Struggles of An Aspiring Monster Man

This is a story of a climber who entered NUS with big dreams. Dreams of excelling in the rockclimbing competition circuit in Singapore and his pursuit of excellence in the sport. He would like to think that with the passing of age, his passion has transitioned from that of a burning flame to the gentle, unerring glow of a beam of light, but sometimes, a careless spark ignites a raging inferno.

Two factors played immense roles in shaping the child's development. First was the death of close friend who loved climbing. The friend succumbed in the fight against brain cancer and has since emblazoned an emblem of steely determination in child's heart. The boy channeled his elder's derring-do, and was constantly reminded to give his utmost in all his endeavors. To falter and give up in the face of petty obstacles would be a grave insult to his memory.

Second was the inspiration that was a climbing coach. Charmed by the very precise and graceful way with which his coach seemingly flowed through complex sequences, his curiosity was piqued. Starry eyed and eager to learn, he was a boy of 17 years when they got acquainted. The coach's ideas were powerful, yet they were never delivered in a way which was self sermonizing. He employed a seemingly magical way to cajole his students to perform beyond expectations. Beneath the stern facade revealed a person who was unfailingly gentle in his guidance. Under his tutelage, the young boy managed to win Intermediate Men with just slightly over a year of climbing experience under his belt.

Fast forward to his years in tertiary education. Fresh from his victory in the intermediate category, the boy resolved to make his mark in the open category. As a young novice competitor, he often stayed till the very end to watch his climbing heroes compete and never fail to be mesmerized by their feats of strength and skill. He aspired to one day to compete on the same level as his climbing heroes, as a worthy opponent to be reckoned with, and not as someone nobody takes seriously. Existing inherently within him was a clear voice telling him he needs to find his own path someday, for if he walks in the footsteps of his coach, he will forever only stay in his shadow.

While in varsity, he encountered an entirely different training system. Several obstacles stood in his quest for excellence. He has struggled with these issues and thought long and hard about his direction. These setbacks can be distilled into three points.

1. Competing Needs of Various Groups

Firstly, the climbing team is the only team within the school which has to cater to three different difficulty levels: novice, intermediate and open. The various groups have different competing needs. The novice climbers are new to climbing and require an experienced mentor to instill within them the right techniques and to guide them to explore their personal boundaries - as himself was a beneficiary of. The intermediate climbers, endowed with proper techniques but lacking refinement to execute harder moves, now needs a shift of focus to more strength based training. The open climbers compete on a whole new level. The focus has now moved to amalgamating technique and strength into finesse. Besides honing strength, the competitor also needs to sharpen his mind.

Here, it can be argued that even within the open men, there should be a further split into 'Open' and 'Monster'. The Open Men Finals event is a different ball game, where local climbers are pitted against international climbers. The emphasis is on route reading and the ability to execute the moves without mistake on the first attempt. The climbing styles are radical, and there is no better practice than actually qualifying for the finals and competing there on a regular basis. To succeed where others have failed, the character in our story needs to gather all his wits around him.

Unfortunately, the open men or the aspiring monster men only forms a small minority within the team. In an earlier post, his petulant self (one eager for change) has lambasted others for being blind to the needs of this niche group. He now realizes that it is unfair for the majority to accede to the requests of the minority. It would be plain inconsiderate to demand more from those who are already tottering under the gargantuan task of juggling competing needs.

2. Space Management Issues

The climbing gym is a small space which can only optimally house about 10 training climbers. On training days, the gym is often filled with upwards of 30-40 climbers, and space management becomes a dire issue. Optimal training requires ample space - space to move unimpeded around the gym doing boulder intervals, or space to jump from one station to another. Having been instilled from a young age against time wastage, he becomes jittery when forced to sit around and do nothing. But this is inevitable given the size of the team and the communal way around which training is structured.

3. Psyche, or Lack Thereof

To improve fast he needs to train with either climbers stronger than him, or climbers more psyched than him. During team trainings he often overhear peers droning on about being tired, or not wanting to push hard for fear of risking injury. Initially, he resented such people for being lazy and that they only have themselves to blame for being weak. Shortly after, realization dawned on him that people are motivated differently. Because of different backgrounds and personalities, he cannot ask of others the same he demands of himself.

When doing serious training, he morphs into a changed person, one with a darker character. That darker character - one that does not look down kindly at failures, one that will do whatever necessary to achieve pre-set goals, is requisite for improvement. No doubt this scares some people, and thus he cannot train with the majority of the team. Comments along the line of being stupid/crazy for locking off with so much weights in a bid for improvement goes some way into sapping the psyche. Receiving weird stares or silly giggles for screaming when trying to push through repetitions doesnt help either.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

Should the character in our story train with the team or not? He thinks he already knows the answer. In order to go where no teamNUS climber has gone before, perhaps he needs to walk the road ahead alone. Having better understood the complexities of humanity, he transcended the stage of being angsty with others for not sharing his training philosophy. Nevertheless, he refuses play second fiddle to his aspirations in a bid to appease others, and as a result live a pale imitation of life. In the famous words of Lance Armstrong, a 7 time Tour De France winner despite suffering from testicular cancer, Pain is temporary. Regret lasts forever.