My Nike Tribal Challenge preliminary round

Sunday morning we went to the first service at 8.30am because of the afternoon Nike Tribal Challenge at Menara Summit. Driving from Ampang to USJ is quite far by Penang standard but with the help of Kesas highway, we reached USJ within 30 minutes.

We were supposed to have another practice but Ann and Evie came late. Finally when everybody was around, we worked on a few extra performance stuff we thought of after watching The Curve's preliminary round.


I have no idea what I looked like dat...

The class started at 2.15pm, led by Swee. She's supposed to do the warm up and then the 2 tribes would take over, before she wrapped everything up.

Kat's team was up first and they did BC 16 The Whistle Song and BC23 Hardcore Paradise. They had a full team of 3 girls and 2 guys. You could defintely see the energy oozing from their performance. With loads of showmanship, they had done their homework, though I felt some of the stuffs they did looked rather unnatural and somewhat disorganised compared to Terence and his tribe(cannot help it, have to mention them again). Technique-wise, I thought it could have been better.

They did okay with the songs but in the second half of Hardcore Paradise, the entire tribe went off beat for about 10-15 seconds- perhaps they got a bit carried away with it. Anyhow, the good news for them was they managed to find their way back into the beat.

After that, it was our turn. I made in the introduction and got things started. We did BC24 Sexy and BC20 I Don't Need Nobody. My objective of choosing the 2 songs was to show 2 different contrast: 1 with smooth sensual movement, the other pure power and energy. Most of our showmanship was in our first track and the emphasis was on the entire tribe's technique.


Ascending elbows with clean shaven armpits


Combat guard


Jab combo

Swee took over after we were finished and at the end of the class, my boss Jacqueline actually announced the results. We lost by 1 point to Kat's tribe. It was a bit disappointing but all is not lost.

Somehow right before the result was announced, I had the feeling that we were 2nd- the fact that Jacqueline was looking at me when she mentioned that the 2nd team may still make it to the final via wildcard, probably helped a bit.

So what went wrong? Looking at the competition at The Curve and Summit, it was pretty obvious what the MAIN criteria was: SHOWMANSHIP. No doubt Kat's tribe had more to show in this department.

When I said that I was going the wrong direction with the practices, she made quite a profound statement:

"You were training us to be instructors...."

That's the spot.

Being a perfectionist in the things I do, I tried hard to improve the ladies' technique that I'd neglected the fun factor of the tribal challenge. Most of the practices, you'd get "guards up", "roll your shoulders", "set your heels," etc instead of more showmanship. Darn, I suck as a tribal leader, but I sure did one heck of a good job as a teacher- I'm convinced at least 2 of my tribe members can now attend a Body Combat instuctors' training and pass it.


Friendly competition

So what's next for the tribe?

I think everyone should start praying hard(the whole tribe is made out of christians who worked in the medical line since Jean pulled out) for the wild card. In the meantime, we won't be practising unless we are selected for it... but I'll be looking at the songs again to see what other fun stuff we could do in the tracks for the final round should it happen.

Even if we are not chosen to the final round, it has been a nice experience getting to know Ann, Jean and Evie. It's been wonderful taking up the role of a teacher for once in Body Combat. For the three ladies and my gf, at least they will always remember to keep their boxing guards up in every Body Combat class.

Rumble at The Curve

The tribal challenge officially started last weekend. Of the three programmes, my only concern was of course Body Combat. So Last Saturday, immediately after my RPM class in Menara SPK, I rushed to The Curve with my gf to see Terence and Renee in action... and boy I wasn't disappointed!

It's a pity I didn't bring my camera that day. When I reached there, the first tribe led by You was presenting track 2 and 3 from the current BC release. From outside, the tribe looked pretty disorganised. The tribe members seem lost at times, not knowing what was coming next. They're gonna be steamrolled by Terence and Renee, I thought to myself.

Terence's tribe was next. All his tribe members(all females) wore black camisoles and he was wearing his BC top. They also had dogtags around their necks(though Terence lost his after the presentation) and with black wraps on their fists and black/white army fatigues bottoms, they really looked the part!!! They presented power track 1 from BC23 and track 6 from BC24. Techniquelly the tribe members were not that good but it was fun watching them. For track 6, Terence even started the track like a drill sarge with a cigar in his mouth and a revolver!!! The tribe members didn't look nervous(if they were) and they seemed to be having loads of fun.

Next on was Renee's tribe. They were wearing all black with words like "ARMY", "COMMANDO" on their top. With yellow wraps, they didn't catch that much attention as Terence's tribe, but they were power and energy personified! Their presentation of track 3 from BC16 and track 7 from BC15 were powerful and the moves were well executed, though I wonder how her tribe was allowed to do 2 power tracks(the rules state that tribe must do 2 contrasting tracks). It was a very tight presentation overall.

So who won?

My gf and I both agreed that Terence's tribe was more fun to watch with good showmanship. However, I felt that Renee's tribe had superior technique and should get the win over Terence.

I later found out that Terence's team won the qualifying round because of their showmanship. I was looking too much into the techniques of the tribe members and that proved to be a fatal mistake.

(To be continued...)

Final practice

Last Friday night, the tribe met at Fitness First Menara John Hancock right after my Body Pump class for a last practice. Didn't really do much but corrected their technique and helped them to remember the choreography.


The guy behind is not part of the act

Jean, who is not participating anymore, was there too.


"Just trying to be supportive..."

Most of the time it was the final opportunity to get everything right. Call me a perfectionist, but techniques are very important to me(which leads to one problem, that I will digress later).


"Not when I'm drinking!!!"


Huh? Your friend said I pretty meh?


You wanna take pic, just take lah- I couldn't care less anymore...



OK, now you can shoot me...

Since I only had about 1 hour's break before my RPM class, break was short and we went back to work.


Yeah ladies.... show me clean armpits!

FF Menara Summit, here we come!

Life without bulu ketiak

This is my second day with my armpit hair. So how did it go yesterday?

I am feeling a bit of discomfort- a bit of geseran and sticky.... makes me wonder how did the ladies(and some guys for that matter) can tahan this. Gotta remember to buy talcum powder to smoothen the skin later.

So I don't think this will be a permanent thing for me. The hair must come back once the tribal challenge over. At most, I will probably just trim it in future so that it doesn't resemble a wild bush. And just because I have nothing better to do, I have a link for you to go HERE.

Speaking of the challenge, looks like Jean will not be joining us anymore. She will be flying to KK on Sunday morning for work and won't be back til 16 Sept. Even if we were to enter our team at the last gym to have the challenge(15 Sept at FF Wisma Consplant), it will still be too late. I will check with the judges on Sunday if Jean can participate in the later stage should we make it to the semi-finals. Not hoping much though...

My tribe is slotted to compete this Sunday FF Menara Summit at 2.15pm. But the one to watch is still the clash between Renee and Terence at 4pm FF the Curve this Saturday. It's such a pity they are facing off in the first round because I think both tribes are worthy of a place in the finals. No offence to any other tribes competing there, but I think the winners of The Curve will be one of these 2 tribes -Maybe the losing tribe will then be given a wildcard entry to the next round too.

Seems to me that most combat tribes are doing muay thay tracks. I can understand that muay thay tracks give you a lot of chances to show power and aggression in the competition but the tribes should also consider the execution of the elbows. A lot of people, including some combat instructors, can't do the elbows properly and it will spoil the tracks. I had wanted to do power track 1 but my tribe members wanted muay thay so I had no choice. So, I chose one which I think is an easier muay thay to do. Hope things will turn out fine this Sun.

I will try to take some pictures of our tribe and let you all know the outcome of the preliminary round.

Goind bald for my tribe

No, I didn't shave my head.

It's rather unfortunate that my hair on my head is rather soft- I can never do much styling with it. Some more it's so little that people think I have a receding hairline. Anyhow, I will be wearing my bandana for the competition so the hair no a problem here.

My problem is I will be wearing a sleeevless top and for the muay thay track, executing a ascending elbow would expose my unsightly armpit hair. So yesterday night with the assistance of my gf, I did something I've never done before in my entire life- I shaved my armpit.

This is how it looks like now...


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almost as smooth as a baby's bottom...

How I spent my Merdeka...

This normally doesn't happen to me but I actually went shopping with 3 ladies yesterday. Before you think I was in ABC(alligator, buaya, crocodile) mode, let me clarify they are my tribe members for the upcoming Nike Tribal Challenge: My gf, Ann, and Jean. The last member, Evie, couldn't make it because she was have stomach pain probably her aunty is visiting her again, if you ask me.

We met at Mid Valley City and started our shopping at Studio R for our wraps. Everyone was late except my gf and I. Anyhow, eventually Jean turned up, followed by Ann. We had planned to get black wraps for our hands since we wanted to wear red top with black bottom, but unfortunately they only have red ones. I then suggested that Ann, Jean and I should wear black top with red wraps and I could lend my 2 black wraps to my gf and Evie. So Ann and Jean got their red wraps while I bought a bright yellow one for my own use in class. We then proceeded to look at other shops like Why Pay More?, My Dance Shop, and Puma(because Ann wanted a pair pumas). I tried to help out with the clothe selections but realised that my feminine side has gone dormant for far too long since my uni days(when I was hanging out with 5 female uni-mates then). I decided to stop helping because my taste was obviously out of sync with theirs; besides, it felt a bit too gay.

After Ann for her Puma shoes, we decided to have our lunch... which was when I remembered my camera in my waist bag. So I took it out and tried to take Ann and Jean's picture.


"darn that cup!"

This is Ann. She's in her 20's (though she looks very young because of her petite build) and works as a medical saleslady with a renown company. She was the person who left her number at the front desk of FF Subang Jaya for me. Apparently she used to attend my Friday combat classes there before I moved to another location but when I first met her, I could not remember seeing her before(I still can't!)... maybe I'm getting old or she's too short for me to notice.

She didn't really want her pictures to be taken, especially after my gf said that I was going to publish them on my blog. However, Jean was more than happy to help me with it.


Thanks for being a good sport!

Jean is also in her 20's and she works as an auditor with a top accounting firm... which is quite odd because she doesn't look nor behave like one since people who deal with numbers are the most boring people in the world. Like Ann, she looks much younger than her age. When I first met her, I thought she was still studying!

Evie(might as well mention her too though she wasn't around), who should be in her 20's as well, is Ann's colleague. She's quite tall, probably around 5ft7in or so. Because of her long limbs, she faces the same problem like me... we both have to work a little harder to look strong with our Body Combat execution.

While we ate and chatted I tried to take Ann's picture again but she spotted me...


"No, no, no...."

I'm not going to give up, I told myself.

After lunch, Ann and Jean wanted to have some Baskin Robbins because of the 31% discount. So they headed for their ice-cream while I went down to the car park area to get a quick hair cut at X-Cut. RM15 for a 15 min cut was not bad a deal(too bad my camera battery was weak and I wanted to try to shoot Ann again later).

When we went back to Baskin Robbins, we found Ann and Jean eating away their quart. It was exactly at their moments of ecstasy and vulnerability that I managed to do this.



YES! I've got you!

By the time she realised it, it was too late. So they did the next best thing: continue to indulge in their Baskin Robbins.


Ta-dah... Finsihed!

Once they're done, We went straight to FF Summit for our practice. Miraculously, Evie was no longer in pain(gas, she said) and would be meeting us there.

So we practise in the mini studio together, again me helping them to fine-tune their techniques. Overall, things look much better but my main concern now is their side kick execution. Hopefully the other tribes are having similar problems because doing beautiful side and roundhouse kicks are probably a huge challenge; even some instructors can't get it right.

We practised for about 1 hour and we also took a look at the main studio where our competition will be held this Saturday. We sorted out our position and by then, the gym was closing( the gym closed at 5pm because of public holiday).

We changed our clothes(Ann, Jean, and Evie didn't bathe) and went our separate ways since my gf and I were going to watch Red Eye at GSC. Somehow we bumped into them again on our way to the cinema and my gf decided to have some tom yam, sort of like a prelude to our holidays.

By the time she's done, it was almost 6pm and we bade farewell to the three ladies and left... but not before I took a shot at Evie- she's the one in the middle.



Next practice: Friday 8pm at FF Menara John Hancock!

The flag is down

There you go- introducing my new banner!!

Hope you like it... Brand new banner, but same old crap.