Balance

I realise that I've been on quite a hiatus from blogging. Work has kicked in full swing and I'm just about ending the school term in about a few weeks time. So here I am again, back to this blog to work on an update on my climbing life since 2015 started.

Gravical 2015
This annual boulder competition fell in nicely during the first week of school. This was when trainings (for my netball players) were already in full swing at 4 times a week and I had the volleyball girls ending almost at 8pm on their seperate training days. I was trying to push in some good trainings on my own at Onsight and get my actual work of teaching PE into shape for this first half of the year.

Gravical this year was slightly different. The organisers called in the Queen of boulder: Akiyo Noguchi, to do some routesetting for us this time! In addition, they added in a round of semi-finals for the open climbers as well. Semi-finals was refreshing, as I got a taste of more (higher quantity) of Open Women styled routes and got a chance to really practise my competition form.

Photo credits to SMU Gravical 2015

On top of that, a couple us: Felicia, Gavin, Hazlee, Aaron Tan and I, had a chance to do a small segment called Faceoff, together with Akiyo. This faceoff involved tweaked Open Men routes that we got to climb, competing against each other in "pairs". The scores were tabulated in pairs with Hazlee and I emerging tops (beating Akiyo and Aaron, Gavin and Felicia) when Hazlee flashed both the Mens routes. Akiyo teared through the 2 routes with ease, and I'm proud to say I managed to finish one of them - a double dyno to a sloper. The routes were fun but the most important part was being able to climb with these strong people beside me. The atmosphere was pumped up and despite the endless tries on the routes, we cheered and helped each other to tackle those routes. I for once, got to tackle an Open Men route there and then.

Finals was almost a challenge, especially with the endless days of climbing, the intensity I had pushed myself in those climbs. My shoulders were aching and I made sure I recovered well enough - but my bones and muscles were already feeling it. I placed 2nd overall - a very tired by delightful ending to a long weekend. In addition to all the climbing, I had the chance to bring Akiyo around Singapore together with Hikari. :)

National Climbing Championships
Before I kick start into the beginnings of this NCC 2015, at this point in time, I was just trying to survive. Coaching was taking a physical and even more emotional toll on me as I try to keep my head above the turbulent seas. I had goals I wanted and expected of me, I had issues at work which I couldnt wrap my head around fast enough, and I had this sinking feeling that I wasnt training (for climbing) hard enough. I had set a target for myself to enter the World Cup Chongqing in June as it falls during my school holidays and is probably the only World Cup segment that I can join. I needed to just grab this opportunity and test myself. Balancing work and training is not easy when you turn up at the gym feeling so beaten and worn out, and there is only about 2 hours left before the gym closes. But looking back at these hectic weeks, somehow I have survived, so here I am.

Felicia was the lady who ran the whole event. Speed and boulder categories. I am proud to have her as my fellow competitor and friend. Words are not enough to describe the amount of effort and hardwork, sweat and tears she has put into NCC 2015 - all to create a start up a national team once again.

NCC was definitely a competition that I needed to join if I were to meet and go along with my goals for World Cup. With some training and change in beta, I managed to hit my PB for speed record at 11.91 secs although I ended up 2nd overall for the Open category (I had slipped and fall off during my first-second placing knockouts :p). But then I had to put all these aside and dive back into bouldering and movements to prepare for the boulder category the following week.

NCC-boulder had a round of semi-finals as well, similar to IFSC settings. I believe that the local competitions might be steering towards this method of qualifications to sieve out and really allow the best of the best to emerge victorious. For the Open Men category especially, it gives them a good chance to push themselves even more. Hiroshi Okana from Japan came over to set the routes for us. Standards were there for sure, with a variety of routes and styles. I truly enjoyed the routes. As mentioned, more routes, means more climbing and more experience for me, especially coming from a top route setters.

During the finals, I met with uncomfortable and unfamiliar holds, baffling sequences and had to really fight and push myself to get the top. I managed to steal the podium from my fellow competitors with less attempts to tops. Felicia placed on 2nd, Janet on 3rd. What a relief indeed. Truthfully, I had hoped for a bigger margin, but I cannot complain because I have not truly trained hardest to my fullest ability during this period. This win might be considered lucky. But luck aside, the results have gotten me a ticket into the national team not only for speed, but thankfully for boulder this time. This is what I yearn for the most at this current juncture. Furthermore, I had unknowingly managed to balance my work and climbing career for now. This I am extremely thankful for the ones who are beside me.


I will continue to seek a good balance and push on when things get tough and stressful. I have already begun training and building myself up physically once again - working towards my goal. My netball coaching season had ending prematurely, with slight disappointments at that, but its something that I gladly relinquish to focus on my climbing at this point in time. I have learned alot. This is my 4th failed season, and it does get demoralising at times. But things have to be done, and I would rather it be me, for I do care for these girls deeply. With this new failure, I have somehow gathered new insights and will look towards getting my team to become EVEN better than this year (oh, but do watch out for my slight complains on time and effort and the sheer stress and hopelessness towards coaching as 2016 looms in again - it is inevitable and a compulsory process that I go through every year without fail). My volleyball girls on the other hard are doing exceedingly well and are pushing on towards the finals for their national competition.