Short Track Speed Skating Seminar (November 15-16 , 2016) with Coach Ji-hoon Chae

November 20, 2016

Short Track Speed Skating Seminar (November 15-16 , 2016) with Coach Ji-hoon Chae

We were honored to be able to train with the former Olympic Gold Medalist 1994 for the 500m Short Track Speed Skating , Coach Ji-Hoon Chae from Korea.
Last November 14, 2016 (Monday) I trained with the team because I wasn't able to attend the past 3 days of on ice and off ice training. Ate Kat arrived in the Philippines November 9 and started training on the 11th on to which I have classes because it's a Friday , I can't skip it due to the fact that I had to skip school next meeting because of the seminar. Saturday (11/12/16) I picked up my mom from the airport and was unsure on what will be the exact time of her arrival. Sunday (11/13/16) I went to the college I'm applying to transfer to take the entrance examination and then we headed to NAIA again to update my mom's lost baggage.

Monday ! Training day with the team finally , mostly what we did is off ice because I wasn't able to catch up for the on ice training. We ate lunch at Karate Kid and Ate Kat treat us some healthy smoothies from fruitas. Then we headed back to the rink , to do some public ice time, Ate Kat helped me with my crossovers.

Tuesday (November 15, 2016) First Day of the Seminar ! I had to drop by at school to do my impromptu speech. I was actually annoyed at myself because of the topic that I picked... "How I relax.." fast forward after I did my speech , I quickly sneaked out of our classroom to work my way to megamall skating rink and not be late. I'm not late for the seminar but I'm late for the on ice training , more like absent. What we did in the morning was Coach Ji-Hoon introduced himself and prepared a presentation and gave us a paper for our off ice and on ice guide. Then we ate lunch at Frankie's + we have a free chicken joy from Jollibee talk about chicken overload ! I went to Watson's right after our lunch because I had to buy something and dropped by at Papemelroti. After that I headed back to the rink and we did On ice which was all about the drills , really hard. Zamboni time kicks in so we had to get off the rink and do off ice which was not really bad... Coach Ji-hoon was demonstrating each and every technique that was listed on his paper.

We were supposed to hang-out at Ate Kat's place but its pouring rain , we decided to play bowling instead which was very fun because it's my first time to try it ! I've been longing to try it ever since I got a discount when I attended a PHSU Training Camp year 2012 if I'm not mistaken ... a lot of freebies were given away! Though yes , as I've said... I wasn't able to use my bowling discount. Thank you to Sir Martin ! Hyped after bowling we were starving , the team decided to eat at Cabalen a Filipino buffet restaurant that Ate Kat was really craving for. We actually ate ALL the bananas !!! One thing is for sure , don't take me to a buffet restaurant because it'll just be a waste, kidding aside, no really. I'm not really used to eating a lot so my stomach is not in for buffet, just for combo or a la carte.

Wednesday (November 16, 2016) Last Day of the Seminar ! The Beautiful Good Bye
In the morning Coach Ji-Hoon sharpened our skates and then we ate lunch after that he continued sharpening our skates , I actually lost my team mates for 30 minutes so I had to stroll around the mall and look at expensive things to kill time, Plus I'm saving money for some important reasons. After our break we had the most intense off ice ever , with no exaggeration it was the hardest for me, stairs. I'm really afraid to jump and go to the third step while balancing and having to maintain such posture but I have to endure it , it's for my own good. After that we went on ice to do laps... and went off ice again for the last time with Coach Ji-Hoon for the jumps, drills and belt. Oh and did I mentioned that Edward already left at 12pm so he wasn't able to join us till the end of training. We went to the food court to buy bubba tea and ate dinner at Kyo Chon and headed back to the rink and had a short meeting with Sir Martin.

Thank you so much Ate Kat , for always encouraging and motivating each one of us and most importantly thank you for believing in us. We can do it ! Also I Promise to you , I'll improve the next time you come back and see me skate , I won't let you down. Thank you for teaching me what I need to learn and for giving me a reason to not give up speed skating , I won't.

See you next year ! Racing Season is coming up GoodLuck to our Team !

(I'm actually really sick , while writing this blog, must've been really tired these past few days)