Coaching Fundamentals: Creating a Common Purpose

I find coaches in Singapore are excellent examples of the sport in their own right. They are technically proficient in their sport, possess technically sound fundamentals in the strategies employed in the sports that they have played in for years and create good platforms for the those who are willing to learn the sport that they so enjoyed in their years in the sport.

However, I believe fundamentally, we as coaches find some difficulty expressing the desire for the teams we coach to excel by creating a common purpose for individuals who come from many different backgrounds and experiences. I personally found this a challenge because each person in the team has their own motives and reasons as to why they join the sport of their choosing. I hope to share in this post how I have personally gone into framing the minds of my teams to create a shared purpose for them to paddle not just for themselves but for the good of the team.

1) Objectives / Goals
I think it can be clearer to the team if the objectives of joining the team can be expressed right from the start. Many coaches fail to see this as an important point to unite the team in the shared purpose of pursuing their goals. Whether be it finishing the race together even if they come in last, or racing till their lungs burst, the objective has to met out to the team to set the expectations for the team.

2) Expectations
Although used interchangeably with the word "objective", I believe the word expectations has a more roundedness in its use, especially when used in the long term. The team has to understand how their expectations of themselves has to match the objectives of the team and how they are to be accountable for their own improvement. I have personally set the bar high for my teams to expect the best of themselves in any of the training sessions they are to execute because only then will they be able to race easy. As they say, train hard, race easy.

3) Clarity
It is only with clarity of what the team wants that will fully embody the purpose of the team's existence. If the leadership in the team becomes clear with the above two points, the team will set a higher standard for themselves in achieving the goals set for them. The reasons and purpose for them to come to training will become stronger as they see a clear direction in the path the team is taking.

I think the challenge in coaching young teams has definitely giving due time to make sure that the above 3 points are constantly being imbued into each training session. Setting goals, expectations and giving clear directions in the actions they take in each training session gives them a strong purpose in achieving success in such a dynamic environment where many individuals may have different opinions and establish their own set of expectations. I hope that I may have done better in this aspect, because I know there is only so little in terms of fundamentals that I can coach, for the better part of the team's success is getting them to paddle with one heart, one mind and one soul.

Race Strategy Training

Many would agree in the racing world how important race strategy training is for the athletes' as a way to focus themselves toward specifically training for a race. As far as my limited experience as a coach has been, I have seen for myself how well race specific strategies improve my paddlers on many different aspects of the sport. In this article, I would very much like to share the 5 learning points that I have picked up from using race strategy training.

1) Focus and direction
It seems that on my previous occasions on races before I used this technique, my paddlers would find having an ambigious plan that resulted in me changing the game play at the very last moment very unnerving and disorientating. I learnt alternatively to focus on a very specific game plan that they would be very confident of executing based on their strengths and would give them a very specific direction in how my training would be performed prior to the weeks leading up to the race.

2) Confidence

I have seen how my paddlers became more confident in executing their strokes when they can actually count the number of strokes that they would have to execute at every part of the race. Giving them the exact layout of a race gives them the confidence they need to achieve the targets and it spreads really quick when their execution is exactly (or close to) what they practiced.

3) Increased performance

With increased confidence in their race plan, it is easily observable that their performance increases by more than what they expected. Expectations increase after every race, as the team take advantage of the increased performance from each race.

4) Better synchronicity

As opposed to being very haphazard in their previous races when they were given an ambigious race plan which changes from race to race, it gave the paddlers much attention to making sure that they were all in sync when they have practiced this by counting verbally what they would have practiced and executed this in the race.

5) Reduced complexity in communicating post race debriefs

In contrast to the vagueness of previous debriefs where debriefs are general in nature, specificity gives them much better control in communicating improvements between team members, relating constructive feedback to team members and providing very specific details on race portions (i.e. starts, body or finishes) that they can improve on. It creates a very solid platform for communicating simple tweaks to improve the different parts of the race without confusing the team on too much technicality.

Singapore River Regatta 2013: Post Race Reflections

With the Singapore River Regatta 2013 behind me, I have seen all my teams earn credible results in their outings in their respective categories..

Team MSF finished their race beating their previous timings in trainings.. They fought incredibly hard against their much more experienced opponents and I could see it in their eyes that wanted to do better out on their next outing. I admire their courage for taking up the sport and I can see much more potential in them with more to come:)

Team NUS managed to go into the tertiary finals only missing out on a podium spot by mere seconds. Their juniors went in fighting for a spot in the semi-finals of the mens open also missing out by mere split seconds. I only can say that it is only really the beginning of more exciting things come March when they battle it out again with their rivals in their Tertiary Category. It will take time and effort to reach the possible goals that they are going to achieve. It is going to be an excellent season ahead!

And finally, I ended the weekend with a truly deserved second place finishing with Team OneStroke in the PA GRO finals.

The runners up, all smiles!

More of the winning team!

That race was truly a nail biting finish as they were behind for most of the race until the final 25 meters where they edged out the other 2 competitors to finish a close second merely 0.2 seconds behind their rivals.

The race was purely exhilarating even from shore; when we only managed to inch past almost everyone only in the final few meters of the race.

What made that second place finish more delightful was that for many of these paddlers, they have been awaiting a Regatta medal for many years; for a few as long as 5 years and for one, an excruciatingly long 7 years.. I was not only happy for the results but the true happiness it brings to the entire team for them to experience a new level of greatness that they have ever rarely felt before.

It all started from believing in the will to win, regardless of their circumstances and ability because it is all this team truly needed at the start.

The management team with me, Edwin, our team manager and Jojo our captain. 

I have still to learn alot more of this fine art of dragon boat, a classic sport that truly entails all manner of beauty, grace, aggression and skill all combined into one majestic performance on race day.

Time for me to reflect back on my learnings and learn more to share with the world this art and science of dragon boat paddling. Till my next post..

Yours Truly,
The Original Paddlegeek

SINGAPORE RIVER REGATTA 2013: 3 TEAMS, 3 HOPES, 1 MEMORABLE SEASON...

As the race season draws to a close this coming weekend, it is a time of reflection for the things that have happened in the past year. The Singapore River Regaatta 2013 will be the first time in my life, I have taken on as a coach for 3 teams that will be racing both for glory and for one team, the first time they will race in such an event for the first time. It has been such a fulfilling experience coaching these teams and it will most definitely bring me to tears seeing these men and women paddle in a race under my guidance. It seems like I have never expected to have seen myself grow so much more from coaching just as I was when I was a paddler amongst a crew of 22. 

TEAMONESTROKE
Team OneStroke (aka Kaki Bukit CSC) gave birth to my first attempt at coaching and I have defnitely learnt alot from learning how a corporate team would handle my expectations and goals. It was an unusual experience for me knowing how I have been only competing in the past to take up a team that has unusual challenges. Many of these challenges are not new. Attendances, motivation levels, poor training performances and new paddlers coming in halfway through the season. Yet, it seems I have gained an understanding of how to face these issues head on and not allow them to get to my emotions. Somehow, somewhere there was this bit of faith that I had to pursue this challenge of making them a great team regardless of how things turned out and I have seen them grow through my tutelage. Many of the paddlers have begun to see a sense of pride paddling for the team and the bond has grown with each passing training. They begun to understand many facets of paddling in a dragon boat that they may not have learnt before which helps in their performance and seen improvements at a much more efficient pace. Fitness levels have significantly improved and time trial timings have been surprisingly impressive. Going up against their rivals in their category, I only can hope for the best that they can see all this training come to fruition and see the results in their upcoming race. These men and women deserve my salute for taking time off on their weekends to see through training sessions despite family commitments, studies and even time away from their children. 

MINISTRY OF SOCIAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT (MSF)
The year progressed with a small surprise where I took on coaching a team from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (aka MSF). This team is made up of a small band of colleagues, young and old, men and women who would like to take on a new challenge of paddling in a dragon boat team. It started off as a monthly affair, a get together session to build their fitness and  learning the basics of paddling but it slowly turned into a weekly Saturday morning session where they saw themselves grow together as a team and training towards a race. What makes this team so special is that they treat each other like family and they keep in touch to make sure there will always be enough to paddle a 12 men crew. Attendances started from 7 to 14 in the final weeks towards the races, which makes me even happier to see them grow as a team and from learning how to paddle together to learning race sets that I would teach to a typical competitive team. Performances are never the key driver but the relationships that drive their success as a team. They started from almost strangers to friends who would be there for that Saturday to have breakfast together before they start training. It will be a fantastic feeling to see them race. A feeling to have been involved in building up a team of nobodys to a team that will see themselves pit against the best in their category. My heart will light up seeing this team finish the race. I hope I would be able to continue coaching them. All the best to MSF!

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (NUS) The year was coming to an end when yet another surprise caught me off guard. My alma mater took the opportunity to engage me when they realised they were stuck without a coach and they needed someone they could trust. I was initially hesitant knowing how little experience I had with coaching yet I knew I wanted to take them on to test out everything that I tried out on the above mentioned teams. It was almost a dream come true finally knowing that I could see my growth as a coach be tested out on a highly competitive team that would be able to see through plans that I had set out a year ago when i started coaching. This team has its challenges; stuck between school and team, many of them make the choice of pursuing a sport that would require hours, days, weeks, months to achieve the biggest prize of them all next July; the prime minister's cup. I had to be extremely clear with my instructions to get them to perform to my expectations and there is an uphill task trying to hold this team together long enough to see through their goals. I have more to expect of myself and I know its a tough job. Its only been a month since I took up this team so it would be too early to expect too much of them. They know they have to do well for their own sake. I wish them all the best and I would take no credit for their success in this upcoming race. The captains and team manager have worked well together and it will be soon when they will soar to greater heights. 

I must honestly say I have been truly blessed to have been given the chance to pursue a passion, a passion that I have lived through almost 10 years of my life to finally reach the stage where I can teach, coach and pass down values I believe create success in teams. The satisfaction of seeing these 3 teams just race under my coaching will be something I treasure for a long time to come. Thank god for everything. Thank you for the fantastic year, OneStroke, MSF and NUS:)

Goals: How to Stay Focused When You Get Bored of your Sport

Having been a student athlete for the past decade plus of my life, I have had constant goals and dreams which i have always wanted to achieve in the course of my athletic pursuits. However, as many of you would have encountered, it can be difficult to stick to these goals. Every step of the way, I would hear of an athlete who comes in with lots of enthusiasm in the sport, seems to possess all the talents necessary of the sport; fit, athletic, extremely well built and runs like a bull on the track. Traits many might imagine may be perfect like a sport like dragon boat.
But as the drudgery of school, relationships and family commitments move along in their tertiary life, they fall out of the sport in pursuit of things that matter more. 

Photo by Getty Images

Featured Team of the Month: OneWest Dragon Zone Canada

As part of my exclusive takes on Dragon boat teams around the world, I will just do a simple feature on dragon boat teams in the world for my readers to really think about what it takes to be a phenomenon in the dragon boat world. As this is my first post on a feature and without  much information from the team themselves (I'm sure they prefer to keep their training secret), I shall have to just base on facts that I have picked up on videos and the type of training methods they employ to achieve the level of success they have today. 

ONE WEST Dragon Zone (Canada)

This team was initially built from a backbone of under 23 paddlers who have come from all sorts of backgrounds in Vancouver Canada. they are a competitive team based out of Dragon Zone Paddling Club in Vancouver. Only in their 3rd season, they have climbed the dragon boat ranks to become of the most prolific dragon boat teams in Canada.For those who have trouble figuring out where Vancouver is, the google map screenshot will give you a really good idea. 

Courtesy of Google Maps

Accomplishments  (from their FB page) 

2013:

- Gold, Division A (FCRCC Spring Knockout)
- Gold, Division A (Dragon Zone 500m Regatta)

2012:
- Gold, Premier Open (Canadian National Championships, Montreal)
- Silver, Premier Mixed (Canadian National Championships, Montreal)
- Gold, Competitive A (Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival)
- Gold, Division A (Harrison Dragon Boat Regatta)
- Gold, Division A (FCRCC Spring Knockout)
- Gold, Division A (Deep Cove Dash)

2011:
- Gold, Comp A/Open/Women/Visitor's Cup (San Francisco International Dragon Boat Festival)
- Gold, U23 Division (IDBF World Championships in Tampa Bay)
- Silver, Competitive A (Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival)
- Gold, Division A (FCRCC Spring Regatta)
- Silver, Division A (Deep Cove Dash)

At the Rinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival

Sunny acting weird.. I think its a Korean thing

Club Crew World Championships 2014
Anyway, it has come to my attention recently that they have just recently qualified for a place in the upcoming Club Crew World Championships aka CCWC in Ravenna on the east coast of Italy. Of course, there are definitely better teams with better timings with the likes of Slip and Ares. But this bunch of people I felt were very special because of the uniqueness of the crew and ultimately most of them being Asians. A friend of mine, Sunny who was involved in dragon boat when he was on exchange in Singapore, ultimately moved on to paddle for this team when he went back to Canada. It was really a good feeling to see how we have contributed to his achievements in the sport. 


The CCWC will definitely be an exciting race to watch in such an exotic location (at least exotic enough to Asians anyway). FYI Ravenna is about a 2 hour bus ride away from Florence which is where you can find all the romance you can get apart from Rome. Congratulations again to Team ONEWEST for their achievements. The following are the race timings they achieved over at the Canadian National Championships where they pitted themselves among the best in Canada. 

Premier mixed A Final

Premier opens A Final

Time Trials in OC1 with a Dragon boat paddle

Sunny racing his heart out in his OC1

Having clocked a 2:02.35 min for a mixed team is indeed a feat many would admire because few teams can ever reach these timings as far as they have been training. Of course, there may be many other factors that have favoured them to get these remarkable timings as a club team which in Singapore only achievable by the tertiary teams. Indeed, the use of champion boats in local races in Canada has allowed paddlers to fully maximise efforts in training as they are able to race in the boats they train in which is far from the case in Singapore. Our teams in Singapore can only dream about these timings as they don't see the possibility of doing so unless they come from the few top level teams in Singapore. But what exactly makes One West so strong? 

Apart from the usual training in a dragon boat as well as trainings in the gym, OneWest has clearly emphasised on the ability of the paddler to take up personal accountability through paddling an OC1 (Ocean Canoe 1 single paddler). Although I may not have tried paddling on the OC1, it definitely has very similar benefits to paddling a flatwater C1 or kayaking in terms of building up individual fitness and refining technique on the dragon boat. I did mention about this in my previous article here. They have a strong sense of camaderie nonetheless understanding that the goals of the team are made of up of the sum of the individual's goals. 

Coaching takes a different approach in the West (no pun intended) where the coach is more of a facilitator to manage the team's expectations and apply his teaching skills to maximise the potential of the individual. Very different from that of the Singaporean team coach where he is mostly instructional by nature; whether it has been by habit or by copying styles and approaches that his previous coaches have used for him. Such is this "western" style very suitable as an approach to mould the paddler at the highest level possible. These guys have jobs and other stuff to do, but their unwavering effort and determination to get them towards their goals are deeply inspiring. 

Yes I'm pretty sure that they are not the best in the world, knowing how much other teams from around the world train as well. But this team is definitely going places and a team to watch. In fact, I am largely following their stroke style to the team that I am coaching because they have a simple stroke that fits the style of my team. 

All the best to Team OneWest! For those who want to find out more. Catch them at their Facebok Page @https://www.facebook.com/oneteam.onewest

Quote of the Day

Do it at your best! 

No Space in the Gym? No Sweat! Team OneStroke trains @ Hougang ClubFitt Gym Singapore

Do you often feel demoralised when you don't have enough space to train? 

Do you always think that your team needs every weight imaginable to train effectively for trainings? 

Are you afraid of other gym goers thinking that you are using up their all important weights? 


Well no fret, a solution is at hand!

My back was feeling abit itchy.. 

I always believed in the coming up with a training programme on the spot regardless of whichever equipment is available and the amount of space that we are given in a public space.My team ONESTROKE from Kaki Bukit CSC had a short training session in one of the most packed gyms in the country. Coming from a country of 5 million inhabitants, don't be too surprised if I say you can find more human beings than rats in a single square feet. Well, to give you a clearer picture these were the conditions we were dealt with;

Not enough space
1. We only had as little as a 4 by 4 meter space to train with free weights not inclusive of another 5 by 5 meter space where we decided to park ourselves at to do some bodyweight exercises. 

Not enough weights
2. Everyone else who was at the gym was basically hogging free weights from 10kg onwards. Obviously most of them guys who insist on making sure they don't lose out to each other. 

Overcrowding..
3. It was a noisy and crowded Wednesday night which had almost everyone walking in and around our training area. It was as full as a Zouk on a Saturday night. Just that it was brightly lit.

So my solution was to: 
Do a circuit of 3 rounds of 1 minute sets of 8 exercises, alternating exercises between each pair. In layman terms, 

For every station, each pair of trainees are to do the following exercises;

Station 1: 
Bent over row

Janaine and Jojo in action. Next time i'll ask them to smile. 

push ups

Station 2:
Standing barbell press
One arm rows

Station 3:
Squat curl press
One arm dumbell snatch

Station 4:
Plank
Burpees

Each pair will do 1 minute of each exercise at each station before moving on the next station. Time alotted to each exercise, 1 minute. They only get a 3 minute break after finishing all 8 exercises. I ended the 3rd set with a 30 second set instead to boost up morale and increase the intensity. 

Of course, everyone was asking me.. Coach, can we get heavier weights, but we don't have enough weights leh? 

You realised these guys shave right?

I told them " just go with the lighter weights trust me.. *hint hint

We ended up using weights as little as 10 kilos for the barbell shoulder presses and 17.5 kilos for the bent over rows. Well, I already knew what was going to happen. 

I think these guys look bewildered he's too strong for the weights.

By the first minute of the first exercise in, I could see everyone's faces turning blue from the build up of the repetitions over a minute. Even a simple exercise like push ups can be incredibly torturous to hold for 1 minute straight. As each round was completed, I could almost hear a huge sigh of relief for finishing all the exercises. At the end of the day, it was nice to see smiles all round because they knew they accomplished something different in the gym than most gym goers that day. 

Essentially, what I did that evening was a simple example of circuit training. Something that can be done with a few friends and a few simple weights as long as the technique of the exercise performed is sound.You will encounter a new level of fitness that most gym goers will never understand and experience. 

I want to make a personal invitation to you readers out there to join us to take part in our workout just to feel the intensity of the workout and also to make some new friends.We will be doing a similar session next Wednesday at 730pm @Hougang Gym. Take the first step and I will promise you a fulfilling session full of fun, laughter and sweat!  Do post a comment or text myself @98415142 to for more details!! 

10 reasons Why LKY Could Have Been an Awesome Dragon Boat Coach

To commemorate our founding father's, Mr Lee Kuan Yew's 90th birthday, I thought I'd put up a tongue in cheek post of something no one thought about.. If he could have been a dragon boat coach.. Here's what I imagined him to be... 

5 reasons why Singapore Dragon Boat is Stagnating

More often than not, you will hear your dragon boat friends rave about the recent races at the Singapore Dragonboat Festival (SDBF) and exclaim how well they did during the races and how well the top teams did in the Opens Category. Congratulations to NTU for coming in first in the Men's Opens.While it seems like a true feat to be the best in Singapore, to the trained eye, I have seen a not much improvements to the timings clocked over 500m race distances. 

Before I touch on the 5 reasons why our dragon boat scene is stagnating, I would like to emphasize that none of these are gathered facts but truly opinions of my own. Based on observation and fact finding plus a few interviews from coaches, I think its fair to be a critic so that our Singaporean paddlers to continue to improve beyond the standards we have today. Maybe you may find a better reason and we could share over a cup of coffee:)

#1 Singaporeans are too impatient

Dragon boat paddling is a very very very very technical skill that requires years to master. Honestly, in my short athletic career I only really learnt how to paddle the best way to my ability when I got the experience after 4 years of paddling. Yes, you heard right. 4 years. But it seems many of us tend to treat learning this skill like writing your name. As long as you can write your name down properly, you can buy a Mont Blanc pen to sign your name on anything that needs it. 

This attitude of learning is probably a Singaporean thing. When we learn something in the workplace, it has to be learnt fast and as efficiently as possible to make sure we get the job done. Many paddlers bring this idea to the water, that when they can paddle with a wooden paddle after 1 month, they need a carbon fibre paddle. I only got mine after I paddled for 5 years. This impatience has created a big boom to the paddling business. Everyone can afford to buy one because it looks good, but sadly few know how to properly paddle with one. 

#2 Getting bigger and stronger is always the first priority

As I have covered in a previous post, generations upon generations of paddlers have come to believe that paddling requires monstrous biceps and a huge chest to be able to paddle well. Oh man, they are so wrong. One of my ex-teammates who was paddling for one of the tertiary teams in the PM cup was a mere dwarf at 48 kilos. But was he any weaker than the rest of the squad? His team came in 0.23 seconds behind another which had 2 thirds of them weighing over 70 kilos. The paddler's experience made the difference not his size. Of course size can be a factor especially in the eyes of coaches who were brought up in the era of big = strong, but these days, the complexity of the sport has evolved so much that winning teams require so much more than just brute strength to win races, much less clock world class timings. This myth has been debunked on many occasions but still, the legend continues. 

#3 Singaporeans are too vocal

As far as history is concerned, dragon boat is a Chinese tradition that has evolved into a spectacular sport that has gained many enthusiasts all over the world. The sport just like its original predecessors believed that it was a communal sport where it brought together people in the village together to row as one. It is very much "let's just follow what our seniors has taught us and not do our own thing kinda sport.". Well, that just doesn't happen in Singapore. Competitive teams face issues of paddlers who may have come from different backgrounds and experiences to dictate their own way of the perfect stroke. In the end, we end up with a mish mash of strokes in the same team that may not truly optimise the performance of the boat in general. Teams have been stuck at timings which they see year after year of races which sadly does not justify the number of hours they put into training. We put creativity in the wrong place in a very communal environment where everyone should be doing the same thing every time. 

#4 Paddling is only a hobby

In all honesty, coaching has brought me a new side stream of income that allowed me a few more luxuries in my life and I love it. Fact is we can NEVER make real money off dragon boat either as an athlete or a coach.  It is sad to see the turnover rate of many of our top teams in Singapore either due to the more practical reasons like work, NS or in some students' cases. overseas exchange which is something well worth giving up dragon boat for. Our standards will only improve if people take it as seriously as the PM cup, where the standards for winning races become high enough to our regional neighbours. But it will never take shape because we won't earn money from it. Yes I do, but not as a paddler. I have struggled through school because I chose paddling over working part time but that was a choice I made. But for many people who are definitely more pragmatic, who would want to give up 6 months of exchange for a race that lasts 4 minutes? 

# Singaporeans teams are generally selfish

I was having a conversation with another coach in the dragon boat fraternity and we were exchanging views of how the race timings were barely improving year upon year. We have never gotten to the levels our regional neighbours are at internationally and I was searching for answers. 

He explained to me in the most simplest of terms that Singaporean teams are a selfish bunch of paddlers. We like to come together to paddle and race but teams hate it when paddlers move over to another team better to improve ourselves. One example is how we gather paddlers for our National team (Nteam). It has been a well known fact that anyone joining the Nteam has to commit fully for all their trainings for obvious reasons, however these paddlers may come from many of the tertiary teams that usually prepare intensely for their most crucial races in the SDBF. Misunderstandings led to another and soon many of these paddlers lose the time to train with their tertiary teams causing a lot of rife between the National Squad and their tertiary teams. Today, it has almost come to a point that if you are ever in a tertiary team, you had better not join the Nteam because we will kick you out. Today, the Nteam has taken a beating knowing that the best talent that it can muster from the nation's limited pool of paddlers is clearly not trying out for the simple reason where these paddlers fear to be judged by their  "original teammates". Sad to say, as long as this persistence of being selfish stays, we will never be truly able to say that this National team is the best one that we have in the country. I guess it is really a mentality where being Asian, we have this stigma of being left out and being judged which is very unfair knowing how much we progressed as a "westernised" society. I guess some things are meant to stay in our very modern Singapore. 

Wrapping it up

I hope you have enjoyed this light-hearted article of 5 reasons why our dragon boat scene is stagnating. While there may be more reasons why we may be stuck, I guess these are the more salient ones for our situation now. 

Nevertheless, I always believe in the future of our sport and how well it progressed throughout the years. I will never discount the fact where many teams have seen incredible improvements in race timings on a local level. I hope this may generate discussions for people who are interested in a good debate. Till the next article!

5 Quick Ways To More Successful Goal Setting and Win Races!

Goal setting is a very common phrase everyone uses in many fields to establish absolute success in the different areas they may be in. Although individually it may be very simple to set goals for yourself, it is incredibly challenging for a coach or a captain to really define and set goals in the context of a team because of many different reasons and factors involved. I hope that with these 5 quick tips and lots of hard work, you are able to bring your team to podium finishes and act as a guide for recreational or competitive teams  to define a particular set of guidelines to set the all important race targets!

1) Establish Ground Rules - Before we set up any goals at all, each of the paddlers must be able to agree to a set of ground rules for the team to apply any sort of goals at all. Based on my experience as a team vice captain as well as a coach, it has been a challenge for myself to set any sort of definitive goal when most of the team can't even arrive on time for trainings. As simple as it may sound, set standards for starting on time; even starting without 5 paddlers who are late. It will emphasize great credibility in the team's culture and accepted practices and maintain discipline in an otherwise chaotic mess of 30-40 people. Peer pressure works everytime. 

2) Break Things Down - Getting the paddlers to know what they are aiming for in a particular race may be challenging to paddlers especially if they are new to the sport. Apart from the more experienced paddlers, these newer paddlers may need to be educated in what entails a good timing for a 500m race. For example, I break each race phase down to expected timings for them to visualise and internalise; hit their max speed for starts within 20 seconds or maintain an average of 250m splits in 1:04 minutes. breaking things down this way helps them understand better how their timing can improve in each part of the race while building up to the full race sequence. It definitely creates better mental focus in each phase that they try to execute.

3) Be Specific - I think this point could not be stressed more. Coaches these days use the ever popular phrase "try your best" which I sometimes am guilty of using alot. However, it makes more sense to the paddlers to strive for " 15km/hr in the first 20 seconds of your starts by May" or " Maintain an average speed of 14.5km/hr for at least 250m in a 500m race by July 2013". It makes the team clearer about what, when and how they are going to achieve these goals and creates a sense of urgency with a time parameter.

4) Let the team set the goal themselves - This may sound very inherently impossible to accomplish because the team may not exactly understand how to define the goals. This is where the coach must come in to educate the team in providing choices to how the team can meet these goals. It can be a multiple choice question where 3 sets of timings leads to 3 different sets of training programmes; the faster timings attached to the more intensive training programmes. Or it can be as simple as going around and asking "what do you think our likely timing for a 500m race should be?". Question and answer sessions can greatly increase the sense of ownership for the team's members and create a high level of enthusiasm in the team's goals.

5) Be Realistic - Eventually the coach will need to assess whether the team is able to accomplish the goals set within the given time frame; sometimes given the team's recreational nature, it won't make sense for him to set goals close to elite timings. The coach therefore needs to make a fair judgement of where his team is and truth be told if they can win races. While it is possible for a varsity team to win medals at the tertiary finals, are they really ready to beat the rest of the nations top teams considering their experience level?

Based on a fair amount of experience at the varsity levels, these guidelines have helped me establish goals that are literally SMARTer; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time Based. Establishing these guidelines will definitely help your team in one way or another get to a podium finish or even ending off a fantastic season with a bang. I hope everyone enjoyed this post thoroughly. Till the next time! PaddleGeek signing off!

Discover 7 Secrets to Achieve a Stronger, Athletic Body

In my years of training as an athlete, I have had many experiences of friends and family asking me how I got a body like mine and I find it distracting knowing that I trained without even thinking of a a nice lean body in the first place. It just came with all that training. With some knowledge and experience, I began to understand why exactly it was so easy for myself to build a strong athletic body through these well known secrets.. 

1. Do Pull ups. Period. There was a reason why armies around the world believe that pull ups are the most effective exercise for gauging strength in the upper body for its recruits. How else could they have tested thousands upon thousands of recruits coming through its doors? It is the best compound exercise that involves the arms, traps, lats , shoulders and even your abdominals, so nothing else really beats it. If pull ups are not in your regime, you can really forget about building strength at all. Just get a pull up bar start pulling. Period!

2. Eat your greens. Eating vegetables have always been a part of my diet ever since my mum told me its good for me. Yeah and I really ate anything that looks green because I know it is good. A good balance of fruits do just well and it does help in the overall immune system. If you're not a green person, you better start now. 

3. Do not think about the outcome. It is ok to think about your goal of becoming the lean, mean, fighting machine that you want to be, but its easier if you take it one step at a time. I think you should be looking forward to creating a new experience with your body with every training that comes along so that you will feel more pumped and regenerated, looking forward to the next workout. If looking at the mirror and seeing that extra few inches is so important to you, the trouble is, it will never be enough. 

4. Do interval training, I hate it but its good. Nothing else in the world gets your body to sweat, your heart to race and your testosterone pumping than a good old interval workout. Studies have shown tremendous results in  athletes engaging in interval training for increasing VO2 Max, muscular endurance as well as just general aerobic conditioning for the fitness enthusiast. It can be done through weights, running or just about any cardiovascular activity. So what you waiting for? 

5. Get yourself out of the couch more. Move, just start moving. Do anything other than sit down. The human body is created in such a way that sitting down on a chair is the most unnatural thing to do but people do it for more than 8 hours a day. So what is the problem? When you sit down, you disengage the back muscles from doing its work, which is to stabilise the core. Your posture starts to sag and before you know it, TA DA!! Backpain! Which brings me to my next point..

6. Work your core. Stop doing crunches because they don't work. Yes of course, that's the easiest one you can do but why do easy when you know it doesn't work. There is a plethora of core exercises you can do that you can find on the internet. Wipers, L-sits, L-sit pull ups, superman, back extensions and many more. But that is harder to do you say? That's the point isn't it?

7. Have fun with friends. I think the one key ingredient to really working out and having that athletic body is really just to have a blast with your friends. Being in a team sport really makes it much easier to do this as everyone would have the similar fitness goals as you do and it makes training a whole lot more fun. Let your body experience new challenges and frontiers together with friends and you will reap the benefits as a RESULT of your efforts. 

Nothing difficult to think about really but these were really fundamentals that made me who I am today. Staying really active and getting into an atmosphere where training is fun. Give it your best shot! You really never know what your limits are until you go for it!

Learning to learn. A skill for Lifelong Learning.

All of us have many motivations when it comes to learning the subject of our choice. Many children learn as a result of exploration just like how my baby niece does. They do it through trying by trial and error many different ways of how to balance themselves on their feet, legs and hands to move forward or toward a toy that they may be interested to play with. Naturally, they also learn through mistakes that there are certain ways that do not make moving feasible such as walking with their feet pointed in so on and so forth. 

Why are you afraid to learn a new skill?

Then why else does an adult learn differently? How exactly does an adult learn at all and why is it that he or she doesn't learn a skill as well as he should have. Adults generally set limitations on themselves on the things that they want to learn because of the fear of people judging them. That they cannot do a better job that others can. That they are not good at a skill. Logically, it does make common sense to not do the thing that you can't do well.

 I realise that I fall into this trap where I would be afraid to learn something especially if people were able to judge me or look at how lousy I was. This is especially true of when I see adult swimmers in the pool whom had no swimming background trying to swim their laps for the first time. 

An example: Adult Swimmers

A  few minutes of close observation in a typical public swimming pool will reveal a stark reality of adult swimmers; that most of them will not even go back to learning how they used to as a baby or a child, via exploration. All they want is to get from point A to point B (i.e. one end of the pool to the other) in the shortest time possible. But with swimming being such a technique driven skill that is very much alike to walking, why is the adult skipping the steps of nature to get towards the desired outcome? Shouldn't we be learning just like how our children do? 

Race for knowledge vs Exploration 

As much as our pursuit of knowledge comes at a price, be it in time, effort or money, I believe that the learning of the knowledge through exploring the subject matter has more desirable outcomes than if it was to pursue the skill in the shortest amount of time. It drives the creativity out of learning to see someone racing to get learn the skill without going through the necessary steps to success. 

To put theory into practice, I have begun a personal journey of learning to learn again in various subjects. One of them being writing this blog, learning to swim, picking up new sports, learning German, revisiting strength training fundamentals and even learning to do a muscle up all in the name of fun. Although there were outcomes I knew I wanted to achieve, I knew the entire process of trial and error was inevitable for myself to achieve success. I look forward to learning more in my journey for personal development and I hope this article has inspired you to do the same. 

Learn to learn. It will feed your mind for life.