the dancer.

maybe my regret and the thing I would've liked to do if I could turn back time was to not give up ballet...it was a sacrifice I had to make when I was Primary 3/4, just 8/9 years of age and having to make such a big decision. giving up ballet for badminton cos the CCA times clashed on Wednesdays. hmm.

guess you could say I was one of the better students in the class, well I'd like to think I was anyway (I could do cartwheels very well). I still remember Mrs Simon even asking me to join classes at her ballet school outside of normal school CCA times. now I don't know why I didn't, why didn't I? hmm. anyway, I didn't. then somehow we changed from learning ballet to doing tap dancing...which was, well, ok but I didn't seem to be able to remember steps nor keep up all the time. then I had to give it all up.

was it giving up my love for dancing for my passion for badminton? I wonder...

I'll never know how things would've turned out if I didn't join the badminton team and instead took up professional ballet. can you imagine me as a dancer? hmm. but there was so much opportunity in badminton, it's built me a lot as a person. I can't tell you exactly what it's done, but I know it was a big part of my formative years.

8 years of training:
all the sweat and tears,
triumphs and defeats,
awards and recognition.

but now it's all part of my past. I don't think I really had a true PASSION for badminton, or did/do I? my parents trained me from young, and I had some talent. after lots of training I was more skilled than the average player, but I wasn't THAT good either. hmm. it hasn't lasted though, after leaving Singapore I haven't played anymore. guess it was enough.

and did you know I always wanted to be in a uniformed group all my primary and secondary school life? to NOT be in a sports team for once? I even wanted to audition for choir in primary 3 when we had to choose our CCAs. to do SOMETHING different. and my times to be "different" was when trialing during PE for Sports Day, doing high jump(which I could do a bit of!), long jump, and sprinting. however I wasn't allowed to compete because of the risk of injury meaning I couldn't play in the badminton competitions. the ONLY event outside of badminton which I've taken part in was swimmming in Primary 5. that was the ONLY time. and even so my coach wasn't happy at all. ah well. I can see where he was coming from, and yah, I can't complain I guess.

anyway.

those were the good old days when I was younger.

why am I suddenly talking about this? well, next year(2009) will be 10 years since I graduated from Primary school. time really flies, and I haven't seen so many of my classmates since we left school then! one of my friends was thinking of organising a gathering next year, just to catch up and see where everyone is at in life. sounds exciting! sadly I don't even remember some of my classmates from then! it's only from Facebook that I've managed to get in touch with a few of them. 10 years huh!

I wonder how much I've changed???

anyway.

now that I've grown up a lot more from my Primary school days, let's hope I've learnt something from then. especially to be strong in times of "trial", when faced with difficult "opponents" on the "court", cos half the battle is won in the mind. =)

just maybe...

I suppose I can be a fighter AND a dancer in my own way. =)