Ice Skating 298: A Different Coach

Nana has stopped her ice skating lessons since September. Her Coach whatsapped right before a lesson to share that he was hospitalised and asked her to do some self-practice. That was almost the last we heard from him and I subsequently found out that he had suffered a stroke. Yes, Nana's Coach is a skating veteran and definitely into his years. 

Nana had been self skating irregularly for the past 2 months. I finally pressed her to find another Coach. She was very hestiant, having train with and only with Coach Raymond for the past 8 years. 

She had only wanted nice, kind and friendly coaches, who wouldnt scold her. After much thought, she finally decided on Coach M, who unfortunately is going on a maternity leave and recommended Coach Gen instead. I had actually long wanted to switch Nana bcos she was progressing so slowly and I think a new Coach, who could point her the finer details would help. We didn't and couldn't bcos there appeared to be some unspoken code among the Coaches about poaching students. 

The 1st lesson with Coach Gen was actually supposed to be last week but she messed up her schedule and we ended up with another self practice. I was very much looking forward to it actually. I think Nana will enjoy. Coach Gen seems like such a nice Coach and have produced many good skaters. I was actually very surprised that she has the availability to take on Nana. 

She finally had her 1st lesson today and was anxious. I made arrangements to bring and watch her. The class was at 9.45am but she could skate and practice as early as 8.15am. We didn't but started off with a nice MacD bfast and it was already 9am when she finally dilly-dally to the ice. 

Her self practice looked decent. Then she waddled her way to Coach Gen when time. 

The initial meet-up was definitely awkward. She said that Coach Gen asked her some personal information. 

The lesson started with the very basics, like front crossovers. 

In fact, there was a lot of basics done and Coach Gen was pointing and correcting the little stuff. 

These are exactly the little things that we needed Coach Gen to tell us bcos Coach Raymond didn't. Coach Raymond would point out some too but Coach Gen is very specific in her instructions, which Nana definitely benefited. 

Nana moved from basic stroking to some spins to jumps. Each time we made eye contact, she was smiling and looked happy. She must have enjoyed herself. Half an hour passed very quickly and Nana came back all smiley and sweaty. Yes, Coach Gen is very nice. Nope, she is not scare of Coach Gen. Hahaha. 

We ended the morning with a drink at Coffee Bean while I took a call.

I had a very happy Nana, relating how she now realises how off her this and that position was. Hmpf, she never listen to me when I used to say the same thing. Then, how she is enlightened to use her core. Zzzzzz. Not given meh? 

I am just very glad to see how much she had enjoyed her lesson. It had been awhile since I last saw her smiling on ice. Maybe it is bcos she hasn't done lessons for a while and this is refreshing but I would like to believe that we have found ourselves a good Coach. 

We duno what is in store for Nana. She knows that she is far from the National Squad and too late to try to squeeze in too. She has so much (other stuff) on her plate. She is at the crossroad. The uncertainty of the rink's future is not doing us good. Maybe we should just skate until the rink closes? I guessed, it is just to wait and see. For now, I just love seeing her loving the ice. 

Mummy Lim

Another Active SG Basketball Program

Zaky said that he is keen to join the basketball team in SST. I hope it is easy to get into the basketball CCA, since every other person in SST would be eyeing the robotics club. I fully support Zaky's inclination towards the basketball CCA; SST's canteen and cafe are selling too much good food and he needs a CCA that gets him moving. 

Many moons back, he was also interested to do basketball and we signed him up for the Active SG basketball program. He joined 2 seasons and the last one was right before covid. He then lost interest bcos any sports is hard work and he doesn't like hard work. Lol. 

It is the after PSLE season and covid restrictions have eased up. Zaky has suddenly asked to bring a basketball to school and enjoyed some basketball playing during his short 30 mins recess. Riding on his interest, I googled and found the Active SG basketball program nicely falling in the Nov - Dec period. I signed him up; the extra exercise will do him good. Hoho. 

The season started in beginning November and we have already missed 2 sessions by the time of signing up. No problem. We will miss another 3 sessions bcos of the Melbourne holidays. Never mind. Bcos the fee is so cheap and there is a 30% subsidy. We ended up paying $90ish for the remaining 5 sessions that we would be going. Can lah, can lah. 

Yday, we headed to the 1st session at JW Sports Hall. Zaky was exclaiming that he remembered this and that place as we exited the MRT. We started reminiscing the old times. He was a pre-schooler when we moved away from Pioneer. 

In the previous seasons for younger kids, the parents waited and watched their kids during the sessions. Now that these are 11 to 14 YOs, I was almost the only parent. I still enjoy watching my kids doing their sports lessons. 

The group was small, about 10 of them. 

Only 1 boy was a decent basketballer and he looked like a pro in that group. Majority of them looked like they have 2 left hands and legs. Lol. 

The highlight must be the basketballs getting stuck in the loop. 

The boys spent the 1st 30 mins on drills and the last 30 mins playing games. The drills were tiring, they were basically running up and down the court and passing balls but I didn't see any of them using the skill in the later games. Lol. 

The games were so funny. They were like a flock of bees moving from one end of the court to another. They looked like 6 YOs playing basketball. Hahaha. 

Well, Zaky had fun and he had the exercise that he needed. OK, objectives met. 

Mummy Lim

Another JB Trip: Day 3, Baking

The kids and I were again in the same room for the night. Nana complained that I was too noisy on Saturday morning and woke her up when I exited the room. On Sunday morning, I must either be quieter or they were more tired. Whenever I am traveling with the family, I always enjoy the early morning quiet time before the rest of the family is up. 

I headed to the gym at 7.45am. The gym and the swimming pool are supposed to be opened from 8am but I already heard screaming and laughter from the pool as early as 7.30am. I was surprised to see others at the gym and they looked like they had been exercising for awhile. Aiya, should have come early. 

The treadmill felt like it was on a slight incline or I was too bored; the treadmill faced the roads that barely had any cars distractions. 

Done!

The room was still quiet when I was back. I had to wake Daddy Lim at 9am for bfast. 

Why only the 3 of us? We didn't manage to drag Nana off the bed and had to tabao for her instead. 

My brother's family went for an earlier mall crawl while we decided to hit the pool. Nana didn't join us again and decided to just do her best "lying around in the house".

It was a good choice actually bcos the pool was so impossibly cold. I couldn't even step into the pool. Even Daddy Lim didn't last long and soon declared that it was the end to the swimming session. 

Soon, it was pack up and checked out. The many bottles of water (excluding those drank and thrown) over the 3 days. 

I finally threw away the old track shoes inherited from Nana and then took over Zaky's shoes. I think this pair wouldn't last very long too. On the 2nd day, Zaky ripped off part of the sole. I also realised how thin the insoles are or has Zaky squashed them flat? Lol.

We joined the mall crawling before the only activity for the day. Zaky looked like one of the uncles, parking himself on some random seats while the wife/ gf shops. He starts young. Lol. 

The only activity for the day was baking. This is like our must do activity whenever we visit JB. 

 

I baked butter cookies bcos everybody likes to eat butter cookies. Obviously, not many of them made it home. 

Felicia and Nana made mango puff and they were so generous with the cream. 

Zaky baked chocolate cookies and they were the messier cousins of my butter cookies. 

Ferlin baked a chiffon cake, that didn't even make it out of the shop. Lol. 

We parted ways at 4ish, right after the baking. My brother's family wanted to do dinner but we decided to skip dinner and hit the 2nd link for home immediately, hoping for a not too bad jam at the custom. The app said that the jam was decent. It was nowhere near decent. 

The jam on the Malaysia side started right after the last toll. For like 10 mins, we barely moved and it was plain frustrating. Fortunately, we started inching forward thereafter. Nothing to shout about but at least we were moving. 

We were stuck on the Malaysia side for almost 2 hours. My brother's family decided last minute to skip dinner too and GPS directed them to the Woodlands checkpoint. They did better than us and were already clearing the Singapore custom when we were still crawling towards the Malaysia checkpoint. 

The wait was so long that the kids finished watching their downloaded netflix movie. With no data on their phone, they were bored and we started random chatting in the car. At one point, they decided to put their head outside the sky roof bcos somebody else was doing that. Monkey see, monkey do.

It was pure joy when we crossed the Malaysia immigration and could drive across the bridge at good speed. Midway, Nana exclaimed that she has data! The kids were happy with social media and I was happy that we were reaching home. 

Yes, I needed that "Welcome". 

The Singapore immigration was a breeze and we cleared that in like under 15 mins. I was so glad to be on Singapore roads, no potholes, proper road markings, clear signage, no roads that suddenly appeared or end. Yay!

Home Sweet Home.

Mummy Lim

Another JB Trip: Day 2, Par2, Laser Battle and Danga Bay

We had lunch and headed to City Square for laser tag. It was a booking at 4.30pm, which meant a lot of mall crawling. This got us all very tired. 

The last 30 mins were spent in the arcade. Daddy Lim and I nuahed in a cafe and I even stole a cat nap. Hoho. Old people lah. 

After like forever... 

We paid RM58 per pax for 3 games. 

The 1st game, the kids dictated that it would be kids against the adults, thinking that their parents are old people and cannot move. Sure lose. Did they win? Of course not lah. They have not eaten enough salt yet and yours truly is very good with laser tag, which they found out too late. Hoho. 

It was a great workout for most of us, except for Daddy Lim, whose strategy was to park and snipe most of the game. Lol. After the 3 games, he was very surprised that I was perspiring. Ya lah. His strategy was actually not bad, he had good scores and very chill session.

The session brought us right up to dinner. After dinner, we went to Danga Bay Fun Park, where some fun fair/ amusement park is. There was a lot of lights. 

This was the 1st thing that caught our attention. 

I used to play this when I was a kid during CNY! I don't think these are sold in Singapore anymore. 

We didn't see many thrilling rides. There are many kiddy merry go round and stuff though. This caught our eye. 

The control is via the joystick panel. The wheel rolled forward/ backward with each stop/ start motion. There is no safety belt and it looked like somebody could be thrown out anytime but I didn't see that fortunately. I am not sure if it is intentional but the thrill level goes up one notch (for the spectator particularly) when that small space is shared by the kiddy motorcycle riders who were blasting their horn non-stop. Throughout the ride, I only heard Nana screamed continuously, regardless of whether it was her partner or her operating the machine. Lol. 

Then we went in search for more thrilling ride. I was joking that the most thrilling ride would be the one that looked the oldest/ most worn and the fear of the machine falling apart would keep the rider on the toes. Lol. The kids eventually went for the super fast merry-go-round for MYR 10 each. 

What I was keen to do was the bumper car at MYR10 each too. Again, the cars looked worn and there was no safety belt. Ferlin almost didn't make the cut for height restriction and had to share a car with the adult. After the ride, I fully understood the restriction. She is way too tiny and was thrown around like rag doll on the ride. Some of the bumps were really hard and I was bouncing around in the car too, let alone the tiny her. Luckily Daddy Lim opted out. I think the bumping would break his AS bones. 

With that, we headed back to the room for bed. Yawns. End of day 2.

Mummy Lim