last night's feedback session turned out more intense than i had imagined. numerous points were raised and debated over. i guess why everyone had different views was simply cos everyone joined the team for different reasons. some join to excel and win, some cos they enjoy the sport, others to have fun, some think it's cool...the list goes on. it's tough to satisfy everyone when there's no common intention. but at the end of the day, regardless of whatever reasons we're in the team, the fact is we're a competitive varsity team and the school's intention for us is to excel and win. they wouldn't care less if we had a great time so long as we brought home the medals and trophies. since they are the one providing us with our source of funding, we probably should respect and comply with their intentions.

as defined by jensen, training is the systematic abuse of one's body with a goal in mind. he made it very clear what he was in the team for, what he wanted to achieve and what he will not tolerate. and it's with this very competitive nature that i can relate to him. not surprisingly he took a lot of flak from a particular few. he may not be the captain, neither part of the exco and even only a year two. but to be fair, what he said albeit harsh, made a lot of sense. people often judge and rebuke base on sentiments rather than logic of argument.

it's time we let fun take the backseat and unadulterated, regimented, hard training be priority. training in my opinion was never meant to be fun. it's suppose to be brutal. years back during JC trainings, we trained till we puked, till our legs no longer supported us, till we completely expended ourselves. then we called it a day, knowing that our training will have full effect on our performance. no less should be expected from us now. mental/physical pain, fatigue, exhaustion, cramps, sores, bruises, aches...these are all temporal. those who complain they can't do it anymore, that it's impossible, without pushing themselves cannot expect to excel. let your body tell you when to stop, not your mind. people may think this is over-doing it. but truth is, this is normal. doing anything less would be subpar training. you might as well be in the recreation team.

as paradoxical as this may sound, training can be fun but is not fun. training in itself is not fun; fun is a by-product of team dynamics. having said that, training is not unenjoyable. seeing improvement and winning competitions is probably the most enjoyable and satisfying outcome of training. i believe i'm not speaking for myself when i say i wanna get good and i wanna get good fast. i do not like it when people who are better drift further away and people who are weaker close in on me. you can say i'm competitive but you cannot fault me cos i'm right where i belong, in a competitive team. but are you in the right place?

now, if only i'm just as competitive in my studies. i'm not an all-rounded competitive person. those who know me well can testify that i don't normally bother with things that don't interest me. you can thrash me and i'd most probably just laugh it off. there's nothing wrong with losing, only not trying. besides, every man has to lose at some point of his life - to his wife/girlfriend. there's no winning them, they're monsters.

just a side-thought, did God create adam with a sense of competitiveness or did it only come about after the fall of man?