Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Badminton gold

It was a happy, happy Sunday for Andre when he finally won his first medal for badminton.

Admittedly, it was only a small scale competition organised by a community centre and the competition was not as stiff as say, the inter-school tournaments. But still, a medal is a medal and it was the gold medal to boot.

As you can tell from the picture, Andre is beyond ecstatic over the win. This definitely provided a booster shot to his confidence, hopefully it will spur him to train even harder.

Here's a snippet from his final match (can you see his magic red shoes?)



15 comments:

  1. Yayyyy....very happy for you Champion!! Taufik's red shoes really work magic huh? haha, train hard, and continue to win win win, very proud of you :D

    Are you sleeping with the medal?

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  2. Appreciate the support, Lilian!! Yah, Taufik's shoes have super powers, I think! His medal is hung round the neck of a stuffed bear, prominently displayed in his room :D

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  3. Hi Monica,
    Congrats to Andre! Well done! I smiled when I saw your headline "Badminton gold" and his photo. You know, our kids' victories are so sweet! No matter the scale of the competitions!

    EGC

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  4. Thanks, EGC! It's especially sweet to see Andre win this as he's lost so many matches before. Truly serves as a motivator to keep going :)

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  5. Congrats ! Jia You Andre ! You must be such a proud mum ! It's a long hard road for any sports mum (and dad) - the competition is tough for any interschool event ! Unfortunately for our kids, swimming is one of the most competitive sports ever ! A medal now and then is great motivation even if its a school meet :) Most importantly for kids in sports, parental support is of utmost importance. I have heard many inspiring stories of great swimmers who plateau at certain stages of their swimming life but with their parents support made a comeback ! For me I tell my kids, it's not the medals that count - it's doing your personal best ! (ok..maybe this is not so applicable for racket sports...)

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  6. Jo: I understand completely. Badminton is THE most popular sport in SG primary schools, so talk about picking a toughie! Swimming is another sport where there are just so many competitors it's hard to win anything. So any sort of achievement should be celebrated. Trust your girls are doing well?

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  7. My older daughter is doing ok, she has continued to better her times each time she competes - but its early days (she's only 9, trained for 1 yr) and I was told it only gets harder & we must be prepared when she turns in slower times ! Ironically it gets harder when you reach the medal-standard so right now it's still quite stress-free.


    My younger one just started but she's quite a laid back happy-go-lucky sort of kid so she's not really able to comprehend the "competing" side of things - which result in her timings varying widely from good to slow - I think it's a maturity issue so hopefully she will grow into it in time to come.

    March hols is the age group meet - so very busy with training - I can't wait for that to be over so that we can take a breather thereafter!

    Balancing studies (this year there is CA) with sports also takes some skillful time management !

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  8. Jo: When they reach upper primary, juggling work, CCA and other activities is the biggest challenge. I'm struggling with that for Andre now. At p5, the jump in academic standard from p4 is so great it's not funny.

    So enjoy your kids' happy days while they last!

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  9. Congratulations Andre!! Way to go!!! 加油!!! 加油!!! 再加油!!!

    Mon, so happy to read this piece of good news!! You must be so proud of him!! See how exicted I am!! My sentences all ended with '!!!!!' LOL

    Chris

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  10. LOL! Thanks Chris! Very touched by your support :)

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  11. Hi Monica, congrats on Andre's win in his badminton match. I had bn a silent follower of yr blog for a year. Like yr blog v much as u are very transparent and honest with yr sharings. Can I seek yr advice on badminton? My younger dd started badminton in a CC when she was 5 years old. She played for about 7 months and luv it! However, we had to stop her training as we moved away. Now I want to consider having her back into training again. Can you recommend a place to get her back into training? Thanks! Rach

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  12. Rach: Thanks for making yourself heard! I'm no expert but I know there are quite a few badminton centres around the island. It really depends where you live. Here are the few I know about: SBA, Li-Ning academy at Chinese Swimming Club, Flymax and Kason. I think Ronald Susilo has also started his own training school at ACS, not sure about this. Most of these schools are quite professional but it really boils down to the coach.

    Hope this helps!

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  13. Congrats Andre!!!!!!
    Keep up the good work!! :)
    Maybe one day you will be signing autographs for us....

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  14. Sorry that was auntie qx.... :)

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  15. Thanks QX! Don't think it will happen but nice to dream!

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