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.