Whoever coined the term “Where there’s a will, there will be a way,” probably met these five primary school students who despite not having synchronised swimming as an official CCA in school, still defied the odds and brought home gold from a recent Inter-school Synchronised Swimming Competition held last Sunday.
According to a report in The New Paper, the girls knew each other from the synchronised swimming circuit and only found out later that they were all also from the same school.
Seeing as there was no synchronised swimming CCA offered in their school, the girls banded together and formed their own team to represent their school for the said inter-school championship. This was a mere six weeks before the competition, leaving them with little over a month to prepare.
How the synchronised swimmers did it
The girls, made up of Gayle Yii, Iryawan Valensia Bingah Saraswati, Shae-Lynn Tan, Hannah Chiang and Rachel Thean who are between the ages of 11 and 12, diligently woke up earlier twice a week to get to school. This was so they could practice for about an hour in the morning before school started. These sessions usually started at 6:45 am and ended when school assembly started. The girls worked on their routine on the ground before taking it to the pool, a month before the competition.
According to Xandra Thean, 41, mother of Rachel Thean, the girls only had “three pool training sessions before the competition.”
Supportive parents
Despite not being officially recognised by the school, the girls families have proved staunch supporters with many of them ferrying the girls back and forth between school and training sessions.
Rachel’s mother had even asked a synchronised swimming instructor to sit in on one of the girls’ practice sessions to give the girls feedback and some valuable pointers.
Team effort
The girls did everything themselves, from choreographing the routine to setting up training sessions. And their parents could not be prouder especially with the challenges they faced.
Happy but surprised
Perhaps what was sweeter was that despite all these potential setbacks, the girls managed to beat reigning champions MGS (who offer synchronised swimming as a CCA in the school) to win first place in the primary B Division team event.
Rachel could not contain her surprise as she never expected the gold. She says, “Our routine was not very complex as we choreographed it ourselves, so we were very surprised when we won.”
The total haul for these five determined girls was five gold medals won across three divisions that included team, solo and duet events.
Keeping your children motivated
The one thing that stood out with these girls was their unwavering determination and motivation to succeed in what they loved despite the odds. Here are some ways you can help keep your children motivated both in school as well as in their out-of-classroom interests.
- Write down their goals and keep a goal chart. This will help chart milestones and keep your child focused on their goals.
- Cheer them on. Children appreciate when their parents celebrate both the small and big victories so if your child is excited about what he or she have done, you should share and encourage that excitement.
- Don’t dwell on failures. Remember that everyone fails. So look at those failures as stepping stones and learning opportunities to glean something positive.
- Support them in any way you can. If you can’t pay for the classes that your child wants to take, find alternatives for them to foster their passion.
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