Getting to know TPKRT [Season 2]

Episode 4: Quartermaster - Bryan Loy

(a.ka..... well. This one i better not say or he will say i hurt his feelings. =S)

Bryan, your perver- I mean- Friendly Quartermaster, also one of four 2nd generation guardians of life (I love how that sounds :3) is one of two prime examples of a metamorphosis, the other one being Damien. I'll get to Damien later. 

What they have in common is that at the start of the team, both were fairly confident (read: confident. not 'cocksure'. There's a difference.) that they would do pretty well in the sport because they were physically above average prior to joining. Like some of you are right now.

He was soon to realise, in time that it wasn't as easy as he'd thought. In fact, it wasn't as easy as we all thought.

Last Saturday's training (In which you all paddled out to 500m for the first time) saw lots of capsizes, and 'floundering fishes'. Its to be expected, i guess, since its your virgin attempt.

But us seniors went through this 'elimination period' after a period of rowing. All who didn't meet coach's standards were cut from the team to reduce our numbers. And Bryan made this unlucky mistake of capsizing in front of Coach, thus earning him the boot.

Instead of going home with his tail between his legs, he fought against coach's wishes to be allowed to stay.

Would you do that? Of course, it will be super hard to manage if everybody starts doing a Bryan and persuading Coach to accept you once you miss the mark, but if you insist because you truly wish to stay on the team, instead of because you want to save face or some other lame reason, then you really are worthy of respect.

Let's fast forward a little.

Despite managing to secure his place on the team, Bryan was the absolute slowest still, about 3 months into rowing. In spite of being nearly double Kok Wei's size, he couldn't seem to push any harder, and always ended up pretty far behind when we rowed long distance (We did not start training sprints until pretty late into the year)

The reason? Because he kept relying on those arms of his. 'Gym more, row faster.'

Wrong.

He believed so much in his bull strength, though, that he went for the T-boat category in our IVPs, and got knocked around.

Of course, we all did, being juniors and all, but Bryan was so affected by it that he began questioning himself and wondering what he could do to improve.

He then discovered that what mattered was not how much raw strength you possesed (termed 'bull strength') but how to effectively use that strength to move the boat (termed 'technique') After IVPs, Bryan moved to the K-1, and trained hard starting there.

Fast forward a bit more....

In January 2009, Bryan won his first medal- 8th Place in K-1 Novice Men's Category for the Singapore Canoe Marathon.

There's a happy kid for you.

Fast foward to the present day.

Now, the guy who capsized in front of Coach in a crucial moment, got kicked, revived, came back only to row last, but never gave up, has overcome all that crap that stands in any sportsmen's way and has quite literally went from zero to hero, and is among the fastest seniors on the team.

WHEREAS the person who was the first to get on the K-1, and who coveted the title of fastest rower on the team for a while very swiftly lost interest the moment somebody overtook him, and picked up smoking and other assorted crappy habits. He came back after a while and was told to shave his head as a symbol of apology but instead shaved a pattern into it.

In case you're wondering, it's most probably so that he could tell his friends that it was a fashion statement instead of something as humiliating as 'my coach punished me.'

(zomg i couldn't resist bringing that up. Its a prime comparison)

Genius in the sport or not, it means nothing without commitment.

Ask yourself if you can do the same as Bryan did. When you begin to capsize non-stop (which some of you undoubtedly will.), when you keep coming in among the last three (I can assure you that 3 of you will. xD) will you stick to the passion and commitment that drove you to join the team? Or will you cough up some loserish excuse like 'I guess kayaking wasn't my thing after all'

Anyway, enough about Bryan's history. It makes him sound like some relic.

Here's some interesting info!

Bryan also happens to be the resident gym nut, and is amazingly well-aquainted with the weights family - Mr 20kg, Mrs 15kg and their kids, Junior 10kg, Junior 5kg and little 2.5kg.

If you're ever in a suicidal mode and yearn to feel like an 80-year old Grandpa when you wake up the next morning, you can give Bryan a call. He'll be glad to help you out, provided you don't kill yourself first by dropping the bar on your head when your arms give out.

Hurray! You also get a free flexing in front of the mirror session with Bryan as your instructor! sign up today to begin your path to rock-hard.... um.... biceps.

And now you know more about Bryan. Whoop-dee-doo. And before we end, kiddies we'd like to remind you that being half-naked all the time is freedom of expression!