raffles canoeing 0506

yearbook entry

for want of a change from the youtube videos that are innundating this place i decided to post some text for a change. some of u tt, specifically those tt asked for my 3 achievements for reference, have seen this before. its basically my 1st attempt at the one i was gonna write on canoeing. however i redid this when everyone started telling me it read like a yrbk entry and moreover it did not fit into that ghey 3rd person requirement. however i guess there could be another avenue for its existence; namely here. pls take note that its qt personal so if u dont agree with whats written it would be nice not to hit out on whatever it is too hard. thx.

Joining canoeing with no prior experience was quite literally a step out into deeper waters. Though a semifinals placing was the final reward for over a years expenditure of physical energy, mental strength, and time, the intangible benefits far outweighed what the final result might suggest.
RJ Canoeing could be summed up as a perpetual clash between idealism and reality. Rafflesians, used to being at the top, sometimes hold a smug, foolish belief that being from Raffles means deserving success. Coming in dead last against others who were simply better at the NJCC in April, with many other teammates achieving similar results, foreshadowed a poor showing at the Nationals. But waking up to that brought new epiphanies. Kayaking in this context meant learning that even in a loss, there could be victory in the knowledge that one had tried one's best. It illuminated how even after pouring in lavish amounts of effort, one might still not succeed, a minor revelation in a sense, and it also helped one learn to accept it. Stepping out of the comfort zone in this manner helped reveal what one could achieve through effort and rigour, even as it exposed what one could not.
Medal hopes degenerating to a race with a teammate for the last competing berth shattered a year long dream that the entire team could compete together. Having something at a friend's expense highlighted the callous nature of sports and life starkly. But team spirit and friendships, especially in facing adversity, was a valuable and heartwarming experience. Knowing we were ultimately a team, even if individually we faltered, collectively we could not better our team placing, and even if some might even have misunderstood us as having failed, was a paradoxically undesired yet enjoyable emotion.
Saying sports is not simply about winning suffices only on the most general level. The experiences derived from the time spent paddling at college remain fundamentally unique, and immeasurably valuable.

nb a picture aaron sent me v shortly after the finals. its not macritche, but its still pretty (:

posted by horse @ 11:43 PM