Coach George Maciukiewicz with William Sharman

The hurdles guru and one of the world’s best sprint hurdlers, both awesome and amazing people.

Just came across a BP advertisment campaign featuring William Sharman. Sometimes I forget how amazing these guys are because I see them regularly and amazingly am training with them. George took me under his wings when I had no technical ability to clear hurdles at all and William has always been encouraging me every since the first time we met.

A lot of people don’t understand what William had to go through the last season, I was around when he just broke his wrist from a hurdles accident at the track. To come back from that and to finish 8th in the world championships is no easy feat.

Not to mention he’s a great dad and he has such a lovely family around him.

That’s why I believe he will be certainly a man to watch out for in the London 2012 Olympic games.

‘You’ll hit 7000 points in 2 years mate, you certainly got the kit.’ That what William Sharman told me when I first trained with him in 2009.

Thanks for your vote of confidence in me mate. It’s taking a little more time than 2 years, but I’ll get there I promise.

I’ll admit, for all the talk that I often say I’m untalented, I’m actually blessed with the height and built of a decathlete. For a Singaporean male I’m 1.84m tall and right now 84kg. During a jump testing in 2010 (basically standing broad jump into a sand pit), I came second in the group, losing to William who jumped 3.34m (I jumped 2.98m).

What I lacked is time and experience and I guess there’s no short cut to resolving it.

‘Do not feel inadequate if you’re simply inexperienced’ – Eric Grimson, MIT

Thanks mate, it really meant a lot to me.

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‘I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.’ – Bruce Lee

I first met Max in my first year here during a discus session and subsequently in my second year, we began to train together for the other events as well. Not only did he guide me in preparing and completing my first decathlon, but he showed me what being a decathlete is about.

Earned his GB junior international vest 6 years ago, but since suffered a knee injury and had to undergo surgery to repair it. Because of that incident, he had to switch his take off foot for the jumping events in order to continue competing as a decathlete. He also chose to stay on after graduating from Loughborough Uni 3 years ago and worked two part-time jobs to pay the bills whilst continuing to train and live in Loughborough.

I realised more than anything that being a decathlete is about being in a state of mind, an attitude that you carry with the belief that you can get through just about anything the world can throw at you, and still keep pushing forward. It’s about not being afraid of a little hard work and pain along the way, picking up a task and just getting on with it.

Though at the same time, be able to not take everything too seriously and just be with the flow of things, enjoying life in general through the ups and downs of it. His trademark mismatched socks and alternate coloured laces on his spikes are a testimony to that attitude.

Recently finished 4^th at the England Athletics Senior Combined Events Championships (indoor heptathlon) and finally earned himself a senior GB vest after all these years with a slot to compete at the Combined Events Indoor International at France.

Max, it has been an absolute pleasure and thank you for continuing to push ahead and guide me in my development as a decathlete.

Best of all, I got a sneaky suspicion that you’re going to be seeing him on the telly next summer during the London Olympics. (Just look out for the guy who wears alternate coloured socks.)

p.s. I’ve also added a new page to my blog ‘results‘ where you can find my previous performances and current goals, with a link to detailed results of my competitions in the UK so far. Do check it out!

Lance Tan, SG national team 400m runner.

“Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.” – Mary Kay Ash

It was 2008 when I first got a call from Lance that something bad happened.

He just tore his ACL during a football match.

I remember visiting him right after his operation and seeing him with a braced up leg. The doctors told him he couldn’t run competitive again. For someone that has been running quick since he was 13, what a blow it must have been. All the hopes and dreams, falling apart right in front of him.

But he didn’t choose to believe that, for he still had a fight in him.

1 year later, he ran his PB, cutting his old record by a whole second (which in 400m terms is a massive deal).

Cause sometimes the only person you gotta to believe is yourself.

Well bro, remember the pact we made? I still have that poster you gave me before I left for Loughborough. We might be getting a little old, and we haven’t gotten as quick as we hoped. But you know what, after all these years, it’s amazing that we’re still here, and that we’re still fighting.

So let’s finish that fight my brother, doesn’t matter how it’ll end up, but let’s make it one that’s worth remembering before we start to fade.

535 days to go, get moving.

p.s. About the quote, the bumble bee can definitely fly thanks to the laws of physics. The quote is referring to a time when the scientist haven’t figured out how it could with the knowledge of that time. Click to see the wikipedia link about this (refer to the myth section of the article).