastics move but done together as a team, the end result made my hair stand. same for the double toe-touch+back tuck.

imho, I really do think tightness and neatness is really just part of stunting discipline which u either get very early in your stunt career or end up standing out in a negative way during routines.

inspiration

this is why I keep pushing myself so hard.

play session

had another short play session yesterday and it was indeed very fruitful, I can slowly feel the improvements already. tried to stabalise my left lib once again, my left hand is still not stable hence the popping in of my right hand is very shaky as a result. at least I'm slowly getting used to the feeling already, should be able to get it with a few more practice sessions.

still can't really seem to get the feeling for cupie, I'm really starting to think that I should just go into a cupie instead of using my left hand to support and pop the flyer in place. but that will mean a lot of drops probably, need to get more people to spot I guess. its really not nice at all seeing flyers in pain after hitting the ground.

finally managed to get a few decent toss to ex, and the trick really seems to be standing close to the flyer so that I dont end up using my hands to pull her back too much. being able to catch at extension height, as opposed to pressing up, really feels shuang. hahaha and I sorta made a promise that I shan't toss amanda to hands anymore! its high time for me to start improving my toss already.

gym

intended to just go for a short run yesterday but ended up going to src's gym after py said that he was going to train his legs. training up my chest and shoulders is one of the objectives I set for myself after competition, I pretty much have the smallest/weakest shoulders and chest in the team and it probably affects my stability quite a lot too.

reached src and realised that there were so many other cheerleaders there to gym/practise stunts too, so I did some bench press before going to try some pstunts with xw. tried my ticktock again but my lib didn't really feel very stable, xw said that I am relying too much on my right hand for stunts and I'll really have to train up my left hand to match my right. it felt really shuang, however, when I managed to hit a cupie lib on my first try, aye more testament to train up my left hand once again!

practised more cupies too, I'm still trying to get the feeling for this stunt, apparently my wrist, elbow and shoulder aren't aligned perpendicularly to the ground so its much harder to feel the flyer's CG and take her weight. my delivery to cupie from hands still seems to lack control, perhaps due to my hesitatancy to allow the flyer to lift off both my hands. shall slowly get over that.

I'm still pulling the flyer back a little when doing toss to ex, xw said that its due to me using my arm strength to pull to get the extra height, but it is really encouraging to hear that my explosive burst for tosses have improved a lot, and my huan3 cong1 is much better (xw said that her knee doesn't hurt). I really want to master my toss to ex cause it not only helps with pstunts improvements, pyramid deliveries and btosses will be much easier with a better toss.

went for a short run back to hall after that, it has been a really long time since I went for a jog. didnt really run too fast as my heels are still not 100% yet, must maintain my stamina so that I can last through a 2.5 mins routine more effortlessly haha.

back tuck

had a short session doing btoss ytd, and was really glad doing the bare basics once again. we did straight tosses for almost 2 hours, and I tried both types of grips for the basket after being very used to grabbing my left wrist with my right hand. it's been some time doing backloading for btoss too and I can really feel myself using strength during the toss unlike last time when its mostly just loading the flyer into the basket. my left little finger feels very sprained though after getting kicked during one bad landing, its swelling a little today even after i iced ytd.

tried a few standing backtucks after that, sont said that I should keep both feet flat on the ground during the initial jump as he observed that I was jumping on tipped toes resulting in my landing slightly in front of my initial starting point. my jump seems slightly higher now though it doesn't feel that way, guess I have to get used to this new feeling haha. its back to the crash mats again to learn when to prepare for my landing as I'm overtucking pretty consistently now.

left liberty

had a short play session on good friday after helping evan with her video assignment, still wasn't feeling too good as my left feet and my neck were still hurting a lot from the round off back tuck crash haha, but still tried a few p stunts anyway.

amanda was super gian with left lib cause she wanted to get it right quickly so she can try a tick tock, wanted to practice too as i've started to realise that my right hand is getting way more stronger than my left hand too. very often when I'm stunting nowadays, I'll unconsciously start to shift a lot of weight to my right side. its a good thing that my right is getting stronger, but neglecting my left isn't too good. xp asked me to try a left lib a few days ago and I couldn't even hold the stunt up, felt much better getting it a few times on friday.

attempted a few toss to ex with xt and amanda but somehow I can't seem to be able to catch the flyers' shoes at all. most of the time, the shoes are very far in front and the flyer's waist is already in the plane behind my head, seems like I'm pulling the flyer back in the toss even when I'm making a conscious effort not to do so at all (sometimes even throwing forward). will just keep working on my explosiveness, and get use to catching the shoes higher in the air.

left play session early to rush off to jurong east chiropractor cause he said that he was closing at 3pm, started raining heavily when I reached jurong east mrt, thank goodness he waited for me. apparently so many places in my body was injured that he ended up spending like 30 mins fixing everything. thank goodness I managed to get a 2 day rest during the weekend, everything feels way better today.

round off back tuck

went to do a bit of gymnastics yesterday and since there was the softer blue mats, I decided to try to learn how to do a backhand spring and a round off back tuck. have always wanted to improve on my gymnastics since a few months ago but my ankles were not feeling very good. they were still feeling a little sore yesterday but much better already so I decided to try anyway.

tried backhand springs with the roll mats first to learn how to "open" my body by pushing my pelvis out, I really have to start stretching my back more and get used to that feeling. the feeling is really different when I did subsequently on the crash mats, have to keep doing and work on the takeoff angle which is one of the most important things to look out for.

it really took a lot of courage to try round off back tuck because trying to link a round off and a back tuck together feels totally different. landed on my shoulder and head on my very first attempt and was quite stunned by the impact. my neck feels quite sore now, I'll get it fixed at the jurong east chiropractor during the long weekend, together with all my other injuries from training for routine.

yb corrected my round off cause apparently I was running too heavily and deliberately, and I was taking off with my legs cross which will lead to me twisting awkwardly after landing. will try to change my run slowly, its back to basics again before I try anything more advanced.

have to pull myself up from front hand springs using my hips more and try to land with my body straight, the angle I'm pushing off with my hands also doesn't seem to be very consistent yet. lots of work ahead evidently, but it really feels much better doing gymnastics after losing some weight.

first entry

haha now that nationals have just ended, I've got a little more time on my hands to try out all those stunts that I have wanted to try but didn't have the time or energy back then, what's better than putting down the entire journey down in words?

there are 2 reasons for doing so. first, I'll be able to gauge my progress accurately and not fool myself into believing I'm making improvements when I'm actually not. and second, knowing there are so many cheerleaders who are way more experienced than me, perhaps I'll be able to get one or two tips from time to time, which will surely shorten the learning process!

i'm always very willing to learn and try new stuff and there really isn't any limit right now, I'm just trying to see how far I can go.