Getting to know TPKRT [Season 2]

Episode 2: Captain - Samantha See

(a.ka. Sam the man or Sam the glam. Use at own peril.)

Ok guys. We have a confession to make.

In truth.... all the medals which you saw scattered on the table during our recruitment drive?

(Caption: Sam smiles happily)

They all came from Sam.

(Caption: Sam smiles happily again)

(Captain: Sam smiles horrifyingly)

I fear for my life.

Anyway, don't be shocked... Previously the Vice-Captain, Sam is one of the Grand-Seniors. One of the legendary Sannin, the other two being Jiraiya and Orochim- *Gets clobbered by Sam*

I meant.... Damien and Weijie. The three of them make up the remnants of the pioneer batch of TP Canoeists.

Anyway, Sam's winning streak starting during the Round Ubin Kayak Race 2008, where, after 2 gruelling months of training amidst monsoon winds of up to 8 knots, and obstacles such as waves generated by wakeboarders (I'm not kidding/ exaggerating.), she proceeded to swipe the position of 2nd runner up in the women's K-1 category.

Mind you, its a 22km long race, and the competition was very stiff. And the waves in the sea are of a completely different level from that of the reservoir.

After a brief off-season break ( We were hardly ever off-season. T_T) We rushed straight at the RP invitationals '08 - Our version of the Inter-Varsity games.

During that competition, She secured her place as one of the strongest girls among the polytechnics by clinching the runner up position for Women's K-1 500m.

One christmas later, we went for the Singapore Canoe Marathon, where she took up the Junior womens' K-1 Category, and won 2nd Runner up... again (*sob*, i want one too)

She didn't stop there, going on ahead to easily grab another 2nd Runner up position from the MR500, which took place in March. The only problem with the last one being that they kind of lost her medal and all, which really screwed up the victory.... but nevermind, she shall forgive and... uh...never forget.

That's a total of 4 medals.

In the extremely competitive field of Kayaking, that counts for something. A good way to tell would be that we all underwent the same training but haven't produced any medals of our own so far.

(I must emphasize the 'so far.' =D)

Do you now see what we mean when we emphasize attendance? True, only the Saturday trainings are compulsory, but if you miss out on trainings, it will definitely show, and even if you dilligently show up for every single training, it may not necessarily show right away.

This is the reality of our world. If you want to be a kayaker, it is something you must learn to deal with.

Sam represents the quality of rising to the challenge, no matter how big it may be.

(...... like i said...)

Of course, while i make it sound so easy for Sam, the truth is that things were never really so smooth sailing.

As you can see, girls are a...um.... scarce commodity in this team. In the senior batch, it got so that only 2 girls were left, Sam being one of them.

As fate would have it, her companion dropped out too, due to overwhelming external commitments. To be fair to her, it was just as well, because you can't be somebody in this field without your absolute focus.

It was a pretty hard blow to us, but i can imagine it was the worst for Sam, as she was then the only remaining female senior left on the team. I don't know if Sam's gonna kill me for writing this, but she didn't need to hide it with her sunglasses - that day was the first and only time we saw Sam cry.

However, her passion for the sport and her commitment to the team were both overwhelming strong and she refused to let herself and the team down by backing out as well. It was around this time that she began training anew, that led to her Round Ubin victory and eventually, the winning streak.

Girls, (and guys too), do you think you can do the same? I'll say this bluntly - out of the first batch, only 3 remain. Out of the 2nd batch, only 4 remain. And out of our 3rd intake last year, only 4 actively remain. Its probably safe to assume that out of your large group currently, not everybody will be staying.

However, if you do choose to leave us, I hope it will be because of your own reason, and not because your friend backed down and dragged you along with him.

If you choose to back out because of that reason, you won't merely be a reject in kayaking. You'll be a reject in Life.

So - take a leaf out of Sam's book, coming down to train whenever she is free even though she is currently on external SIP (student internship).

Although i don't recommend working as hard she does, because you'll soon be prone to frequent bouts of..... 

(Errr...Insanity.)

I guaruntee that even you cannot manage to remain on the team, you will definitely be somebody, wherever it is you choose to go.