It's already the end of May... There were some 'disruption's to this month's training sessions - Polling Day on 7 May and training courts unavailable on 21 May. 2x4 hrs may seem insignificant but with the World Cup in Aug fast approaching, each training minute is precious. 
A typical training session on Saturdays begins at 9am with a warm up led by my team mate - stretch our necks, arms, fingers, trunk. Meanwhile, our sports assistants and volunteers will be busy unpacking our equipments (balls and ramps) and marking the courts for target practice. The coach and I will then do a quick briefing with the team on what each athlete trained the previous week and set goals/target for the current training session.
Skills training are 'customised' for each athlete so that we can focus on our weak areas. For example, I could be training on my accuracy of red balls at long distances, a team mate could be training her accuracy of blue balls at short distances, another team mate could be training 'breaking' balls apart, yet another team mate could be training accurate placing of the jack ball. At the start of the training session after the warm-up, we would have individually set goals/targets for our skills training that day. For example, I set the following target: To train in my accuracy of red balls at 9m, I will first roll the jack to a spot at 9m and then roll 3 sets of my 6 red balls; i must get 15 out of 18 red balls within a 50cm radius of the jack before I can move on to practice another skill. Our coach will do a quick test to see whether we achieve our personally set targets either before or after our 30min 11am break.
Here are some terms we've coined during our training that you may have seen me use elsewhere:
- best shot: propelling the jack to a preferred loation in the playing area, followed by the first coloured ball
- kissing: two balls touching each other
- knocking: ricocheting own coloured ball against an existing ball to land in a desired area
- bumping: using own coloured ball to push an existing own coloured ball nearer to the jack
- breaking: using own coloured ball to separate two balls that are kissing
- bomb: breaking 3 or more balls that are kissing such that they separate and disperse
The 30min break is a quick reprieve from the repetitive throwing/propelling/rolling actions earlier. I spend it catching up with my teammates and volunteers.
Following the break, we would normally have a match. It could either be a proper individual/pair/team match or a simulated games - I prefer simulated matches! =) A simulated match is like... playing chess with Deep Blue? A volunteer or coach will act as my opponent and instead of propelling the ball during his turn, he will go into the playing area itself to place his ball in a position where he thinks the world no. 1 player would execute. It's 'cruel' because these simulated shots are always perfect and that makes it challenging for me. No pain no gain, right? I think I learn best this way.
By the end of the match, which takes about 1.5hrs, it would be time to pack up our equipment and head home. While our sports assistants and volunteers assist to keep our balls and ramps, our coach and I will conduct a simple debrief for the team to reflect on the day's training.
For me, apart from skills training, I would also constantly be identifying problem areas with my ramp and thinking of solutions. I would then run my ideas by our 'technician' who will help fine tune and execute the changes to my ramp.
The next Saturday, this process repeats itself... 