16/04/2020
"It is a privilege to be able to train" is almost cliche. Though we love our sport and our team, we will still sometimes complain. We may even look forward to the days after Nationals, where we could let ourselves loose. Yet, like others, we were hit with the biggest setback yet: that is, not being able to paddle, and then, not being able to compete. This is when we realise that it was indeed a privilege to be able to be whacked in training, to give 100%, to make 'sacrifices'.
It first dawned upon us something major was happening back in early Feb, when we cannot train at "external" venues. What is a canoeing team if it can only train in school compound? We were demoralised. But we called upon the spirit of 自强不息, and turned crisis into opportunity. We spent numerous hours to materialise the pool-based paddling, from conceptualising it, to making prototypes, and finally scaling things up to make it a reality. We improvised so that we could continue to train hard.
Yet, the Covid-19 situation got more serious, and soon, it turned out that NSG was cancelled. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Previously, we tried so hard so that we could continue to train for Nationals. But now, a stroke of fate had left us purposeless and lost. Although we tried to keep up a brave and positive front by contributing to the team or the school, but one by one, bit by bit, inside us, we still slid into despair and demotivation.
In circumstances like this, it seems hard to understand how to apply 自强不息. Our seemingly unyielding strive had turned 'meaningless' overnight. And our will doesn't seem as unyielding anymore.
Yet this supposed 'setback' actually is the biggest lesson we can ever learn in CCA. It is not even about how we stay resilient and overcome setbacks. A bigger moral is there for us to learn: "it is not just about you". In the face of the crisis, suffering, and cost to people's lives, we start to appreciate our disappointment is actually minute. It is not to brush it aside and avoid recognising it. Rather, we face it, get over it.
