My Gymnast Girl Turned Fencer

Hi there.

It's been awhile.

Been busy being a gymnast-cum-fencer mom. Why is fencing in the picture now?

Let me tell you a story.

After the disappointments and frustrations in JS' previous gymnastics club, we pulled her out and enrolled her in another club. I found that this club offered better training. Schedule was fluid but served my daugther good for a time.

But being 11 and not there yet is something to think about in gymnastics. What I mean is, at 11, you should have at least built your name and reputation in gymnastics, gaining favor from coaches, coach eyeing you for local and national competitions.

In JS case, she wasn't. Reason being, not thin enough to impress judges. Coach mentioned something like if she sends my daughter for selection for local competitions, she feared that judges or people in the federation would doubt her ability to send girls for selection.

So keep it to international competitions, coach advised.

So we did.

(During this time, in a parallel fencing world, my husband bumped into his old friend whom he discovered was a coach for fencing and the club was near by our place. So we wanted to check out for my son. Went there. Son said no. JS said she wanna give it a go. So went, she did. Four months into training and she joined the club's competition for U11 Epee Fencing in July 2017 and what do we know, she got her first ever gold for fencing at her first ever fencing competition).

Back to gymnastics world, we sent her to Zixi Cup International Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship in China in August, the month after she got her gold medal for epee fencing. In China, JS bagged 3rd (Bronze) individual all round. We were quite ecstatic. Maybe the coach will change her mind now and at least send her for local selections for rhythmic gymnastics.

Didn't happen.

Came another invitation for Queen's Cup in Hong Kong. This time, I really prepared JS. I was in between jobs during this season so I had time to help train at home. And we did. Train. A lot.

Went to Hong Kong in December 2017 well-prepared. I was more ecstatic to witness her bagging her first Gold Medal at an international level for rhythmic gymnastics in Ribbon Routine, even against the two best girls from her club, (girls who had been sent for local selections and local competitions at an individual level), and against other girls from 4 different countries. She got silver for Clubs Routine and 4th place for Ball Routine. It was all good.

Expected a different turn for gymnastics. Again, didn't happen.

Meantime, back to fencing world, she's been training for fencing. She got another gold medal for the second club competition. That means, all this while she's been bagging gold for fencing, I was still expecting that things turn around for her in gymnastics.

Still not sent for local selections. We took a break. From gymnastics.

In February this year, we sent her to Bangkok, Thailand for Thailand Fencing Federation Minime Series for International Fencing Competition. Her first international stint for fencing. And yes, as you can guess, she won gold medal.

Came home. Realised we had to make a choice for her. When we asked her, she said she's ok with anything and we could decide for her. Fencing coach found out JS was taking a break from gymnastics training, and so she recommended more trainings, upped her for U14 training, accepted her for sparring sessions with older fencers and enrolled her for high intensity program on Saturdays.

By the way, JS just came back from Asian Youth Fencing Competition in Macau last week. She didn't get gold but silver medal for this one. But to get a silver medal for a tough competition like this was more than good enough. And she's only into her first year in fencing!

So where at we at right now?

If you're a gymnast/fencer parent, what would you do? Would you still continue to send your child for gymnastics training where chances of getting into even just a bit of local competitions at an individual level is so thin, you can't even see the line?

Believe me, I am still thinking about sending her back for gymnastics, to let her at least graduate from it since we have invested so much in that sport and I feel it's just a waste of whatever investment we did if we let her quit just like that.

Her fencing journey is quite promising.

But my heart is still refusing to let go of gymnastics totally.

If you're in my gymnast/fencing mom shoes, what would you do?

Quaintrelle

Quaintrelle: A woman who emphasizes a life of passion expressed through personal style.

Dress like you're already famous!

Meraki

Meraki, a verb, or adverb, a Modern Greek word, derived from the Turkish “Merak” (Labor of love, to do something with pleasure), is applied to tasks, usually, creative or artistic tasks, but can be applied to any task at all.

It means to do something with passion, with absolute devotion, with undivided attention.

Samantha's Gymnastics Journey | Queen's Cup | Hong Kong, at Last!

(This is a backdated post)

Samantha's gymnastics journey continues as she traveled to Hong Kong for an international competition.

Last year, somewhere in August, I saw that Samantha's coach posted an announcement that SRGC club was invited to Hong Kong for the Queen's Cup Gymnastics Competition. They're looking for groups with different age categories and different routines.

I kind of got thrilled but hesitated as the same time as I didn't know if Samantha would qualify. But we contacted her coach straight away and asked if Samantha could. Since they were just looking to complete a group, probably anybody could qualify (just my opinion). But still, we were thrilled when the coach said she could, of course, as long as we agree on some details for the trip.(As it turned out, the individual categories were already handpicked.)

But since it was Samantha's first time to go for an international competition, we were so excited. We didn't mind paying for extra hours of training she needed to do and all other extra expenses. We believed that when God, our Father allows us to go through situations, He would always be there to provide.

And so, from August to December, were busy preparing for the Hong Kong trip.  I also helped Samantha practice at home. She would practice at least an hour per day. One thing I liked about the preparation was she got extra training for gymnastics which really helped her a lot for her classification competition that happens twice in a year.

The best part of the Hong Kong trip was to meet my parents and sister! It's like a mini reunion for us. It was really a blessing.

Here are the photos (and a video) that would tell you more stories about Samantha's journey to Hong Kong for the Queen's Cup 2015.



Took this video from my phone but used GoPro Suite to edit the video.

Queen's Cup 2015 (Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, China and Malaysia)

Samantha's winning attitude

Coach Sarina receiving a certificate of participation

 Below are the photos with my parents and sister.It was a double portion of blessing that ended my year 2015 as not only we got to go to Hong Kong for an international competition for Samantha, we also got together with my parents. Really thanking our Father for the blessings.

This is just the beginning, I believe. Samantha will be traveling far and wide for more gymnastics competition. I believe that will all my heart. All these because our Father has a special plan for us as a family as we desire to reflect God's glory in our lives, in everything that we do, wherever God has placed us.

Samantha's Gymnastics Journey | Hoop Routine | Gold, Finally

I was challenged the last time when I thought Samantha would have done well, but her best was not enough. I just thought that practicing a couple of weeks everyday before the competition was enough. That's why Samantha and I had a really stressful time that season.

After the rhythmic gymnastics classification competition in June, 2015, I changed our practice schedule. Samantha started doing it almost everyday right after the competition. She would start with a warm up and whatever elements or steps introduced that week.

I found that nearing the competition time, I wasn't really stressed that much. In fact, the last week before the competition, I didn't push her much. She had back ache two weeks earlier so I was a bit worried. Good thing it went off. Hundreds of possibilities were running inside my head like... what if... what if... oh well, you know.... mothers? Hehehe. Okay, let's not get into that.

I am just glad it was nothing to worry about.

And so, this time, we prayed that somehow, Samantha would get a gold or two. Haha! Too ambitious. But then, I was more hopeful because Samantha practiced practically almost everyday... only to learn later that she wasn't doing some of her elements correctly. But we still kept our fingers crossed.

We still prayed for gold (or two) anyway.

What do we know, on that day, they changed the grading and grouping system. Usually, the girls were grouped according to the age category. Each group then would have 3 - 4 girls competing against each other. This time, 5 groups were merged into one, leaving the gymnasts to compete against 15 other gymnasts.

It was tough, we thought. But we prayed... so...

There were two routines that Samantha participated in: Ball routine and hoop routine. I had high hopes for the ball routine because she's been getting extra training for the forthcoming Queen's Cup (will talk about this later).

The results for the ball routine were posted up first. When I got the chance to check, Samantha ranked 7th out of 16.

Ok.

That was not so bad, knowing that she scored an average of 7.0. Her highest score since she joined gymnastics so far.

The hoop routine results were not posted... of all things.

So I sat on the floor, with my camera lugged, just expecting nothing... ok.. expecting a little, because I prayed, remember?

They called the winners for the ball routine first.

Then the hoop routine.

My heart skipped a beat.

3rd, place, something Chinese name; 2nd place, something Chinese name; 1st place; it was Jan Samantha! Leaped to my feet in a flash. I couldn't believe it. I was shaking holding up my camera taking photo of her getting her gold medal. She won 1st out of 16! I was blown away!

She finally did it! It was a gold, finally!

Praise God indeed, for the favour!

The next two apparatus to conquer before she goes to Grade 2 would be clubs and ribbon. I am so looking forward to those routines.

Here's Jan Samantha's winning Ball Routine performance during the 8th SRGC Rhythmic Gymnastics Classification Competition II in November, 2015.




Wanna leave you with this verse that I held on during the competition and will hold on to:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Matthew 7:7 (KJV)

Samantha's Gymnastics Journey | Rhythmic Gymnastics Leotard and Hoop Design

Gymnastics is a high maintenance sports. Leotards and apparatuses could really kill the pockets. But thank God for second hands.

Samantha got this hand down leotard from a friend. I am glad she could fit into it. This is what she's going to wear on Sunday for 8th SRGC Classification Competition.

I changed the ribbon around the hoop, from silver and purple to silver and red to match with her outfit. I am never a "crafty" person. So I feel that it's really a hard work for me, especially taking out the double sided tape to keep the ribbon on.

For those who are wondering how to take out the adhesives on the plastic hoop, you may use Goo Gone. I found mine from Ace Hardware. As for the ribbon, you may find it at any educational supply stores.

So here's Samantha's outfit for Sunday.

Keeping my fingers crossed for this Sunday's classification competition.

Gymnastics Hoop Design

I am not a very "crafty" person. So when Samantha asked me to please wrap a tape around her gymnastics hoop, I panicked. Like suddenly, I didn't know where to get the tape and how to wrap the tape around the hoop.

Okay.

I am exaggerating.

I just didn't know that I would end up doing this.

I actually wanna make sure I was doing it correctly, so I asked Coach Sarina where to get the tape. 

"In Daiso can get."

Oh yeah, silly me. LOL.

Anyways, since I was in MPH the other day, I checked out some tapes and found glittery purple (Samantha's favorite color) and silver, each piece had 10 yards. I didn't know how long I needed so I bought two for each color.

Actually, one roll for each color is enough. In fact, it's more than enough.

I tried using using super glue at first, but after I wrapped the tape and tried using, it came off easily. So I went to buy double-sided tape and it worked!

Here it is, my pride. LOL.

My gymnastics hoop design.

Samantha's Gymnastics Journey with Coach Sarina Continues

(UPDATE: Talked to Coach Sarina and she explained about doing the non-required steps. She didn't have to do it, unless she did it properly. If she didn't do properly, it would be deducted from her score.)

Back.

With a blast!

I wasn't able to update Samantha's gymnastics journey with Coach Sarina, the last season. My apologies for that.Last year, for her first ever classification competition, she got silver medal for rope routine and bronze medal for free hand routine.

Came November, for year-end classification competition, she did two apparatuses, the ball routine and the rope routine.

She just got up from a bad fever that time. She dropped the ball two times but was able to do the extra element which wasn't required, so she scored 7.1 out of 10 and got bronze.

For her rope routine, she also missed her rope a couple of times and got 6.9 for a score.

I didn't put much pressure on her coz she was sick. I was proud that she could still make those scores.

Last June, 2015 was another round of SRGC Classification Competition and she did two routines, free hand routine and rope routine.

I had high hopes for free hand routine this time as she did 3 extra elements which only a few of them did, but was dismayed to see her score 6.30 out of 10. I didn't understand.

But hey, life moves on.

The most important part of this journey is, she is enjoying herself. She made good friends with her gymnastics classmates and she was happy with her performance.

Here's her youtube video of 8th SRGC Classification Competition, free hand routine.

I have been studying her movements and she had a few awkward beginning steps. But I thought the three extra steps which weren't required would be a plus points. 

Anyways, this has yet to be cleared. Will be talking to her coach, Sarina, to find out. We want to be better so we will definitely need to learn from our mistakes.

Suffice it to say, we will keep on. 

#Goforgold next time, Samantha!

Here are some photos I took during her warm up:

Free hand routine during the 8th SRGC Classification Competition with Coach Sarina:

We are hoping to get better results next time.

Arrows Year 10 2015

These are the blog links for this years' Year 10 of Arrows Resource Centre.

Samantha's Gymnastics Journey | GoPro Hero 3+ | Practice at Home

Got a new baby.

Some interesting things are on the radar and Samantha's in for gymnastics competition soon. So I have been trying to practice my video taking using my new action camera, GoPro Her0 3+ Black Edition.

I have been practicing video editing using GoPro Suite, too.

This is Samantha doing her practice of rhythmic gymnastics at home, video edited using GoPro Suite.

The video below was taken using my Nikon D7000. A great need for improvement to take video  using a dslr here, I know.

Samantha's Gymnastics Journey | Her First Flip

Here is Samantha's first ever flip:





And my first ever gif:

Samantha's Gymnastics Journey | The Beginners' Guide

If you get a daughter and you like classic stuff.. what would you dream of your daughter doing in the future?

Yep.

Ballet.

Very classic.

So when Samantha was 4, we decided to send her to a ballet school in Taipan. She didn't like it. At first, we thought to just give it a try and give her time. We bribed her, in fact (teehee), sent her for ice skating lessons (because, yes, she loved doing it) and told her we would send her for ice skating lessons as long as she does ballet too. Parents can never go wrong when it comes to giving their best for their kids, right?

Wrong.

Samantha refused to go and it has been like this for more than a year.

After more than year, we finally got it and stopped sending her for ballet lessons (because it's expensive to do both, ballet and ice skating lessons at the same time).

For a year, we didn't do anything (talk about moving house and moving school).

One day, we walked from the church inside Summit to find a place for lunch. There, we saw gymnastics competition organised by Sarina's Rhythmic Gymastics Club. Samantha stopped all of us and said:

Wait. I wanna watch this. 

Ok.

Then later she said:

Mummy, I wanna do that.

Ok.

She started doing cartwheels and handstands after that.

She perfected her handstand after 6 months of trying to do it.

In fact, this was her last December 2013

She's been doing acrobats on her own and I feared she wouldn't do things properly. She should have a good foundation, we thought.

So we started finding gymnastics school for her.

We tried out 2 gymnastics schools first then we settled for the one nearest to our house.

Everyone's excited for Samantha. We all go to her gymnastics school and wait up outside for a couple of hours. Parents are not allowed to be inside - which is good because - you know.. some parents can be quite kiasu. If you have lived in Malaysia, you would definitely know what I mean. I mean, hey, there's already a note outside the gym that parents need to stay outside and I can still see parents hanging around inside.

Anyways, why am I complaining about parents on my first ever post about Samantha's Gymnastics Journey? Well, probably, this is going to be a battle. I really hope not.

I wanna be a parent that would want my daughter to do her best, at the same time, I want to chillax. After all, this is a sport and I want Samantha to have fun and not turned away by the pressure.

So yes, back to my story about sending her for evaluation. We went to a first gymnastics center (recommended by a friend whose daughter has been doing gym for a few years now) without knowing anything about gymnastics. Talked to the head of the school, had Samantha evaluated and we were told she would rather put Samantha for artistic gymnastics - because she's strong and short. And I was like... is that the one on the beam and the pole? (I am a dreamy type so imagine me imagining Samantha on a beam doing acrobats.

I got so excited!

Went back home to search more about artistic gymnastics... and compared it with rhythmic gymnastics. Well, this Mamooch right here thought artistic gymnastics can be quite dangerous. I know overprotectiveness kicked in. And also, most of the artistic gymnasts look so muscular. And I was like... hmmm... let's do the other one instead. LOL.

I researched more about rhythmic gymnastics. And I thought I liked all the pretty stuff they were doing.

The hubs and I talked and searched for more gymnastics school and found Sarina's. Went there the next week. Found out she only does rhythmics. We also realized it was her club that did the competition that encouraged Samantha to go for it.

Had Samantha evaluated. We were outside (remember about parents not allowed inside?) so we didn't know what she was asked to do. After 2 hours, Sarina talked to us and told us Samantha was very good so she would put her straight away in the advance class. She just needed to work hard.

On 18th January, she officially started her lessons at Little Gymnast level, skipping one level.

With the ball, rope and gymnastics shoes, sans the uniform.

So yes, Samantha's gymnastics journey has begun!

So here's a Beginner's Guide to Sending your Child to Gymnastics Classes:

1. If your daughter is doing cartwheels in the living room, flipping on your furniture and making her own gym out of every surface in your house, down the isles of the supermarket and out in the yard, that's indicative of a child who has some innate gymnastics ability. They are self teaching by mirroring what they have seen somewhere else and their desire to flip or be upside down is natural. Some kiddos cannot tolerate being upside down but some prefer to constantly be cartwheeling, we call them gymnasts. Click here for more on: Does my daughter has what it takes to be a competitive gymnast?

2. Learn the difference between artistic, rhythmic, and acrobatic gymnastics.

Artistic Gymnastics - is also called regular, uses bars, beams, floor, vault (and rings/horse/p-bars for men)

Rhythmic Gymnastics - Less acrobatic/tumbling based. More about dance, grace, fluid movement.

Acrobatic Gymnastics/Tandem/Group gymnastics - This is what you tend to see "chinese acrobats" doing, or "russian" acrobats doing, where they build human pyramids, support groups, and what cheerleaders borrowed and called "stunting."

Once you know these 3, you may choose which one you want your child to do.

3. Search for gymnastics centers around your area and don't settle on the first stop. You need to go around and compare them as to see which center will be more convenient for you.

4. Don't compare your child to other children (i.e., how come that child is more flexible than you? how come she can do that and not you?). Children are built differently and they each have different learning speed. Comparing your child to others can create pressure and stress for your child.

5. Make it fun for your child. Praise her a lot.

6. Constantly encourage her. Samantha almost wanted to quit after 2 weeks but we gently encouraged her and not push her. I showed her a lot of videos about rhythmic gymnastics and told her if she continues doing it, she can do whatever the person is doing in the video.

7. Practice with her. I try it almost every night with Samantha and give her reward if she can do hard moves. her reward is simple... I lay down on my back, put my hands and feet up and she gets to ride on my fours. It allows more bonding between us, too.

8. Pray for her. Everytime she goes to the gym, I do this. Not only it encourages her, but I also think that if we entrust our child's activities unto the Lord, He will bless everything she does and empowers her and helps her achieve what and who she is designed to be.

9. Don't be too kiasu. Just enjoy the journey with your child.

Here's how we practice at home:



Here's how we have fun:




Will be back for more update later.

Kintsukuroi

Kintsukuroi means ‘to repair with gold’ in Japanese, and is the art of repairing pottery with gold and understanding that the piece is more beautiful for having been broken.

Despicable Me 2 | Minions are Missing

First day of the second week of Minions being available at McDonald's Happy Meal set.

The family head over to the nearest outlet, in Citta Mall.

Found out yellow ones were out of stock... Got the purple minion, Chomper, instead.

First day of the second week and it's out of stock.

Now I see online shops selling Minions.And it's not cheap.

Minions are these special, eh?

Interlinking | SEO

Interlinking is the act of linking to other pages inside your blog. This gives you a really easy opportunity to creature a strong backlink to another page in you are trying to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

This was our topic for Computing 10 - Blogging today.

So we have created a signature that points back to our blog links.

We also have created a linkwithin. It is a widget that shows related links to what we have just posted.

See my signature below? Yay or nay?

Teaching Blogging | Arrows Resource Centre

Been teaching on how to blog to my Grade 10 awesome students. We are now on link love topic. Asked them to link to each others blogs.

I feel the need to do, too... So yeah, here they are:

Oh, Life - Stephanie Ang

Through My Eyes - Paul Mae Goh

Uncle Boon Boon Foong

Excited to teach them on how to make money with their blogs.

Wait.. let me take a photo of us... right here on this post.

Wow. First time I'm using my webcam to post straight away in this post. Awesome discovery. Ha-ha!

Will be back for more later.

Ciao!

Homeschooling Samantha

We pulled Samantha off her school at Q-Dees because wanna prepare her for American curriculum, Alpha Omega Publications, AOP.

Her subjects include:

History and Geography
Language Arts
Bible
Mathematics
Science.

After school, when I come home, I spend time teaching her.

Her first ever Lifepac test was History and Geography and she got this score. 

 

 Yep, she got 100% for her first ever LIFEPAC Test.

Barking Up a Wrong Tree

Barking up a wrong tree

It is an idiomatic expression in English, which is used to suggest a mistaken emphasis in a specific context. The phrase is an allusion to the mistake made by dogs when they believe that have chased a prey up a tree, but the game may have escaped by leaping from one tree to another. The phrase means to mistake one's object, or to pursue the wrong course to obtain it.
In other words, "if you are barking up the wrong tree, it means that you have completely misunderstood something or are totally wrong." (source: wikipedia)

So yeah, girl... I think you're barking up a wrong tree. Beware. It can choke you up...

Transference

Transference, as coined by sigmund freud, is a phenomenon whereby we unconsciously transfer feelings and attitude from a person or situation in the past on to a person or situation in the present.

It is a redirection of feelings and desires and especially of those unconscously retained from childhood toward a new object.

Another definition of trransference is, it is a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences especially of childhood and the substitution of another person... For the original object of the repressed impulses.

Iktsuarpok

There comes a time in your life when you've become very complacent -no- hmmm... contented. Then something happens -like a strong urge to do something.

Then you start working on it and later find yourself in confusion.

Is that really what you want to do?

You think it is indeed God's will.

Then again, you feel you're being grilled.

Now you want to see the end point of everything.

You are waiting...

And you find yourself in a state of ... ikstuarpok.

An Inuit word that describes that feeling of anticipation that leads you to keep looking outside to see if anyone is coming.