*Belated* Veloci-T 2008 Photos

Bagua Seminar by Master Sun ZhiJun (28th Dec)

On Sun 28th Dec, Victoria School's Wushu Team round up our last seminar presentaion with Master Sun Zhijun from China.

Master Sun, his senior disciples Madam Ge Chun Yan and Madam Mi Jin Pei gave strong theoretical insights into the nature of internal Chinese Martial Arts.

Students were then given a chance to show case their learning and to recieve pointers from the various teachers regarding their form, movement and applications
Here we see the students going through the core footwork of Bagua Zhang:


Members of the public were present at our seminar and it allow martial enthusiasts and novices alike to gain an insight into the depth and breath of Chinese Martial Arts.

We hope that Victoria School will be able to continue our efforts to contribute to the growth of the martial arts community in Singapore so that we can spread the love and passion for Wushu to benefit all practictioners.

Join us as we work diligently towards this goal!
Nil Sine Labore

Diving in Krabi, Thailand @ the Phi Phi Islands

After lot's of procrastination, I finally took the plunge literally with my wife. We finally took up our PADI Open Water Diving certification. On 17th Dec, we checked into the Aonang Buri Resort in Krabi, I have always wanted to return to Krabi after being there in 2003 with the VS Cross-Country Team. We first checked in with our instructors at the Aquavision Dive Shop, where we tried on our gear and got to meet our Dive Instructor, Liz and the rest of the guys at AquaVision. Check out there well stocked equipment room here. Geri trying on her gear Once we had picked our gear, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the next day ahead. Bright and early the next day, we boarded our dive boat: Let's take a look at our dive boat:

Here we see our Dive Instructor Liz giving the divers and snorklers the orientation and safety briefing for the boat:

Our Open Water Dive Instructor, Lertlid aka Liz was a fun, easy-going guy who set us open-water newbies at ease and yet constantly reinforced the key concepts and fundamentals for us so that we could master the core diving skills competently So step by step, we were guided in the setting up of our equipment. 1)First, let's check out the the dive deck. Here is where our oxygen thanks are kept and where we get ready to gear up 2)Next we connect our Buoynacy Control Devices to our oxygen tanks 3)Next we connected our oxygen regulators to the tank 4)After connecting our regulators, we test the pressure and check our gauges. After that we check our regulators to make sure that they are able to provide a smooth flow of oxygen. 5)Next we fitted our masks, snorkels and weight belts: To make sure that we'd got it right, Liz tested me and ask me to set up HIS equipment. From the looks of his face, I think he wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do- Heh heh.. seeing me fumble with his more advanced set-up must have sent shivers down his spine.

After all that, we're ready to go diving. Check out the clear water and great visibility for our dives!

Here's a video of our diving experience taken by the videographer Anja Ullberg.

Even more shooting....

During our Krabi dive trip, we took some time off to go to the gun range in Krabi.
So both of us went shooting but this time instead of archery, the wife and I got to try our hand at 9mm Glocks

Geri took to shooting naturally : (Scary, right?)


Let's see Geri fire away:

How did she do?

I didn't do too badly myself - first set of shoots were too low but was able to re-adjust my grouping later. Having shot previously at Pattaya made it easier for me to control my shots and steady my aim.

Mental Skills Workshop for Badminton Boys (22 & 23 Dec 2008)

Today, we did some mental skills work for the boys in the Badminton Team.

We explored how breathing can be used to control our heart rate in dealing with performance anxiety.

Here we see them doing the pyramid run with breathing work:


We also practiced visualisation skills by getting the boys to do some 'target shooting' with their shuttles. Purpose of the exercise was to see if they could visualise their intended outcomes- If you can see it, you can do it; if you can't see yourself doing it, then definitely you won't do it:P


Finally, we did some reflex drills.
Here the boys are having 2 v 1 rally with 2 shuttles
The single player will have to alternate rally the 2 shuttles with his 2 opponents simultaneously.

2nd World Junior Wushu Championship @ Bali 2008

2 members of our VS Wushu Team, Tan Xiang Tian and Fung Jin Jie represented Singapore to participate in the 2nd World Junior Wushu Championship in Bali

Victoria School is proud to announce that Fung Jin Jie managed to clinch a bronze for his cudgel routine



The VS PE Dept and Wushu Team went to the airport to welcome them for giving their best for school and country.
Well done, boys- we are proud of you!

Bagua Seminar by Grandmaster Sun Zhijun

As part of Victoria School Wushu Team's partnership with our coaches, Victoria School played host to visiting teacher and respected Grandmaster, Sun ZhiJun




Grandmaster Sun, is one of the oldest living exponents of Bagua in China still teaching and practicing today. His student, Mdm Ge Chun Yan, coaches our wushu team in Taiji.



The seminar was well attended by martial enthusiasts from all walks of life. Despite his age, Master Sun was vigorous and passionate about his art and would punctuate his demonstrations with personal demonstrations.
Here we see him explain the finer points of balance in bagua footwork.


Here Master Sun demonstrates some Bagua applications:

It's good to see that he is still vigourous and spritely at his age.
Let all of us from the younger generation of martial artist follow in his example!

Veloci-T Photos

Hi guys,

Weijian has uploaded Veloci-T photos on his photobucket account here

Even more shooting ...

Today, I brought the VS Wushu Team down to DM Archery at Suntec

Well, it was a good outing for all of us. As DM Archery were keeping track of scores for Top 6 shooters, there was a mood of friendly competition amongst the boys to see if they could qualify against the ladder board.

Our little DSA talent, Lee Jing Wei managed to score 104, placing him amongst the Top 6 shooters in Under-12; team captain Ryan Goh blasted his way with 110 to place within Top 6 for Under-16 (tying my score for the day at that time!)


Last session, I hit 114 and was tied for 2nd place in the Open category but a check on the ladder board showed that I was relegated out of the Top 6 cos some ace had hit a 120pt perfect score. Subsequently, 2ns and 3rd position were 116 pts with the rest of us mere mortals trailing at 114pts.

Inspired by Ryan Goh's fantastic scoring, I aimed to better my personal best. After some meticulous zeroing and consolidating my grouping shots, I took my final round for the day.
With 11 shots on the yellow and 1 on the red, I'm back in the running for 2nd place in the open category with 118 points! An almost perfect score.

Woots! Not let's keep my fingers crossed... and see if I can stay at 2nd position on the ladder board

More shooting ...

Hi guys, more shooting and targetting

Here are some of the pics from Veloci-T where our tribes were engaged in Combat Skirmish
Featuring the every-ready Mr Amir



For more images click here

Right on target!

Some years back I first tried archery, I loved it but never got the chance to pursue it. A couple of days back, I went to Suntec to wait for my wife and saw that there was an indoor archery range open there!

I took up the bow after donkey years and guess what, it's like riding a bike-- somethings you never forget.
I tried my hand shooting and didn't do too badly.
Today while waiting for my wife, I went to Suntec and killed some time by trying it again. The instructor there told me that they were taking scores to see the top 6 shooters in Dec. Guess what, after a few rounds I was told that I ranked 2nd out of 50 participants! I scored 108 out of a maximum of 120 (10 points max per shot, 12 shots each round)

Since Victorians are something more, I decided to see if I could tie for 1st ranking.
A couple of rounds later, I was tied at 114 points for first place!

When my wife came to meet me, I got her to try it out.
Boy, is she a natural!
Check out her target grouping!
Fierce sia!


Hopefully my score will stand and I'll make it to the Top 6 showdown later in December.

A Taste of things to come in 2009

Wow, some people really move fast!

Our Chinese New Year performances for 2009 have already been publicised!
As part of our CIP for the Wushu Team, we will be teaming up with SGH to do a lion dance and wushu performance for their patients at SGH in 2009.

I went there to congratulate a friend of mine on the delivery of his new born baby girl and guess what I saw:

VS Year End Staff Dinner

Yestrday was Victoria School's Year End Staff Dinner.

Since our theme was 'Retro Night', many of the staff gamely came in their old-school disco outfits.

Here we see teachers from the Humanities Department strutting their stuff!


Now we all know what Mr Donald Leo did in his spare time while studying in Japan!
Who says teachers don't know how to have fun!

My Video Submissions for YourFilm.SG

I submitted 2 of the videos I did for Victoria School for theYourfilm.sg film competition and they have been shortlisted for voting under the "Free Expression" category.

Please support our VS videos- we stand to win a professional PanasonicHD Camcoder and a 6month production studio rental package. This will allow us to produce better videos for the school.

The 2 videos are:

1) "Choice", (the video is the one with a clock-face for thumbnail)

This is the one I did for Camp Emerge

2)The other video is "Learn to Say No" (the video is the one with thethumbnail with 'Learn to Say No"

Vote for the videos here:

http://202.172.234.170/yourfilm/vote.php

As it is a bit difficult to tell which are the videos, remember to scroll-down the page and look for them under 'Free Expression'

For those that would like to view them here on this page:

Veloci-T 2009- After Action Report

Now that we have completed our 5-days Veloci-T Camp, it is time for some After Action Reports.

Due to my N96 malfunctioning (repeatedly during the camp), I'm only able to give some clips but will post when the leaders send their links to me.

Here are our PT clips on the 2nd day:



We had the boys doing various exercises (i.e. situps, push-ups) as an entire group.
It was heartening to see the great Victorian spirit bonding the boys together!

At night, the long awaited Combat Skirmish team arrived to set-up the activity for us:

Just looking at the various guns and equipment got all the boys (and teachers excited)

After the briefing, it was a frenzied fire-fight with teams trying their best to take each other out. As it was dark and I was trying not to get shot by my own team members, that's way got no videos.
(Yup, friendly fire is the single biggest cause of casualties in this game :)