Diaries of an iceskater mom...#3A. Training

I didn't want to number this as 4 ( pantang pantang.... also it's Hungry Ghost month....lol) But mainly because I want to say something about post #3. Something was nagging at me all last night cos I kept thinking.....was I too 'action' and 'show offy' ??? Anyways, just to clear the air ... and my mind, it was not meant to be like that. If it came across that way, then it's my poor choice of words.....oops ! More to add to my experience. I am just a very very proud mom who like all moms love to talk about their child ! Anyway, I am back to earth now.

In any case, let's move on to the topic here... training. I won't elaborate on Julian's training in Canada because I am not there. I only got to see it last December when I was there for a visit. Suffice to say...it is boring....starts about 8 or 9 in the morning ( depending on which day of the week) and ends at about 5 pm. Then it's home to cook dinner and the next day's lunch, chill and sleep. Repeat the next day.
Julian has a vlog on it....for some reason only known to himself, he calls it a VeeLog. You can see the facility he trains in.

However, training in Malaysia is an entirely different story. All the ice rinks are in shopping malls and are very crowded. Hence, whatever training is done after hours, ie when the mall is closed.
Training would be early in the morning, before school like 6.30 am and then off to school at 8-ish. In high school, Julian gets permission to be late on certain days and the school guards are accustomed to see him arrive well after school starts. Thank God the school authorities are understanding about this... otherwise he is likely to get kicked out for late attendance and frequent absenteeism ! I remember during his Primary school days in a Chinese school, I am the one who got scolded by the teachers for taking him out of school for training stints and competitions ! I guess I was considered the 'irresponsible' mom and a bad example for allowing my sons to skip school for competitions ! Heaven forbid such a thing in a Chinese school! It was such a challenge to take him out.

So coming back..... training continues at night, some nights at 8pm. and some nights after the mall closes at 10 pm, depending on the rink schedule.
We carried out this routine for years, sacrificing entertainment and play time.....not withstanding birthdays or whatever. I remember Ryan ( Julian's brother) skated on his birthday, fell and we spent the rest of the night at the hospital , waiting for him to get stitched up. And this was his sweet 16th !!! Luckily, he's not a girl !

School holidays were spent on training stints abroad. In the early days, it was so hard to find a coach overseas cos we have no contacts and there was nobody who could help us. I recalled going blindly to the rinks in Harbin and asking around. We did spend one session there eventually which was such an eye-opener ! Looking back, we were so naive !

All in all, most school holidays were spent training. In fact, Julian missed his high school prom because he was training in Seoul at that time.
We did stints in Bangkok, Shenzhen, Shanghai ( with the dragon lady who scolded the parents as well), Beijing and Seoul..... and eventually settled on Canada.
So in a nutshell, that's the training part....more detailed blogs about each place to come....esp the dragon lady in Shanghai !
Stay tuned !