k actually, maybe, i'll just summarize the 5 days. LOL
first day.
we had a 'orientation' thing prepared by the coporate part of Singapore sports council (SSC), it was really boring coz it was like tailored for the new full timers, but somehow they got us to join in too.. we all almost fell asleep during that long long session. and it was a bad bad start.
afternoon got better, faizul intro-ed us to all the 5 aspects of sports science, physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, psychology, strength and conditioning. then he brought us around the place, saw lots of super cool equipment, and pity we didnt get to see the floatation tank, where athletes literally float in it, coz of the salt added to the water. and they watch videos or movies in that state, it's to let them relax and stuff.
then we sat down and had a lil chat with him, to ask him qn bout our own sports and etc. so thats bout it for the day.
2nd day.
2nd day was much cooler, i got to do a VO2 max test, that tests the fitness of athletes, it measures how much oxygen your body can use per minute. weiyang sprained ankle and jo had training, so i did it. had to take blood test before it to measure lactic level and stuff, super professional. so my reading was 43.9kg of air per min per kg. it's considered slightly above average only, gd athletes are like 50 plus to 60 plus. and lance armstrong the cyclist, he had like 80 plus, which was imba and also one of the reasons why he's so fit and always winning.
then apart from that, we did couple of blood tests too. and that afternoon, a sailor came for testing, bascically, they always get athletes sent by their coaches to come for testing to see if they're fit or what aspect they need to work on, so we tagged along and saw how they test athletes lo, so this guy, he's called, JOEL PANG, (LOL, AUNTIE!) from sports sch, and he's super strong. theres a test called the hand grip test, it's to test strength of your grip, and he got 50.0 watt. which is enough to damage a human's skull we heard. ...
wednesday.
we went to the mountbatten pool for aqua-rehab and joined in their program too. and to us, it felt more like training rather than a rehab session, coz the exercises were super strenuous and required a lot of strength, we had to like stepped on a float and moved with our arms, and then hold the float and move by 'running' literally in water. got cramps here and there, but i survived luh. and it was pretty interesting.
after lunch, it was psychology session. lol, bad bad timing, we were super drained from the morning and afternoon, we had to sit in an aircon room, with comfortable couches and listen to the psychologist talk. hahah! luckily, he was a teacher once and he was really easy going, got us to get coffee and tea and interacted more with us. but it was pretty interesting so it didnt feel lethargic at all. then he taught us some relaxation techniques and imagery. and then we asked him qn, on some issues in the psychology aspect where we needed help, like boosting confidence and stuff.
so day 4.
we saw realy cool stuff, it was biomechanics and they arranged special cameras, and it was to capture images of athletes and analyse their actions when doing some moves, like angle or smashing and stuff. all of us were pretty amazed by the technology and we even got to try it. they got us to smash and they captured it. and the guy davy, he is actually an engineer, but biomechanics do not require much bio knowledge, so thats y he's there.
and afternoon was nutrition. the really nice lady nutritionist got us in a room and spoke to us, and then did some urine test, with my urine. LOL, and a skinfold test, i'm almost fat-free luh. hahha. and she got us the stuff national athletes eat, the recovery food and all. we had a go at every food and she even gave us a whole box of granola bars. hahha! oh and a cook book too! it was super useful, coz she explained to us and told us what we shld eat and stuff for what purposes and some interesting experiences she've had. like ppl coming to her and wanting to lose 15 kg in 2 months. and how she almost killed an athlete coz she forgot bout that particular person's allergy. lol.
then after that, we saw davy still meddling with the cameras, trying to fix them properly to minimize the errors, so we helped him a lil too. by being models and do smashes for him to trial the cameras. hahah. and it's really physics luh. vectors, velocity and stuff.
last day.
we went down to toapayoh first thing in the morning to sit in for balestier khalsa football club's training. it was just a light one, to maintain their fitness so there wasnt anything much too. some of they were really slack and we laughed so much la. hahah. will nv forget the malay goalkeeper in blue long sleeves.
then we came back to SSC, faizul was away on workshop, so hongchoo, another lady who has worked there for 30 years debriefed us a lil. we did the feedback form and reflection, then wandered off to the gym to look at the sailing team training. then they started playing badminton with davy, aris(psychology) and one more guy, who's a strength and condition trainer. LOL, they had nth to do. were really slack la
oh and we saw the superreds player train a lil too, they were super gd. super reds a korean football club in s.league
so basically thats bout it, oh and we were super lucky, coz on 27th and 28th, davy is conducting a research on national shuttlers, to correct their actions and stuff, so he asked if we wanna be there to help. and of course we agreed, it was just so so cool.
these words might not mean much coz they really couldnt convey the same experience we felt and went thru these days. thanks to all those who helped us so much, faizul, hongchoo, daniel, joseph, aris, latiff, the nutritionist, davy, and the rest.
