Mentoring support

This is kind of a delayed post. Anyway it's related to the VIS sports science traineeship.

The VIS sports science traineeship began with a three day induction session for all the trainees. That included an orientation of the facilities; an overview of lab and field testings with emphasis on health and safety issues; meeting up with some of the staff; and more importantly, the various sports science staff made sure that we understand what the VIS is all about and what is the purpose of the sports science department. The motto of the VIS (as anyone will see on their website) is: Success in sports and life. There is also a quote from the VIS chairman which says:

Our mission is to provide an environment in which talented Victorian athletes have the opportunity to achieve at the highest level in sport and life.
– Kate Palmer - VIS Chairman

Anyway I gather that the focus of VIS is on the athletes (duh). The athletes are valued because they have the talent and the skills to do well in their sports. So VIS dedicates a whole bunch of people who takes care and keeps track of the athletes to make sure that they are moving forward in their sports career and are on the right track towards the goals that were set for them. Those people can be from sports medicine, nutrition, sports science, psychology, sports coaches and even people who provide guidance and counselling on their career, education, life after sports, time and stress management etc. I will just label them generally as the athlete support group. Then the athletes usually have performance evaluations done on a regular basis and if something is not quite right (maybe their performance is dropping or they are not meeting a target),  a few of the athlete support people will try to find out what went wrong. Could it be the training program is not appropriate? Does the athlete lack motivation or discipline? Is the athlete going through any family or emotional problems? If yes, they will try to rectify the problem and basically, no effort would be spared to give the best support to the elite athletes to ensure that they become the best that they can be.

This leads me to think: what about regular people? I reckon everyone should have some form of support in their life. It could be from school or work or church or family or even friends. Most people will probably talk to people around them and get advise at different points of their lives, especially when they are at crossroads. But I also reckon there are people who don't bother and they simply cruise through life and end up not fulfilling their potential in life, which is kind of sad. I believe God made everyone for a specific purpose and more often than not, we need mentors who we can talk to, consult, pick their brains and from there we learn to identify our strengths and weaknesses,  be inspired, and become more like the person God designed us to be.  

Removing gunk

With a new person in my life now, a huge part of my time is spent feeding him, changing his nappies, changing his clothes, winding him, carrying him and the list goes on. One thing that I can't get used to, is his crying. His crying can be a few short bursts of grunting and wailing or wailing continuously or wailing continuously with bouts of high pitched screams. The third one can bring intense pain to my head especially if his mouth is within half a metre from my ear.

Most of his cries and whimpering are because of hunger, a wet or poopy nappy or wind in his tummy. But sometimes its because of the stuff that I am doing to him. I don't intentionally make him cry, it's just that the things I do bring some discomfort to him. Those things include:

1. Changing his nappy - especially when I am wiping his bottom with a wet wipe after he has had a poop; and because he sometimes has such a big one that there's poop everywhere! So the cleaning takes slightly longer to make sure all the 'cracks and crevices' are poop free. This longer cleaning annoys him and he will either start crying or give me more work by 'spraying' on me.

2. Removing dried milk bits on his face - when I have the opportunity to feed him with the bottle, I will spend at least 30 minutes staring into his little face. During that time, I will notice dried milk bits around his eyes or nose. Usually I will make a mental note to myself that I have to clean his face with a wet towel later or give him a bath if he hasn't had one the day before. But sometimes after 20 minutes of feeding him and noticing those dried milk bits, I can't help but try to pick them off with my fingers. This clearly annoys him and he wails for a couple of seconds till I stop doing it.

3. Trying to pick up his boogers - also happens usually when I am feeding him with the bottle. I can see up his nose and in his nostrils are humongous dried chunks of boogers. If they are close to the edge of his nostril, I will use my pinky nail to pick it out. Again, this usually results in him wailing for a couple of seconds to express his annoyance.

From my point of view, I am cleaning his bottom so that he will not develop a nappy rash; I am cleaning his face so that he will look fresher (and cuter :D); and I am clearing his nostrils so that he can breathe better. For him, its just discomfort that he doesn't like to go through.

This sort of reminded me of a clip that one of my pastors showed during our prayer meeting a while back. It's called God's chisel. God's chisel can often make us feel uncomfortable but it's only when He removes the gunk in our life that we become the masterpiece that He has designed us to be.

 

Exciting times

June 2011 marks the start of an exciting period for me; cos many new things are happening (or happened) at the same time. Even though I did plan for them to happen, I definitely didn't plan for them to happen at the same time, it just... happened that way. It would be nice if each thing happened at least two months apart of the other so that I could ease into things better, but then where would the challenge be??

Early arrival of baby Gideon

His actual due date (as calculated by the doctors) was supposed to be the 24th of June. His grandma even planned to fly in to Melbourne on the 21st so that she could help out here and there prior to his arrival. But baby Gideon (or Prince Gideon as the Missus prefers to call him now) couldn't wait till the 24th and 'decided' he has to pop-out 15 days earlier! What's more exciting is that I actually had my PhD confirmation presentation scheduled on that exact day! By God's grace, I was given a window of opportunity to scoot off from the hospital to Uni to give my presentation, nail it (thank God!), and rush back to the hospital to hold the Missus' hand while she went through her contractions and finally push out the baby 7 hours later. So now we have this little bundle of joy (and cries and pee and poo) keeping us occupied pretty much 24/7.

PhD
So it seems like the PhD didn't have a fantastic start with my first presentation not going well and my second presentation clashing with the birth of Gideon. Still, it has officially started. Now, although I have a rough idea of what I am working towards, it really is murky waters I am swimming into, unexplored grounds I am entering, and new insights I am hoping to gain; and that I guess is the whole point of doing this PhD. But to really put things into perspective, what I might achieve at the end would probably be like contributing a small drop of water into a whole ocean of knowledge in engineering and science. Nevertheless, it will be hard work and it will take up every ounce of brain juice I can muster up. I am hoping to complete this within a year though I have no idea if it is actually possible.

Sports science traineeship
The Victorian Institute of Sport runs a Sports science traineeship program every year that lasts for twelve months and it is usually open to students doing a exercise and sports science degree. However this year they decided to open this traineeship to students from other disciplines such as statistics, nutrition and engineering. Needless to say, I applied for it and with only ten spots available in the traineeship, it is definitely a miracle that I managed to get on it. From a discussion with one of the resident sports scientist, I was told that I would probably be given work on a project basis, to resolve technical or engineering issues pertaining to performance analysis of athletes. However I still put my hand up to be involved in the traditional sports science stuff; so I might have opportunities to do some physiological or field testing of athletes down the road. Interesting stuff I reckon.

Anyway, as I was saying, it's going to be exciting times ahead... exciting times.