Hey people,

As matric fair draws near, I think it is only right that I shall post an entry targeted at both the team as well as those who may become part of our Aquathlon Family (Freshiess!!!). There are two reasons for me putting up this post : 1) A last min attempt to make our blog look as active as possible.
2) I'm waiting for my dad to stop playing my xbox and let me have my turn at playing Modern Warfare 2.

Nicolas our previous captain AY09/10, did such a wonderful entry detailing about TeamNUS Aquathlon that it makes my entry seem redundant. Hence to avoid my entry falling left of the Bell Curve due to its lack of originality, I shall attempt to talk about our team from a different perspective. It builds upon the team vision that we came up with which was actually for presentation to Carson. 

"
The current exco AY10/11 sat down the other day at a "really classy" place in Ang Mo Kio Hub (Kopitiam...X_X) to discuss our vision for the team and what we hoped to see take shape during our short tenure of a year. We came up with the team vision coined "FAMILY".

Friendships
All-rounded excellence
Maturity
Involvement
Leadership
You

The term "FAMILY" was used to highlight the true elan of the Aquathlon team. Our strong bonds forged across batches which remain strong till this day. It also signifies a need to continue engaging the alumni as well as the freshies who will eventually continue to be part of our Aquathlon family.
                                                

Now allow me to explain the 6 values in greater detail.

1) Friendships
In the few years that we spend in NUS, time really flies. Before you know it all of us will eventually graduate. Just like your secondary school days which most of us so sorely miss. Varsity life is probably the final opportunity for us to reconnect with the student within us. The many friendships that we forge with each other will be the fondest memories that we will have of our stay in NUS.
Each time you see somebody swimming in the pool, you'll probably think about how you used to spend time slogging it out at SRC with your teammates trying to complete Uncle David's never-ending sets. Each time you drive by a hill, you'll probably start recollecting how you struggled to complete the hill intervals up Pepsys with your teammates next to you.
Hence, the friendships that we forge in Aquathlon are not just merely a key pillar of our team vision but rather something which we will have for many years to come. 
 
                                                
2) All-rounded Excellence
Our team has achieved much over the past years. The President Sports Team of the Year, Sports Team of The Year (Mens & Womens) etc. We have done well in competitions both locally and overseas. However, it is not merely enough to base our team on solely churning out sporting achievements. We should motivate each other onwards to excel in all other areas outside of aquathlon. For example, as a team we should aim to motivate each other to not only train hard, but study hard as well. It is deemed a job well done to be able to clinch the championship and excel at races individually. However it becomes exceptional when our team excels not only at races but continues to prove that it is possible to balance both academic and sporting commitments. This is something which we should never lose sight of as a team.
The study sessions organized come exam time are examples of our emphasis in this area.
                                                     


3) Maturity
As athletes we should aim to mature and grow together. To learn to accept that failure and defeat is part and parcel of life. To be humble and take all competition seriously and aim for the best result possible. All these are probably stuff which we probably have heard of many times. The crux of the matter is how as a team we share our experiences to ensure that we mature as a team.

                                                                            

4) Involvement
The backbone of our team is the people that we have. The involvement of our team members is critical for us to be able to achieve our desire outcomes. For it is with the active participation of our members in both competitions and trainings that our team can truly excel. We seek active involvement in all areas and will aim to help generate more interest in the sport amongst newer members and in so doing, develop their sporting potentials.
                                                 

5) Leadership
Understanding that leadership is a process not a position. Every member of the team has an active role in leading the team.
                                                          

6) You
As endurance sports athletes, it is often about "self" above all else especially when it comes down to the race. It may seem strange how we choose to use such an individualized term within the context of a team-based vision. (Just like how there is no I in TEAM) However it is precisely why we chose the term for the 6th value. Our team should always remember that it all boils down to the individual and how much he/she is willing to sacrifice to attain that final sense of achievement. It is the determination that our individual members show during races that help show their individual mettle in the face of duress. The knowledge that nobody put us up to it but ourselves bears credence to the usage of the term "you".   
                           

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For the team, we do hope that the above can be achieved beyond just our tenure and remain as a core fundamental upon which our team is build on.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For the freshies, chill la. Relax.... dun stress... come uni must enjoy.
If you can swim and you can run. We want YOU!!! So come on down for our trainings!!!!

Mon & Wed 1745H @ SRC Pool.
Sat 0915H @ SRC Pool
For more details just drop by our Matric Fair Booth. D2.
If not you can always send an email to our captain Dex @ dudedex@gmail.com . Our friendly dude dex will help to answer all your queries.

Ok that's about it!!!!

Toodles,
Zhan Yuan
Vice-Cap (AY10/11)
On Behalf of the Exco AY10/11


 

Hey team,

Yesh for the few who still read this blog, here's whats up for this week!

1) Matric Fair Decoration 210710
Many thanks to those who have kindly lent us your t-shirts, medals, posters, laptops etc. Your contributions go a long way towards making our booth look really pimpz. the exco hopes to return you back your stuff in one piece, minimum several pieces lawl... 

1.  

2) Matric Fair Duty (Thurs 220710 Fri 230710 Mon 260710 Tues 270710) 

3) Port Dickson Tri (over the weekend)

Do drop by our booth if possible to help out or just chit chat (we'll be bored, pretty sure about that...). We're Booth D2.

Ok thats about it. all the best to those doing PD.

Toodles,
Zhan Yuan

 Finally! someone else has posted an entry after my sports awards 09 one! haha! nice try for your 1st blog post, Zany!

Dunno how many pple still actually read this space... but pls pls pls come down for Saturday trainings! The exco have organised it and it's very discouraging for them if no one/extremely few pple turn up. so if you can make it pls do make it a point to attend sat trainings!

Hi,

Ok that sounded kinda awkward, i mean do ppl start off a blog entry with "hi"? beats me. this is like my first ever blog entry. i must say blogging looks kinda kewl. just like how i found out facebook was kinda fun 3 1/2 months ago and got an account myself. did a lil bit of research regarding blog entries and i figured that all entries should aim to be
1) to the point
2) funny or at least lame
3) be a lil emo, if not at least try to convey some message to the reader.
So here it goes....

Saturday Training 260610
Heres what we did: 

Venue: SRC
2KM Swim (1Km Swim for me coz i was slightly late not my fault ok, MRT got traffic jam LOL!!!)
14km Run

Thanks to Josh Li and Lemin for keeping me company on a breezy sat morning. Great refreshing run. Thank you guys for slowing down the pace to make it more bearable for me. Not easy to run 14km given my buff physique, just refer to my user display pic :) lawl. 

In sum, I obviously have failed to attain objectives 2 and 3 in my blog entry. My entry's kinda dry in terms of content. . . 
Gotta start eating more bread so that i can become more Wheaty. Maybe it'll help make my entry become a lil more funny.

Nonetheless, I hope to see more people at sat trainings. don't worry about the distance, it won't always be this long. training together definitely helps us stay together not just as a team but rather as a "family", through the bonds we forge over like team lunches etc. So if you're free on sat do come down and join us for subsequent sat trainings. 

Toodles,
Zhan Yuan  

Good news to be shared: teamNUS Aquathlon has once again won big at this year's teamNUS Sports Awards - the biggest annual sports event in NUS to acknowledge the achievements and triumphs of our varsity athletes :)
 
NUS President Sports Award - Team: Aquathlon (Men)
Sports Team of the Year - Ladies: Aquathlon (Ladies)
Sportsman of the Year: Mok Ying Ren (record-breaking 2nd time in 2 yrs)

Merit Award - Individual (Ladies): Lin Zhiyun
Merit Award - Event (Men): Mok Ying Ren & Sikhander Singh

Team Players of the Year for Aquathlon: Ling Qiu Rong & Joshua Li
Team Rookies of the Year for Aquathlon: Tan Qiukun & Liang Lemin
Honorary Awardees for Aquathlon: Lin Zhiyun, Teoh Dong Xiang, Chang Kai Lun, Kevin Kok, Joshua Li, Nicholas Lim, Terence Tang, Alvin Yeo

Congratulations also go out to our teammates who have won awards outside of Aquathlon!

Lin Zhiyun: Merit Award - Team (Ladies) under Swimming
                 Honorary Award under Cross Country
Teh Chong Nyen: Merit Award - Team (Men) under Water Polo
                          Honorary Award under Water Polo
Serene Lee: Team Player of the Year under Basketball
Michelle Chay: Team Player of the Year under Cross Country
Sikhander Singh: Honorary Award under Cross Country


Our hard work has finally paid off! Well done to all seniors and juniors alike! 
See you at the Awards night on 24 Oct 2009!

For publicity sake, here's the article that The Ridge (a NUS magazine) wrote on the team. Enjoy!
 

Hello Visitor (FRESHMEN), this is the captain speaking, welcome on board

Today as I was filling out the matric booth form, I stumble upon a section that said team website. As the information was not often used, its memory was stored in some god-forsaken part of my brain, the electrical impulses took a couple of extra turns and crossed a greater number of synapses than it usually needed. That explained the 5 second mental pause and "stunned" feeling I had. When the fuzzy mental image, together with the confirmation that we indeed had a team website finally surfaced, I searched through my favorites and googled "NUS aquathlon team" before finally arriving back here. I was pretty sure, that if you, the reader, are a freshman waiting to enter NUS, and are having inclination towards joining the NUS Aquathlon team, that would have been the same route you had taken to arrive here. (Because that was what I did last year) You would be hoping to find out more about this team, to help you make an informed decision about signing up at our booth or turning up for a training session. I scrolled through our team website, and found that it contained no such information that would be of any use to a curious freshmen. There were only training sets, training routes, and some very very misleading photos of the team. (I assure you, we are a decent bunch). So here is some information about the team that I hope can be of some use to you, together with some pictures to show the serious side of us.

What is Aquathlon? It is a sport that involves a swim, followed by a quick transition, and then a run. A more familiar term would be a biathlon. Distances are usually a 750m Swim, 5km run (Sprint) or 1.5km Swim, 10km run (Olympic Distance). We train up to compete in our main competitions Singapore Biathlon and a intervarsity Competition NIE Biathlon/NUS Biathlon. Both competitions usually take place in Feburary to March. As such, we train moderately 3 times a week from August to November (Sem 1), build up our intensity in December (Holiday Training) and do serious hardcore "kick-ass" training, up to 5-6 times a week, from January to Feburary (Sem 2). We usually have swim trainings, run trainings, and some hybrid trainings. (Both swim and run training in a session)

The current team size is around 50 people, which include a handful of seniors who still train with us when time permits them. That would give us about 40 full time students in the team? Guys make up the majority (we are still working on that, girls are almost reaching double digit now...) IVP team will consist of 16 guys and 8 girls, so unfortunately, not everybody will be able to make it to the varsity team. Selections will be based on training attitude, attendence and performance, and trials are held in December. If you are concerned about CCA points, I can fairly say that the amount of points we get far far far undermines the amount of effort we put in. In short, there are much easier way to get your points, members of the team don't draw our satisfaction from having a great deal of that stuff.

Everyone in the team has different goals and objectives for being part of the team, but the goals are somewhat similar, and we help each other along the way. I would say about half of the team also participate actively in triathlons, thou these are on our own accord, and we do not get recognition by NUS for these races. Most of these races take part during the April - October period, which is our off season. Therefore, there are some of us who train year round. (Training and pain addicts) We also participate in some malaysia races, and organise to go up as a group. Recently, there a number of members who have set their sights on completing an Ironman race. With this, I hope not to come across as bragging about the team, but rather to show you the diverse motive and targets we have among us.

Despite having our own goals, we share a common desire to do well in competitions representing the school, and set the priorities of the team as part our own.

The team is made up of very friendly and easy going people. We are more "family like" than "regimental". Training is never enforced, but each of us are self motivated and come for training on our own accord. We work more on the principal "It is ok if you miss training but try to make up for it on your own". Many of the members are very disiplined with training and school work.

I think that is all I can convoy to you in my own words. If you are really interested, you can contact any of the exco members to find out more. We have already commence with training every monday and wednesday, 6pm, NUS SRC swimming pool. You are most welcome to come down to meet the team. Some freshies are already training with us, and are all still, happily, in one piece. You don't have to be a superstar in both swimming and running to join us. Some background in running or swimming would be of great help. But even if you are not fantastically fast, don't be shy to come down if you feel that this sport is something that may interest you. We are a small and close knitted group, and we help each other out when and where we can.

With that, I end my first ever post as new captain to this team (3 months gap between the last post, shows what an IT idiot I am). Enjoy the photos. Hope to see you guys (and girls!) at training.

Cheers,

Nicolas









 

Our Indulging Captain Aldrich...

Just did this for those who are doing this race for the first time and those who are timing freaks who run by their or those who are simply curious. i'm not very good with mapmyrun so this is the best i could do mapping out the route with all the kilometer check points. hope it helps.



1KM: Approx at the top or slightly after the top of the bigest climb on the course.


2km: Just before Nanyang walk. ie when u first come across  the NIE buildings along Nanyang cresent.


3km: The uphill portion at the end of nanyang cresent(ie the long stretch of flat road) 


4km: Approximately at the white strips area just before the big downhill towards the main enterence of NTU.



Within last 800m: Starts from the turning of Lien Ying Chow Drive (sprint for your life)


This distance marker are just an approximation, to the best of my ability, from my analysis of the mapmyrun map. Its not that accurate but its within range plus minus 20-30 meters. Hope it helps.