Some pictures.. sorry... logging off again.. will be back!

A tour of Nanjing Sports Institute's (NSI) Training Facilities

NSI has produced many World Champions - not only in Badminton but in many other sports. We had a tour of the training facilities, and we'll like to "open" the world of professional sports training to YOU! : )


1. Nanjing Sports Institute Museum. In this museum, it houses the history of the institute, profiles of all the world champions it had produced, and stores some of the trophies and awards won by the institute.





2. Table-tennis training centre. We saw the senior team train, and it was really superb! Fast, accurate and consistent - the makings of champions. :)





3. Gymnastics training centre - Trampoline. The kids were "wow-ing" away as the gymnast bounced and did several somersaults in the air.





4. Gymnastic training centre






5. Diving / Synchronised Swimming - This centre produced the diving gold medallist for Beijing Olympics 2008. As we walked through the centre, we saw how tough the training was, and the athletes were really disciplined and professional. It was a good learning experience for all.


To end this off, this institute tour is specially organised for our group. They usually don't open up these centres. So, our kids get to enjoy this special privilege. From the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU NSI!

Dedicated to Badminton Legend - Mr Zhao Jianhua`

The moment everyone is waiting for - the training visit by Badminton Legend Zhao Jianhua. Zhao Jianhua is a Former Badminton World Champion, and his name is on the "GUANG RONG BANG", as blogged earlier. He specially flew to Nanjing to visit and meet our kids.


We were very fortunate to be able to meet him. He wasn't able to confirm his visit until the last minute. So.. LUCKY US! :) In his short speech to the pupils, he shared his past experience as a player, as a coach of Mr Patrick Lau in Singapore, and also encouraged our kids to excel in the game. And his last words were "JIA YOU"!!

Rest and relax.. :)

APOLOGIES TO ALL FIRST! I cant seem to get the pictures and words arranged nicely! Do forgive this 1st time blogger.. :(

Hi all! Finally back to the internet cafe again. Apologies to all for the slow updates, as finding internet access is a problem here. Furthermore, time is pretty pack, thus we're always squeezing time out to try to update the blog promptly. And of course, being a FIRST TIME blogger, I apologise for the sometimes messy organisation of pictures and words... still trying to figure out how to do it. Thank you for your understanding! :)

Well, with requests coming in for more R&R pictures, here they are! (Sorry.. for the room pictures, I'll take it when I reach the hotel later and upload tomorrow).

R&R... so what do we do other than training?






1. We play on the field! We pick maple leaves and have great fun together. Our favourite "game" is to pick up the dry maple leaves and toss them into the air. Look at them! Its raining leaves!!



2. We play soccer! Everyone loves a game of soccer before and after training. The girls joined in too, usually playing a game of monkey or 2-sided friendly game. The venue? In the middle of the carpark right in front of the hotel. hhahaaa....











3. We go for walk/jog in the morning. The weather's a little too cold though.. brrrrrrr...
Some children could not take the cold air, so we decided to stop the daily morning walk/run to keep our kids warm and healthy. But the soccer starts when the weather turns warmer, about 10 - 15 degrees. :)










4. We go sight-seeing. Today we visited "FU ZHI MIAO", a shopping district that is famous in Nanjing. The locals say that if you have not visited "FU ZHI MIAO", you have not been to Nanjing! Ohhh... sounds serious! haha... I'm sorry I couldn't capture much of the kids photos as we split the kids up so that they can do their shopping. I'll do my best to capture more of them when we visit Shanghai on Saturday. :)



We LOVE MacDonalds! Just could not resist the burgers, fries and nuggets! haha





















Well, its times up again... SIGH... so little time..
I'll be back for more updates ya.
Most important message before I log off:
Everyone's healthy, happy, and they are playing great badminton!

TRAINING!

So how's the REAL training like everyday?

GIRLS:

For the girls, they train with the provincial 12-13 yr old squad. Coached by Ex-China National Champion Coach Tang and Coach Sun, the girls really had a fruitful (and tough) training with the China players. For every training, each of our girls are paired to spar with the local players, providing them with quality coaching and sparring. ONE-TO-ONE COACHING! WHERE TO FIND??!?!! The girls really enjoyed the training, as they asked for more training and extension of training days. They were also very quick to make friends with the local girls, playing, visiting their hostel and accompanying them during their lessons and self-study sessions. This is true-blue-original immersion!

BOYS

The boys train under Coach Tang, Ex-China National Champion. Their sparring partners are all national under-14 and under-12 top players, in other words, potential world champions! They also do one-to-one sparring, provided performance feedback, and help to correct the strokes of our players. It was truly a wonderful sight. Everyone was training very seriously, and they asked for more time to train with the China players. After training, the players will always voice out what they had learnt, and were always very excited about the next session.

Highlights of Nanjing Sports Institute...

This park is called "GUAN JUN YUAN" (Champion's Garden). It commemorates and gives recognition to all the sporting World Champions and Olympic Champions produced by this Nanjing Sports Institute. In the park, we can see photos and credentials of these sporting legends. For badminton, we saw legends like Zhao Jian Hua, Sun Jun, Liu Yong, whom are currently part of the coaching team in this institute. A true eye-opener for everyone!

"Guang Rong Bang" (Roll of Honour): This board is displayed in the badminton training hall. It bears the names of all World and Olympic Champions who had sparkled the badminton world during their heydays. The good news is, some of the trainees/players currently training and sparring with our Nanyang kids may one day be honoured on this very board - they are all potential World Champions! WAH!!

See the red board that stands right in the middle of the entrance? It shows the number of Gold, Silver and Bronze medallist the athletes produced by the Nanjing Sports Institute had won in this year's Beijing Olypimpics. The tally goes as this:

Gold - 5.5, Silver - 1.5, Bronze - 1.

What an achievement! We're all excited about the propects of world class training... *drooool*...

This "ruin" bears great historical significance. It is where Dr Sun Yat Sen trains his army in martial arts. It is now converted into a tennis court, and stand right next to the entrance of the institutute.