It all started on 18 November 2016, when twenty-one strong from Xuan Sports departed from Changi Airport. Their destination: Wei Lun Sports School in Guangzhou. Led by Coach Jennee and Coach Shang Yu, our team of students left in high spirits. This was the annual overseas training trip for Xuan Sports.
This year, we have a good mix of Xuan athletes from primary school level to those in junior colleges. Their mission in Guangzhou is to complete eight days of intensive Wushu training to enhance their current training programme. We are also very lucky to have a few parents who followed the entourage as they turned out to be great support to the coaches and athletes in the trip.
We were housed in the international hostel in Wei Lun Sports School in Guangzhou and enjoyed the full facilities there. Our athletes were given the privilege to dine in their best dining hall that was reserved only for their students who are medallists in national competitions. On top of that, we were also given the rights to train on the same training ground that was home ground to the coming GuangdongThe first two days of training was an uphill climb for our Xuan athletes as they had to fight the fatigue from the red-eyed flight and the climate change from Singapore to Guangzhou. Little did the athletes know, the coaches had a surprise planned for them for dinner on Day Two. They were given the luxury of a hearty MacDonald dinner at the nearest MacDonald restaurant. As you can see from the photographs, all Xuan athletes savoured every single bite of their food that night. It was a good sign that all of us survived the first two days. Province Wushu Championship.
The first two days of training was an uphill climb for our Xuan athletes as they had to fight the fatigue from the red-eyed flight and the climate change from Singapore to Guangzhou. Little did the athletes know, the coaches had a surprise planned for them for dinner on Day Two. They were given the luxury of a hearty MacDonald dinner at the nearest MacDonald restaurant. As you can see from the photographs, all Xuan athletes savoured every single bite of their food that night. It was a good sign that all of us survived the first two days.
Day Three and Four started with morning physical training before another two sessions of technical and routine training each day. We had the benefit of having the Wushu coaches from Wei Lun Sports School coaching our athletes. Renowned coach, Ms ChenYan Ping, was there to guide our athletes throughout the training sessions. This was despite the fact that she was in the advance stage of her pregnancy. We are indeed grateful to her and wish her a blissful motherhood ahead. Our athletes were pleasantly surprised and pampered by the Japanese cuisine they were treated to on the evening of Day Three. It was a reward after a hard day’s worth of training indeed.
Day Five proved to be exciting as the athletes celebrated Davina’s birthday with a cute cake bought by Coach JunMing and were given the night off to have some ‘shopping time’ at a mall in Guangzhou. It was an adventurous night out as we took the local bus to and from our destination. Besides shopping and food, another attraction at the mall was the arcade games available at the top floor in the mall. At the end of the night, most of our athletes were so tired they dozed off on the bus.
By Day Six and Seven, the Xuan athletes were quite used to the routine and were able to train well in spite of aches here and there. They could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel as the training sessions in the trip were coming to an end. Much to their delight, they were treated to a Japanese cuisine lunch again on Day Seven. The training session in the evening was slightly emotional as the Xuan athletes enjoyed their last training session in the trip with the Wei Lun Sports School coaches. What else could they do except to transform everything into memories in the form of photographs? Our athletes have certainly benefitted under the guidance of the Wei Lun Sports School coaches.
Another valuable experience our athletes enjoyed there was that they had the chance to interact with some of the Wei Lun Sports School students. The Nan Quan seniors had the privilege of learning a free-style routine from a Wei Lun Sports School senior. It is wonderful that friendships were formed between them.
The final training day saw our athletes rising early for the morning training one final time before sinking their teeth into the lovely MacDonald breakfast bought by Coach Jennee. They also enjoyed being spectators for part of the Guangdong Province Wushu Championship. Finally, our Xuan athletes left for the airport in the evening to catch another red-eye flight back home.
All in all, we had lots of fun and sweat in this trip. Till the next training trip, adios for now!
P.S. To the parents who went on the trip – BIG THANK YOU, especially for all the help and support and most of all, the fabulous pictures!!
