Updated@6:50 PM

Hey all, it's been a while since i've last posted. I may not be the most sensitive detector of emotions, but i certainly know a demoralized team when i see one. Yes yes a multitude of reasons come into play and i wouldn't pass them off as excuses because some are genuine. But for now, this apprehensive/demoralized/lost hope/can't give a shit mood will end now, because it's high time we buck up.
I'm going to do away with all big words and whatever quotes now because yes i admit i've become jaded in a sense. Too many cliches, too many water trainings, too many bad experiences and encounters i had with people and yes i guess we're all tired from training so hard and so long. What has the purpose of training become? We all say "PB, PB" and "rape nj" all the time but after a while the meaning fades and what's left is just the words alone. So what remains? What will not fade away in the face of time? Not your boat, not your paddle, not your strokes, not your body. All will die except for your heart and the love found within it. These two years i've been finding what is the best umbrella-termish biggest concept that can encompass our desire to row and train. Here's the closest answer: Love.
Undoubtedly, passion, discipline, desire to win, sportsmanship can all come into play. Indeed we all row for that, but there's been a dip in passion, discipline, desire to win etc. And now all we can do is to look back at the biggest main idea: Love. We all say "yea, i love ice cream, i love hot guys, lubz euxx worxx", words to the extent. But this concept of Love is what defines our team so aptly, and it definitely goes far beyond that of those silly examples aforementioned. When we started rowing, what made us continue? LOVE for the feeling of sitting on a chunk of fibreglass and trusting that it can take us 500m in 2 minutes. When we feel like dying at the last stretch of 2k timing, we could have said "oops i'm not feeling well sorry let's not PB", but what made us push that thought out of our heads and continue rowing with the bloody sun on our backs? Not fear of Jiaolian, not for showing off. It's LOVE for the team. LOVE for everyone else who is out there, uncompromising and expecting that you do the same for them, appreciating that the team is a body of canoeists who are willing to die for the cause. LOVE for the people who asked you to hold on one second longer so that your efforts will not be in vain. It is not the loud sound of "jiayou jiayou" from jiaolian's loudspeaker that eggs me to row faster. Definitely not. It is when hear victor's melodious voice singing "peng you" (friends), or when nathan accuses me of slacking behind that my muscles go into overdrive and my the pain is momentarily kicked out of my system. Why do we exhibit sportsmanship and respect our opponents out there? Again, LOVE. Love for them, for without them we'd have no one to own. Love that they are also part of this fraternity of mad people who are dedicated to propelling fibreglass chunks. Why am I so looking forward to Nationals? Because as scared as i may be, trembling under the pressure with the eyes of parents, coaches, match support ppl, friends, teammates, I know that I LOVE the feeling of having one lane entirely to yourself, no stupid boats cutting halfway, and compressing 1.5 hard years of training into that pathetic little 2 minutes, with teammates screaming hoarse for the burst, all eyes pinned on that tiny ray of hope that Raffles can indeed perform miracles. So find your LOVE once again, start afresh, and show that the heart of a Raffles canoeist is bigger than any other canoeist's lats, and that the mind of a Raffles canoeist is tougher than any other canoeist's abs.

Miracles are not random. Yes well maybe to an extent, like if you dont do your tut then your teacher is sick on that day well maybe that's a miracle. But we're not going to pray that other schools will suffer an epidemic of HFMD and we'll win this nationals! Won't happen period. We MAKE miracles bit by bit. Maybe the reason as to why there's this dip in morale/enthusiasm is because we've been losing teammates to illnesses, other commitments etc. Or maybe we see other schools out there looking fast and the fear gets to our hearts. That is when we've lost the battle, completely. Training is something like miracle-making practice. Every improvement to stroke, balance and fitness will ultimately give us that little increase in that little glimmer of hope that we can manipulate the odds. John Paul said in his exco interview, that he wants to change our stupid in-built ideas that we are the underdogs. We create excuses for ourselves for our inferior performance as compared to others: "oh they have 5 water trainings, we have like 3, which is not enough" or " they have 3 coaches eh, that's why they are so good!" or "but they don't study what, 100% of life is spent canoeing" But it has never occured to us, that when we beat them, we automatically prove that you don't need tons of water trainings or tons of cash to be the best. All we need is a heart that believes that we can.

I don't want to keep saying "no regrets" or "nationals is 2 months away! c'mon it's our final year dont waste our efforts", because by now, it is rather damn obvious to all of you. We're going to leave a legacy as the team that stood under giants and plucked their balls from beneath and crushed them. Let nothing come in your way these 2 months, and i promise we'll kickass!
Buck up!

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