Fury

Today's the 1st time I chased a student away from my training. I've been a very tolerent coach. I understand why students play a fool sometimes. I understand the need for students to want to have fun during training. I understand why students don't like physical training. I can even understand why some students like to keep irritating me during training.

There are only 2 things I personally can never tolerate from my students. Firstly is not showing effort during training. Secondly is showing me attitude during training. I chased the boy away not so much of the 1st reason but more of the second.

Come to think of it, isn't it retribution? I dare to say I always put in my best during volleyball trainings, at least in my secondary school days. But I definitely was not the model student when it comes to anger management. My ex teammates were still chatting with me about how I manage to get angry with almost everyone and throw almost anything around. U won't want to know how.

But I believe I'm not wrong in chasing the boy away. If he is not in the correct mentality for training then there's no reason in me wasting time in training him. If he decides to come back and apologise, I'll treat it as nothing has happened.

No player is bigger than the team.

Making myself a better coach

Here are the things I decided to/ trying to/ hoping to/ already/ wishing to implement in my volleyball trainings. Don't expect all to be implemented though... Somethings don't work the way that studies show.

- Gamelike training: The best practices involves serve, receive, set, spike, block, receive, set, spike blah blah blah. Introduce drills that involves them doing what they'll be doing in the game.

- Teach and reward cooperation, character and effort: A player who's a team player, have a positive character and puts in his best effort for every training and games cannot be a bad person out of the court. Volleyball trainings are not meant to train the player to only be a better player but also a better man.

- Show rather than tell: Human beings learn mainly through imitaion and practice rather than through listening or reading. Don't expect them to understand half of what you are saying every training, so keep the lecturing short.

- Give postive, precise and specific feedback: Tell them what they are doing right and tell them how they can improve on it instead of telling them what mistakes they made. Tell the players what exactly they've done to deserve praise. Not just saying general feedback like "good ball". That doesn't improve the player in anyway other than his morale.

- Change the scoring to emphasize on certain important or lacking skills: Make an ace count double. Or a serve into the net be penalised double. There are many many more variations to this. The players will pay more attention to those particular skills being emphasized on.

- Postive errors: Let the players understand some mistakes are better than other mistakes. Eg. a serve over and out is better than a serve into the net.

- Player initiated drills over coach initiated drills: Let the players take over the spiking or serving from the coach during drills, they are the ones who will be playing in the competitions.

- More touches: Make every minute of training time count. Let the intensity of training increase. Allow every player to get more touches during each training.

- Ask questions: Don't tell them what they are doing wrong, ask them. And ask the whole team as a whole so everyone thinks over the mistake or question.

- Be consistent: Houserules must be set and followed. The coach also must set a good example himself and let the players know what is expected of them every training.

- Back to the wall: Talk to the players and let them focus their attention to you only. The direction the students are looking towards should not have any distraction, ie sun, girls?

Thats about all I can gather for now. Note that I did noe specify that those points are for volleyball coaches only, volleyball is only used as an example on how to apply those points. In fact I find the information useful for other sports as well.

Special thanks to the following: 1. John Kessel, for conducting the clinic and give us pointers for "making volleyball fun for young players and coaches". 2. Weisheng, for organising some pointers and briefing me on the points after he went through his NCAP 2 technical course. 3 (Most importantly). James, for spending the time and effort looking though all the notes he have in hand, digesting it, adding other stuff thats around in his brain and finally typing it out here.

Something low

Evening
SMS
Snr's father
Passed away.

Sunday
Father's day.

Remorse
Regret
Never.

Dare of the day 160605

This is something new i thought of... Dare of the day... haha... e light bulb juz popped up when i was thinking how to write this entry lorz... so maybe I'll come up with other dares nxt time... but for today...

Dare of the day: Try not using ur master hand's thumb for the day, or better still, try not using both thumbs. See how it affects the way u normally execute ur most basic daily routine.

Some of the things u will find very inconvenient, or at least i found. Opening a lock, brushing ur teeth, eating (that includes eating by hand or using utensils), smsing (this is e most irritating part of not using my thumb), holding ur mouse, writing n etc etc...

Try it k? Thank god my sore thumb is recovering...

Making Volleyball Fun For Young Players and Coaches

Spent my whole day on this clinic today. Here are some important lessons i gathered today. Try learning some of this... u won't know when U'll find it useful. As usual, not in any particular order.

- Don't sign up for anything without checking who are the participants. Although the targetted participants was originally meant to be coaches/ volleyball teachers IC, what i saw was all teachers, some not even having vball as a sport in their sch. Luckily i drag LJ along to accompany me.

- Don't approach any1 u think u noe but no very sure of who he is or how u met him. Ok actually i did apply this lesson initially, at 1st we saw a female teacher who we found very familiar, but didn't really get to talk to her so didn't bother. But there's this other guy who i found very familiar, n we actually ended up playing together at 1 pt of time. Den my curiosity got the betta of me as i told him i found him familiar. But it doesn't make sense (at least not at 1st anyway) that i'll noe some1 frm NYJC 1980 batch. Luckily after playing I began to rem that he was my teammate when i played OPENS in 2000, 5 yrs back... So can't really blame me for not remembering at 1st.

- Do try to be friendly to those who u are supposed to know but don't remember their names. Saw this teacher who attended the ncap 1 with me, and later saw him again at another clinic plus the youth cup that yr. Den saw him again when he was at my camp for reservist, which i had a chat with him. Today saw him again, but i still dunno his name. Haha... but we did have a talk. Anyway saw another teammate frm the same team as the guy frm the previous pt, at least this guy i noe his name.

- Do not be show that u r smart (hey... i happen to use my brains that works sometimes also k...). At one pt, the instructor just gave us some requirements and wanted us to figure out the drill ourselves. As a experienced player cum not-really-that-experienced-but-still-got-abit-of-experience-coach, it took me abt maybe 10 sec to come up with an idea which we tested and confirmed its correct. Den the more-experienced-than-the-whole-hall-add-together instructor got us to demo for the rest of the pple. I like to keep a low profile u noe... but this lesson links on to the next.

- Do not do stupid things like trying to flick a volleyball up with a single thumb. I tried, in a moment of folly (hey... I happen to not use my brains sometimes also k...), and now my sore thumb is sticking out like a sore thumb. (Hmm... Pls do not let any english teacher see this k? What kind of sentence is this?) And this lesson links on to the next still...

- Do not do stupid things like trying to spike when u are already having a sore thumb: U get a sorer thumb. Obvious enough... (I think my sore thumb is directly connected to my brain and esp the part controlling my english)

- Direct bashing only works when u are in the army. From the online map i thought its quite easy to go to the sch, juz striaght up north of the MRT station. When i alighted at the MRT station, I discovered that the bashing route is blocked by a row of fenced up buildings. At least u have the additional option of a taxi when u r not in the army i guess...

- Do show up for class outings more often. I saw a ex JC clsmate when I was transferring train. I shall not mention her name but let's just mention that she is darker than me? (oops... :p) The 1st thing she saw me was "wei", my reply was "halo... Don't i have a name or something?" N her reply was "halo..." Den she mention something very fast which i couldn't catch as it was too noisy and she left hastily. When did my name become wei or halo?

- Bring a spare tshirt if there's any chance U will get all sweaty. I didn't and i had to wear my damp shirt squeezing the MRT. I pity the pple who was standing around me.

- Gd sch does not mean that their canteen vendors cater gd food. Moses mentioned in front of every1 something like this "Our lunch is catered frm A**I canteen, so should not be too bad" This sentence does not make any sense to me when i heard it (do i need to mention i was frm chinese high?), after i started eating it, it made even worse sense. After my NSF life, I am now an experienced packed-food-eater, and I'm generally very very very... very ok with most food. I guess I don't have to explain much further...

- Warm up properly before U engage in any physical activity. I'm supposed to know this, and I do always enforce my troopers/ students to do it. But I didn't really bother today and now my whole body is aching...

- Learn what U r supposed to learn. I'm not making sense here... Y did I come up with all those lessons learnt above when its a volleyball clinic? To know why, finish reading this post.

- Don't procrastinate. In order to understand this pt... read below...

Ps: Actually I wanted to organise the notes i copied during the clinic and post it here, so I can have another look and hopefully find new insights to incorporate into my style of coaching. But I felt sleepy after dinner so decided to just post this entry instead. Maybe tommorrow then I'll do it k?

1st 10 civilian days

Spent the 10 days back as a civilian, with my pink IC back inside the same wallet which i last seen in it 2 yrs ago. So what have I been doing? Nothing really interesting I guess... Here's the more notable stuff (actually not really that notable also) not in any particular order though...

- Watched Mr n Mrs Smith. How can anyone not watch a movie that comprises of the 2 most sexiest male and female megastars in the planet? ok its abit exaggerating... But the quality of the show is actually betta than what i initially anticipated. Its gd k?

- Staying at home and being bothered by the construction workers upgrading works at the carpark downstairs. This i must mention I'm very impressed with their work attitude... I dunno when they start work in the morning, coz either i wake up before that n leave house or I'm woken up by them. Den they will work until at least 630pm everyday without fail, with only a short lunch break for me to enjoy a half an hr cartoon in peace or a even shorter tea break at 3pm plus. Its not enjoyable when u need to shout to ur family members in order for them to hear u. N yah... I have to mention this... I live in 3rd storey. N the more impressive part... they work on sat as well... My bro who wasn't in the whole wk fled my house on sat morning before i even wake up to the noise. Dunno how long they worked on Sat though... I fled after lunch. Let's make all work, regardless government or private, 5 day work wk can? Pls...

- Coaching. Thats the most enjoyable activity of them all... At least its work. I get to earn money. Other than that its back to the same rountine task of trying to get the players to execute the correct techniques and getting them to "enjoy" training. U won't be able to train hard if u don't like trainings. Whether I'm suceeding I dunno, at least not yet. Anyway I've been running home frm Marsiling Mrt for the past 2 trainings. Abt 2km. Saves abit of bus fare? haha... and its faster than taking bus also.

- Watching a lot of TV shows. On a typical wkday my tv schdule has been something like this : 1130 Xmen, 1200 justice league, 1230 sabrina (all cartoons). 1700 entertainment news on channel U, 1600-2330 all channel 8. 2330 onwards back to channel U. Wkends my tv almost juz on for whole day watching watever thats on, switching betw channel 8/ U/ kids central. Sometimes also will have channel 5, mostly only for wrestling shows. When one's free, whats betta than watching TV? More often than not, u can get insights on certain stuff from the most irrelevant sources.

- Met up with some frens. Pri sch: Accompanied CW to dye his hair, he looks like a chao ah beng with his current hair colour. Sec sch: Met up with Jq, Gt, Lj for dinner n mahjong at Lj's hse. Won a pathetic $4 which not even enuff for me to cover my transport fees and dinner, but at least betta than losing money ritez? JC: Met Wl for pool n movie. Last day before he go for "attachment" to his "boss" who's back for 3 wks.

Boring boring... i still got 1 mth plus to go...

Not happy?

Try doing either 1/ some/ all of the following if u r not feeling happy. Pls be noted that I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages to properties in execution of the following.

1. Get urself a mirror and look at urself in it. Smile to it and look at e person smiling to u in e mirror. E smile looks gd ritez? Don't let it go missing frm ur face k?

2. Take a deep breadth... start counting slowly to ten. By the count of ten tell urself any unhappiness u r feeling at that point of time is not worth it.

3. Go for a run and make sure u dont stop until u are really tired out. Go for a bath and u will be all ready to start solving any problems facing u.

4. Think of the time when u faced a worse scenario and overcome it. Or think of ur fren's experience that he/she told u before. For example, losing a volleyball match 25-2, 25-1. Den tell urself, nothing can be worse than that ritez?

5. Get some sleep!

6. Talk to a fren. He/she may not be able to help u with ur problems, but at least he/she will be able to provide some words of encouragement.

7. Write down how u feel on a piece of paper. When u r done, keep it but don't read it again.

Ok... 7 suggestions for 7 days in a week. But i guess u won't need it everyday ritez?

ORD!!!

Yes i finally ORD yest. Wanted to update yest but didn't had enuff time, coz wanted to go for a long entry today. Went back to camp damn damn early yest, juz to watch e guys run soc. Last training for me to able to get involved in, so juz help out abit lorz. Knew it'll be quite cock up rite frm e start when i arrived n walked past e armskot at 720 n armskote not even open yet. Den changed n went back to office seeing Eddy still there wif e medics n our pc not even reach camp yet. Winner. When he finally came i helped him settle e number tags, n later fetch e medic who he didnt pick up on his way to e soc ground. In e end nobody passed, but as normal i was at e final stretch shouting at e guys n encouraging them to finish it fast. Yeah... n that's my last work as a NSF 3SG.

Decide to have a short recap on wat i did for my NSF life...

4 Apr 2003: Enlisted into BMTC sch 1 G Coy platoon 3. PS was later found out to be my hc cls grand snr, n role model for me as a spec. Had my 1st twisted ankle in my life during 1 soc training, caused me to miss my sit test n had to be attached to F coy for sit test. It was den i told e tester i wanted to be a spec, coz i like that field. (n i guess that came true) My grandfather passed away juz a few days before my pop and 24 km road march. Went to walk my 24km str after rushing back frm e funeral held in JB, n barely survived. (never go for a route march without enuff sleep n water)

Jun 2003: Got into sispec E coy for bslc. I did enjoy myself there, field field n more outfields. But nobody felt we were wasting time or wat. My sect was e slackest sect i ever met in my life. I had a very tiring ex during which i had to be involved in all e acttivites when e other guys rotated, my sect happened to have very few guys n i was like e only avaliable "fit" guy to work. Was selected for interview for armour sct, during which i told e interviewer i didnt mind e vocation, n i wasnt very fit.

Aug 2003: Posted to ATW. 1st day was trauma... wash bunk, carry furniture. Den more cleaning followed in e following wks... washing of corridors... toilets... even cleared a toilet choke. Had sort of prep training by poh until dec RCC. Wasn't a very pleasant experience, it was very very tiring. But at least had e experience of being on course with other units, like ADF n commandos. Learn quite some stuff frm e ADF guys. Nearly failed course during final mission, thankz to 1 idiot. So at e end of course had quite a bad ranking.

Jan 2004: Promoted to 3SG. Took e troopers for prep course for ASPC. I nearly got myself into a lot of trouble wif all e things i did to them. I can safely say that i was e most hated sgt den. N had a few lect/counsel sessions by poh n maj sing den. But i still didnt really care as i whack them throughly to prepare them for ASPC. N i think i shld be given some credit for them able to get thru ASPC so smoothly?

Apr 2004: Went for ASPC. I was an Auxillary instructor at e start. But took over T07 halfway thru e cse as team commander thanks to john ooc. Ended e Cse winning e "best tactical team". But come to think of it, maybe i shld not have forced my men too much den. 1 guy came back downgraded, e other had status for long long time before temp downgrade. Me n my dy den practically drag them thru e final mission phase.

Jun 2004: Back to unit life. Involved in serveral range package. Some courses like artillary forward observer course and combat casualty aid course. Was still team commander T07, cum had experience in serveral ex as section 2ic, sect comd and even Veh comd. Very versatile but useless. Most memorable experience being VC when my comms with my driver not working, so had to direct him using guiding rod n alot of shouting, while sitting on top of e cupola (which is wrong!!!) to ensure e driver knows wat i wan. N there was e army open hse as well, when i was in charge of all e b veh n support staff. My phone bill rocketed den as i had to call alot to contact like e whole world. N of coz e stupid field pack project which i spent e last mths in army actively doing. N not forgetting e inter formation i played... 1st time in my life losing 25-2, 25-1. Thankz.

Jun 3 2005: ORD

Looking at wat i typed. Guess i didnt really have a very eventful NSF term. But whats missing frm this account is all e minor minor stories which i probably can't possibly write all down. N all e interaction/clashes with all e different rank pple i meet in army.

I been telling some frens, I dont regret my 2 yrs spent. I think its a fruitful experience.

Jobs

2 more days i'm officially out of my NSF life. Actually many pple were asking me y i didnt sign on. Haha... I was just doing what i felt was required of me all the while this 2 yrs plus. But to be frank i quite enjoyed this yrs. Let's put it this way... where do u find a job that u can get to scold pple all u wan and not expect them to retaliate? Haha... those who know will know that its actually quite enjoyable one lorz... ok... i know this sounds quite bad... but you wont be able to find many jobs that let u scold all u wan... N i found another straight away before i'm even out of army...haha

E other 1... Coaching!!! To be frank, I can be a very sadist coach. Here and there i can just whack the guys. And scold them when they do things wrong or when i see not happy. One of my students now even commented that he see me during first few trainings like quiet quiet nice nice like that... haha... start conduct trainings alone den juz whack liaoz....

Any other jobs to recommend that allows scolding?