LAST TRAINING SESSION WITH COE TMR.
When I say "last", I mean it. I really do.

)':

It was year 2005 when I initially intended to join COE. I was at my peak after school nationals, but as APSC didn't allow swimmers to be in COE & APSC at the same time, I gave it up. Afterall, I have to thank APSC for what I am today. Soon I got over it and I stayed on in APSC.

Year 2006. After a horrible incident of back injury and stagnant timings, I slowly lost motivation to train. There wasn't anyone in APSC whom could motivate me to train hard. Everyone was slacking all the time. I think I can confidently say that I was the hardest worker there.

Bad results in school nationals 2006, and although I had planned to cut down on training from 11 times a week to 3-4 times a week to focus on PSLE, my plans took a drastic change when I decided to join COE. At this point of time, APSC couldn't disallow me from joining because they knew that there was no way I could motivate myself to train hard in APSC, especially with the environment. So, COE it was. 6 times a week, and my parents were quite worried about PSLE. Mostly my mom. Dad was supportive obviously, knowing how crazy he is about sports -.-

First day in COE wasn't pleasant, I recall. Felt really lonely there for the first few months, I reckon. After a while, started to get along with fellow team mates and now I'm so happy to say that I have a lot of good friends there (:

My swimming saw improvement too. I must say, COE has played a very big part in my swimming "career". Although COE has made me feel very down, I am still grateful for everything that the coaches - The best coach ever: Herbert, the strictest coach ever: John, and Uncle Auyeong - have done for me that have got me this far.

Having to part with everyone in COE, be it the swimmers or the coaches, I am very sad and unwilling. But life goes on, and till today, I don't regret joining COE regardless of its heavy committment and pressure. The only thing I regret is having wasted alot of my time in COE training like shit. What's over is over and the only thing I can do now is to focus on training in Auckland.

Things I remember about each of the coaches.. Hmm. Let's start with Herbert :D I think he was the coolest coach ever, and his gym sessions are always the best! What with the ladder and bushu ball! I know the gym is always noisy with all the laughter when the junior squad used it on Mondays and Fridays. Hahahah occasionally Herbert would get pissed off and he'll send all of us out to swim! ):

Herbert was a dedicated coach who put in effort in everything he did. Training hard was so much easier when he was around, since we could have fun admist all the exhaustion (: He was also there to encourage me and I know he liked to tell me that it's mostly my Mental preparation that lacked, not my Physical preparation.

But sometimes I got angry with him because he didn't understand what I was thinking. There was once where I had to do a special set for myself while the others did another set. My set was something like 8x100 dive max, and he said I had to make 8 times of 1.08 or else I would have to continue diving until I made 8 times! Hahah, it was sucha joke because I practically gave up after the 2nd one. In the end he got really angry and said I was just wasting his time and my time. I hated it when he was angry; it was scary.

Another thing I like about Herbert is, he's a fellow man utd fan! (: Hahah we would always talk about soccer matches after training and his views are always so funny! Although he has been away for about half a year already, I still miss him very much and I hope to see him again someday.

Now. Let's move on to John. John.. What can I say. The chances of me surviving 10 sessions of training without getting a single scolding by him is very low. Heh :P He lovesssss to give me long talks and he's usually the only one talking - and he complains about it alot when I don't talk to him. There's just some words that are so hard to be spoken so he can't actually really blame me :D

I would like to thank John for giving me 891274365417823 chances to stay in COE, even though I knew very well that I wasn't really up to it. However much I didn't belong there, you let me stay to prove myself. I'm truly apologetic for failing to do so 99.9% of the time, but there are some times where I had genuinely tried to, while other times I'd rather believe that I didn't make it because I didn't try, and not because I wasn't good enough. It's something called self delusion, heard of it? :D

Also, thank you for never giving up on me. When everyone including myself gave up on me, you didn't. You even tried to push me harder. It didn't always work, but thank you for trying. But no thank you for my most hated set - 30x100 one dive hard one mod. Hahah that is my worst feared set XD I also don't like 1500 free/fly.. LOL. Once again, thank you for everything you've done for me. I hope to be able to see you soon at an international competition. (That meaning that I'm representing singapore haha.)

Uncle Auyeong.. Nothing much to talk about. Except that he always gives rubbish warm ups! ): Hahah no not kidding. He likes to boil tea while we're training and I would like to thank him for letting us play occasionally! (Can we play tmr? XD) And all the jokes you crack are really funny. Things like the Camerfag&Diamond joke and etc etc. Thank you for taking care of all of us after Herbert left and whenever John's away (:

Last but not least, thank you swimmers of COE for making training more bearable all this while. Training has been enjoyable (most of the time) with you guys and I'm really sad that I am leaving ): Keep in touch and continue training hard! Don't pon training for no reason!! (Specifically referring to some people. You know who you are!) Again, hope to see you soon at a competition! Till then, study hard train hard and rock on! ;D


Very long post today. Thanks for reading if you did [:
Shall end with song lyrics (oh dear that makes it longer but nevermind!)

Second chance
I found the phone
I must've missed your message
You got it wrong, It wasn't what your friend said
Tell by your tone, I've taken it too far again
Just when I thought I'd gone and fixed it all again

Your friends are telling you, You gotta move on
Just when I thought I'd gone and wrecked it all again
You turned around so I could tell you what took so long
I don't know why i ever waited to say
Cause I'm just dying just to see you again

Instead of holding you, I was holding out
I should've let you in, but I let you down
You were the first to give ,I was the first to ask
Now I'm in second place, to get a second chance

I should've known, took you and I for granted
Gotta let you know, I was never underhanded
Tell by your tone, I've taken it too far again
Just when I thought I'd gone and fixed it all again

My friends are telling me they saw you with someone
Just when I thought I'd gone and wrecked it all again
You turned around so I could tell you what took so long
I don't know why i ever waited to say
Cause I'm just dying just to see you again

Instead of holding you, I was holding out
I should've let you in, but I let you down
You were the first to give, I was the first to ask
Now I'm in second place, to get a second chance

My last mistake, putting my friends first
I tried to laugh it off but I made things worse
You were the first to give, I was the first to ask
Now I'm in second place, to get a second chance

What you give is always what you get
There's so much I haven't given yet
If you could give another second chance
Just when I thought I'd gone and fixed it all again

My friends are telling me they saw you with someone.
Just when I thought I'd gone and wrecked it all again
You turned around so I could tell you what took so long
I don't know why I ever waited to say
Cause I'm just dying just to see you

Instead of holding you, I was holding out
I should've let you in, but I let you down
You were the first to give, I was the first to ask
Now I'm in second place, to get a second chance

My last mistake, putting my friends first
I tried to laugh it off but I made things worse
You were the first to give I was the first to ask
Now I'm in second place to get a second chance

Instead of holding you, I was holding out
I should've let you in, but I let you down
You were the first to give, I was the first to ask
Now I'm in second place, to get a second chance
-Faber Drive

Goodnight. Have a good weekend ahead (:

COUNTDOWN! 22 days ):
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