hey girls (:
it has been my pleasure to be able to row w the snrs for SDBF. so here i am, ready to share my experience w all of you. well, i rowed in the semis and finals. before the semis, joy asked all the jnrs in the boat (cheryl, nat, cherry, me) and gave us a mental talk w the rest of the snrs. she told us to use that race to show mr yong our desire, and use our HEARTs to row that race, for all our fellow jnrs and mr yong. then she started saying how sorry she is that the snrs din manage to teach us all the racing techniques and values and all, which made all of us break down. she also said smth which i felt was very true- that we din have only 10 girls in that boat, but another 60 more pple in it (which means our whole team) and we therefore, should be 6times stronger than the rest. ((: i think we were quite prepared for the race and we went down and FOUGHT. yupps.
then it was the finals at 4.15pm. this time round, before the race, joy talked to the snr girls and me and suling. the snr girls are really frank towards one another, and i guess thats the reason why they are that close as a team. they told one another how much they din like the other party when they were jnrs. and they reflected on the past DB races they had during their short 1.5 years in nj. it was really nice to know how all the 9 of them have gone thru those gruelling days TOGETHER. after the talk we went for warm up and stuff. i think in the end the race only started at around 5pm because the whole world had to wait for the PM to arrive. and my poor team had to run around the reservoir as they waited for our finals to commence.
fast forward-- the horn sounded and we charged right from the start. the (3,7 then up 20) starts was different from the semis. i could feel the ten of us doing the strokes as one. one heart one soul one goal. all we wanted to do was to WIN for all of you who were running and waiting for us, who believed in us right from the start. we love you all and thats why we rowed for you all, and for mr yong, mr nasiman and all the other teachers. we long pulled, harded many 10s and last charged. we crossed the line w a timing of 4.31.83. we came out of the boat and all the snrs broke down. that was their last DB race together. no more. it was heart-wrenching to see all of them tear and cry so badly. suling and i cried with them. it was jus so teamy. i love all our snrs.
i really wish that all those jnrs who have raced with snrs in all the different DB races, will share their precious experiences with the rest of the jnrs. that feeling of being fighters, and team spirit. i want us to have that feeling too, in our next DB race together. i know we can have it, as long as we believe in the same thing. and move towards it with one heart and one spirit. yes we can. BELIEVE. FAITH. HEART.
ohh i forgot! right after the race, the whole team ran 5km. i din realised we ran so much until i saw how big one round was in bedok reservoir. it was omgggggggg so long. then it was prize presentation and debrief. nothing much alr. (:
heart and soul <3
-sze