Improvement

Recently, we had done our NAPHA Test which is basically a physical fitness test. Some people like it while others hated it. It consist of six items, standing broad jump, shuttle run, inclined pull-ups, sit-up, sit and reach and the dreaded 2.4km run. I will be focusing more on the run though. I was proud of myself that there was an improvement in my physical fitness. I always thought I could not run as fast as those in the class. I owed it all to my training. Training actually helps especially when it is torture since it pushes you to the limit.

I never liked the run. Ever since the start of 1.6km run in primary 4.It was tiring and I really disliked the moment when you stop running after the run as exhaustion sets in. I had ran 8 minutes and 14 seconds during the start of the run when I was 10.However,the subsequent years, to my dismay my timing was getting longer .The timing for an A got shorter each year as we are expected to be fitter since we are growing older. Apparently the older I get the slower I run. Something was wrong. When I turned 13, I had to run two more laps making the distance kilometres instead of just 1.6 Last Year for my 2.4km run I got 14 minute and about 20seconds for my timing which was seriously very bad. If you do the Math, my average speed each lap then was much slower when I was just 10 years old. It was not a promising sign and I got silver for it. That was the item that pulled my physical fitness grades down.

There are always people that complain about the physical training they have to do during their respective sport Co-curricular activities. I am pretty sure that many of us do complain. I am no exception. One year of tennis training is hard. We do not just hit tennis balls with our rackets. Tennis is a sport about speed and stamina. If you do not build up speed, however good the skill, if you cannot run fast, you lose a point and subsequently the match. Without stamina, speed is nothing. Of course skill plays an important part in the game. Our coach made us do push-ups, jumping jacks and a lot of running. Oh, there is a lot of foot-work training and jumping too. We had to jump over cones continuously for a few minutes before a short break and we continue with that a few more times. It may sound easy as you may think "It is only jumping" but you should try it continuously sometime and you will know the pain. Another thing we had to do is called the "5 lines suicide” As the name suggest, it is really tiring especially if you do it like 3 times in a row with short breaks in between. There are five lines on the tennis court. We first start from the fence and run to the first line nearest to us, touch it and run back to the fence. We next, without stopping will have to touch the second line and return to the fence and this goes on till the fifth line is touched and we would stop at the fence. It is something like shuttle run but longer. Our coach had a "sadistic"(I thought like that at first) mindset. He occasionally put the condition that the fastest runner of the five lines could sit out the next few runs while the others had to do them. The number would dwindle till there were a few left. So we could end up doing more than 5 times. That was the most that we did. We were left panting on the floor with sweat smeared on your faces. It was not enjoyable and we tolerated it. Sprinting was not my forte. I was one of the last (at least not the last) to finish all the runs.

I never felt I was getting physically fitter. I felt the same so I thought I would be the same. My shuttle run this year was quite good. I had beaten my own record by 0.6 seconds to achieve the timing of 9.28 seconds which was and a grade. I did not know how fast I went and only to learn it when the teacher announced it. Well, hard work had certainly paid off. A year of tough tennis training and sprinting had helped me achieve this I considered to myself a remarkable feat. Even though training was not enjoyable and was more like a torture, it was because it pushed us to the limit that we could improve. If you stay in your comfort zone and not putting a 110%, it is very difficult to see improvement.

The next success came during the 2.4km run. I dreaded the run as it made me gets silver last year. My good friend told me that the "secret" to running fast for long distance is to tolerate it. Simply just tolerate it. Do not stop when you feel tired and just continue. It is like the Nike's slogan “Just do it" Therefore that was what I did. I did not stop. I just kept running. Exhaustion was unbearable. The feeling of legs weighing a ton came which made you feel like stopping and walking. However, from past experience, stopping and walking only makes you feel the exhaustion and it will be harder to start running again. Once you stop, you feel the tiredness. So I kept telling myself not to stop and I finished the 6 laps without any breaks. Thus I got a timing of 12minutes and 56 seconds, much faster than last year. I had an immense sense of satisfaction. I not only improved in the timing but also the willpower to continue running. This test had shown me that improvement is only possible through hard work and determination.

Not just in physical fitness but other areas also need this determination and hard work to excel. There are many times when I feel lazy and did not want to carry on studying or doing the work and wished to postpone them to another day.However, this attitude is very bad. Postponement does not get the work done, YOU DO. So many times you need to tell yourself to" Just do it" Just finish it. Don’t stop and just continue. These are some things that comes to my mind when I feel like putting down the book or feel lazy. Before you know it, the work will be done.

To actually succeed in anything, I feel the person must have the right attitude. Hard work is need so you can improve. Determination is required so you can to push yourself to the limit. Remaining comfortable will not get it anywhere. Giving it you’re all and a little a bit more sends you on track for improvement. Improvement comes from hard work and hard work comes from your determination. They are inextricably linked. Even though it could be a torture or a pain to you, you just need to constantly remind yourself to just do it.