RSG

now, since the end of m finals and the beginning of my temporary liberation wasn't a really big hoo ha...there's nothing much i have to say about it. most of my friends could barely open their eyelids halfway because they never slept the night before. i was the only one who had a good night sleep, without a care in the world. :)

overall, i think i nailed Consumer Behaviour, did alright in Administrative Management and Tourism Management, and screwed Organisational Behaviour. But as always, I am a 100% satisfied, as given another chance to go back in time and redo it, it would've turned out this way still. :) so yea...over and done with! no looking back!

on another note, for lack of a better blog topic, i brought my cousin and her friend to a gimrama meet last weekend. My coach couldn't make it so she appointed me as the make-shift team manager! haha...don't laugh, i was darn proud okay! It was a selection meet to select the 8 best girls for every grade in Selangor to take part in a national circuit.

going into the hall of someplace-near-Seri-Kembangan was like walking down memory lane. The air was intense as on every square feet of the floor was a gymnast trying time n time again to nail a certain move. Over at one corner of the carpet, there were the girls of the much heard of Russian coaches, and while watching them was always an eye opening experience, my heart always go out to them. Etched on their faces, as the contort their fragile yet strong little bodies, were pain and fear. Over another corner of the carpet will be those from "home". Acting as if they own the place (technically they do), they hog every space they can land their pointed feet on - a quality refered to as "diva quality". i walked past them, hearing as i pass, the all too familiar repeats of the most commonly said word in every gymnastic competition, "sorry". Because we fight for the limited space we are given on the practising carpet, our legs, arms and equipment never fail to fly into somebody else's leg, arm or equipment. i felt like i was one of them again.

Clockwise: anxious gmnasts waiting for their turn, my cousin Charmaine and friend Fang Qing Yi, two very adorable very talented little gymnasts...

Rhythmic Gymnastics was a major part of my life for 8 years. I started when i was 10. It started out as recreational but it become everything after i learned the meaning of competitions. Though I wasn't among the elites, I had a taste what it felt like to be one when my group was chosen to represent Selangor in 2000. As we underwent centralised training for 2 weeks with the other gymnasts, we went home everyday either limping on one foot, or slumped over due to back aches or just dragging our feet entirely drained off every ounce of strength we had left - only to come back the next day and start all over again.

Unlike our own coach, whining to the Selangor coach was taboo. Whining only meant more drills which consequently meant more pain. We trained hard those two weeks. Coming from a totally different training environment we did take some time to get used to it. But after a day or two, we bit back tears of anguish and just gave it our best shots. The reward? Ultimate poise and grace, intense precision in our every move, lean and toned bodies and limbs and everything else in a recipe to win.

All the hours of pain we went through brought us the gold medal at the MSSM 2000 in Johor. We were ecstatic and thrilled! We jumped and shouted and laughed as we called our own coach on the phone! It was the proudest moment of my life. Much to our dismay, not only was whining a taboo, so was celebrating. And as we lined up with our feet in 3rd position in front of the Selangor coach, still wearing our gold medals around our necks, we received a cold lecture from her. I remembered that night so well because we were sent to our dorms, where all 6 of us cried our hearts out, simultaneously. It seems kinda funny now when i think of it, since we were trained so hard to be synchronised.

The experience that i gained was one i would never exchange for the world. It not only taught me how hard one has to train to be a champion, it got me 5 very true and close friends. We went through so much together that we still remain close even now.

I went for MSSM again in 2003, but with a different group. There were only 3 of us from the former group. Instead of very painful training regimes, we had more relaxed ones. Instead of a shabby boarding school, we stayed in a fanc hotel with a swimming pool. But given any choice, i'd choose the former MSSM experience over this one anytime. Plus we only managed a silver this time.

Notice how many times the word "pain" was used in this post. Because that, to me, was what RSG (Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics) was a lot about. My lower back and right knee are injured because of it. But it is the same pain that i miss ever so much now. As i made my cousin and her friend practise their skills over and over again, i found myself wishing, deep in the pits of my heart, that i was in my best leotard and half shoes, my hair tight up neatly in a bun, my face dolled up generously with make-up and my veins pumping with adrenaline again. And, of course, with my 5 favourite RSGs around me.

Tomorrow shall be the next RSG reunion (now Retired Senior Gymnasts). I'm looking very much forward to it. It's a pity Yuh Huey won't be joining us this time. She's too busy living her fantasy-life-came-true...:)