It's been over a month since I came back from the World Cup. I had been disappointed with my performance there and I wasn't sure if there was anything I could share on. It was particularly upsetting that I had somewhat jeopardised my standing to qualify for the 2012 Paralympics.
I realised that to overcome defeat, I need to think over and talk about the mistakes made. Fortunately, such opportunities came in the form of my visit to element14's new office in Singapore, the National Disability League and chats with my coaches and technical adviser. What did I learn?
- I need to worry less
I gave myself too much pressure thinking about my competitors that I made certain decisions that resulted in poor shots. And that cost me the deciding game for the knock-out stage. I'm trying to learn to worry 'sufficiently', i.e. to be concerned with things that matter and things that I can control. As for the rest, I'll just have to keep them out of sight and mind.
- I must believe in my abilities
I kept second-guessing both the accuracy of my aiming and my equipments. I ended up making over-compensations in my aiming adjustments and that made my shots less than ideal. I should have trusted my abilities and carried the same confidence I had during training through to major competitions.
- It's ok to make mistakes, as long as we don't make the same ones
This is courtesy of Jerry from element14 - it was his message to the element14 staff during the staff get-together session on 14 Sep. It cannot be any truer.
Babies fumble and fall when learning to walk; falling is inevitable when learning how to cycle. It's only when we figure out why we fell that we can rise and figure out how to avoid falling the same way. We may still fall, albeit differently from before. Only then can we succeed in walking and riding a bike.
I'm back to twice a week training now. Although the official invites to compete in the Paralympics are not out yet, I still stand a chance of qualifying. 
