Post- performance stunting pics !

Presenting to you ZPL (Zhap-Pa-Lang) All-Stars!

Zhiliang (Ziteth ) and Joy

Chaang and Joy

XP couldn't resist the temptation and came to stunt. Spoil market sia !

ok. we got bored of Joy. Yirong's next.

Yirong got bored of being carried so she started to carry ppl -_-''

Yirong is strong !

Vincent camera shy (or so he claimed) ...

Cheerleading has many different definitions. It can mean having an awesome routine with plenty of pretty stunts for some. It can mean the conglomeration of people who enjoy the sport regardless of their stunt level. It can also mean cheering for those who cheer for you.

None of these are wrong.

Different people have different value systems. What is often seen as right or wrong really does not have a definite absolute answer to start of with. It all depends on whether the one judging has the same value system as the subject in question.

For the 5 of us, cheerleading has a totally different meaning. Our little audiences that day were only 6 years old, yet I would say the satisfaction of being with these children surpassed that of my very first Nationals back in 2005. Cheerleading, brings people together. Regardless of generations, ideals, beliefs, background. It brings people together.

So be it whether you are active, retiring, retired (or expired -.-) I strongly believe that it is important to give back to this cheer community of ours, so that everybody can grow. If the local cheer community cannot grow , people's stereotype of cheerleading will remain at the '' girls carrying pom poms'' level. And teams will have problems finding new blood. Without new blood, our sport cannot carry on. And without our sport, I really cannot bear to imagine where we as cheerleaders will be right now.

Due to injuries, work, other commitments, all cheerleaders will have an ''expiry'' date. There will come a time where all your presence will be forgotten. There will come to a point where you will have to go.

Every story will eventually have an ending...

But with every ending comes a new beginning as well.

Romance of the Five Kingdoms

The following is an epic recounting of the historical formation of ZPL All-stars. (The not-so-epic version is truer, but not so interesting and much shorter. You can find it below this post.)

There was a time, long buried in the mist of antiquity (Monday night), when Zhiliang, formally a humble member of Magnum Force, received an urgent call to perform. Upon hearing of the details his heart was greatly troubled, for his onetime comrades were caught up in “other commitments” on that fateful day. Knowing the ancient Chinese proverb of “far water cannot save near fire” he decided to find allies with whom the performance could be done with.

First, knowing that he was woefully in-experienced when it came to organizing events, he had to find an advisor who had more experienced. After consulting the Gods (And his phone book) he came up with the name “Chaang” of Team Spectrum.
















When the message from Zhiliang came, Chaang was practicing the ancient art of nua-ing while meditating upon where he shall roam next. Glancing into his organizer, he saw that he had a slot on the day free, and proceeded to respond to Zhiliang’s message. What words of wisdom he imparted to the young cheerleader was lost to memory, but in short Zhiliang was filled with renewed purpose, as well as a list of heroes who might be able to aid him in his hour of need.

After hours of questing, Chaang and Zhiliang were joined by three other champions. Namely

Vincent, once of Magnum, Magnum X and Knights

Yi Rong of NTU Aces

And last but by no means least,Joy, of TP Blazers















With the performance a mere five sunrises away, our heroes had but one chance to come together to put together a routine.

(The rest of the recounting will be told less epically, so as to make it easier to understand)

As the performance was rather last minute, we only had Friday to train.
With all the members being from different squads and generations, training was no easy task. Problems that had to be overcome included the differences in techniques, not to mention working styles. Flyers got the chance to try new stunts/transitions with new bases and bases got the chance to be smacked by new flyers in new and interesting ways. All in all, I felt that it was educational all round.

After a couple of hours, as well as numerous breaks for out of shape people (aka me) to catch their breaths, we managed to put together the routine.


It might seem quite simple, and certainly could do with polishing up, but it’s quite an achievement for just one training.

Saturday, 28 June 2008 was the day of the performance. Though there were some minor hiccups, such as having to play the music on a radio the size of a tissue box, we pulled through and got all stunts up!
This really is history in the making…It probably will be quite some time before one has the chance to see so many people from different squads in one routine performance.




Naturally, it was photo taking time after the performance...
Twould have been a waste of the scenery and uniforms if we didn't...

Libs
















Unglam Shot


















Passing on cheerleading to the next generation


















5 Uniforms, 1 stunt





















Smileing(for the sake of my fingers)

For the first time in the history of Singapore's cheerleading sceen, 5 very different cheerleaders from very (almost) different backgrounds are coming together to perform a routine.. for charity !

Date: 28 June 2008 (sat)

Time: 5pm

Venue: NTU Alumni Club ( Bona Vista )

Audience : Many small children !

The lineup for this performance is ....

Chaang , Team Spectrum

Zhiliang, former Magnum Force

Vincent, Representing VJC Knights.

Yirong, NTU ACES ( i wanted to put her bow and arrow pic lor .. )

Joy, TP Blazers

5 different cheerleaders. 5 different uniforms. 5 different teams. 1 fantastic routine!

*thanks to Ken (aka baybay) from Blazers for coming down to our training to help!

Spectrum Mats Cleaning Night

yes...our mats jus simply stinked!...
stinked with all the smelly sweats of our bases (note: only from our bases.. not the flyers)
ahahaaa

So its time to give them a good wash... yeah...


here are the photos peeps

Lazy Gerald playing w the hose






how committed we are...
Cos we want our mats to smell nice again....


sad and tired congyan





its photo time.
but Ah teck doesnt seem v satisfied to take photo at that point of time.



look how sincere ah teck was...rare chance! =x







unlike Kah Xian and Ah liang. they do enjoy cleaning mats.



and when cleaning gets more n more boring,
our dear sexy congyan decided to take a bath...

so sexy~ wee wee

but this one like so ghosty! ahaha




this photo jus... simply.. turned me off..
Kah xian's sickening face -_-'''






tian mi mi~
looks like some cake cutting moment for wedding couple i tot




an extra hand at the left side.... ahaaa


trying to prove that gerald is big enough for 2. wf and kat ahahaa




alright some decent group photo taken with the last mat of the night!!!







marking an end of the cleaning night...

look at the no of mats we've cleaned...

thanks those who had contributed and helped out...
NOMORE SMELLY MATS...


and lets hope that it doesnt rain tmr!!!


hmmm its time to turn in...
kat is tired...
after doing so many pike...CHUI PIKE i mean.

alright... some photos, in fact 3 taken during Denvers visit.

Kai Chaang & me

the pic looks better w.o chaang's sickening face


stunting with ACES seniors Xingwei and Kelvin.
Cupie. very stable cupie.
and KC is known to be the cupie king. ahaha

shall take a real good one with mr lee chaangru soon.
jiayou

Magnum Force , Denvers visit.

A super last min decision got Kai and Chaang to visit some of the best teams in Singapore.

First Stop was Ngee Ann Magnum Force. They were preparing for the NDP cheerleading performance. Very big group !!

The standard stretching....

Ouchhhhhhhhhh !

can you all spot Eugene? ahahahaha.

Magnum Coach Lenny getting things organised.

Some random snap shots..

2nd stop of the day was to Potong Pasir CC Denvers Cheerleading Squad where we linked up with Kat. NTU ACES and Denvers were training for an upcoming combined performance.

Attempting the 3-2-3 pyramid for their performance..

I just love to see xinwei dance. ahhahahahha. And Pam has great facial expressions !

Before i end this post, I would like to quote Ben's entry from Denvers's blog (http://community.livejournal.com/teamdenvers) which i found very meaningful. It is something we should all learn from.

[Mar. 20th, 200801:53 am]

A sigh of a hugh relief that the competition is over :) Well, we had all the practices and the preparations yet we did not hit the routine well enough for a nice placing position. Perhaps it was the excitment atmosphere that made us lost our perfection to routine. I can go on the many reasons on why we fell. Nevermind about that.

Nevermind about the results. Nevermind about not winning. We all share the same laughters and tears. We been through the sprains and knocks from stunts and trainings. As a team, we win as a team and lose as a team. We come as a team and leave as a team. Never blame anyone for the failure to execute the routine well.

From being a pioneer of Cheerobics and cheerleading with the batch of Lenny, Victor and so on, it has never been the winning that I would look at as my ultimate satisfaction. Actually it is the unity and teamwork that I saw at each performance and competition. The effort you put in with so many trainings and perform only for that 5 minutes. It just so wonderful to know you bunch of crazy people. We let ourselves down to be as ourselves and get to know the good and the bad side of each of you! The gossips and the sacarstic moments. We say it here and there but at the end of the day, we give each other a good pat at the back or a hug. No hard feelings mate!

Denvers as I can see, one of the only team that accepts cheerleaders of all shape and sizes. An opportunity given to an individual to experience cheerleading and never discriminate on our member's weight and physical aspects outlook. Never judge a book by its cover. This statement held true. As we know one another better. We begin to realise how wonderful he/she can be. Treating each other with a level of respect too.

This cheerobics 2008, emotions stock market ran all time high and the captured on video incident of our beautiful Miss Pamela, shows that our team members are far more important than the competition and anything else. Kudos to Pamela that she tahan all the way to the end and black out at the very end. She tried her best to hit her stunt despite her condition. Lilo sprain her feet, Joanne sprain her feet, BB sprained her feet. Yea, so many Mas selamat wannabe but I can see that they took the effort to nurse their injuries back to the best possible state and try again. Bases - their wrists and hands were hurt, bruises unavoidable, yet the bases still strive on to put the best toss and the best stunt forward. Some in the corner EMO, some doing music, some going through the motions, some worried here and there. AND some try to cheer others up by irritating others, telling stupid jokes and just being plain stupid. Without these colourful characters, our MPR is a dead town!!

So Denvers, continue to keep the fire burning in the team, prepare for some serious fun and outings in the coming weeks. Spread the cheerleading spirit and continue to improve ourselves and learn from one another and other teams too. We are a team that always will make the first step forward to offer the handshake to make friends. That is why our motto.... DENVERS LEAD THE WAY! ALL THE WAY!