I'M GOING TO AUSTRALIA!

“Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4)

Despite being a person who holds a stern view on life, today I’m convinced that God is not a party pooper. He throws in a few things here and there every once in a while to make mere mortals happy.

I woke up a few days ago, with my muscle aches all gone, flu healed, nasal blockage cleared, health finally restored, and most of all I realized… I’M GOING TO AUSTRALIA!

Geelong Lorne, Victoria, 4th – 20th February. Rescue 2006, Lifesaving Sports World Championships!

To fully express my present joy, I must deliberate on “the road to Australia”.

Ever since my freshman year in USM, I had my eye on kangarooland. Arafura Games, a bi-annual regional games. USM participates in the Arafura Games, and the varsity swimming & lifesaving team always had the intention of going there. The problem was, no money, so no funny. Hence, came the plan for fund raisers and sponsorship hunts.

Then, SARS struck. Arafura Games cancelled. End of story.

During my 3rd year, the Arafura fever came back. No way we’re going to get ourselves there by any ordinary fund-raiser project, I thought. We needed to do something bigger. Something more unthinkable. Something mad enough to make people fork out money to get 8 USMers to Australia.

Hence, Aquathon Challenge was born. A 50-hour, non-stop marathon relay swim. We swam 168.05 km, set a record in the Malaysia Book Of Records, appeared on numerous newspapers, got into a radio show, and all that jazz. In the end of the day, total profit collected – zilch. Just enough to cover costs of operation. Bye bye Australia, for the second time. But it was still heck of a kick anyway.

Now, in my 4th and final year, if I can ever get myself to Australia, it’s now or never! The Lifesaving Sports World Championships is my last ticket to Down Under. Miss it, and I’ll have to be content with the bottle of Australian sand, water, and air that a friend brought for me from kangarooland.

After this year’s National Lifesaving Competition, I was shortlisted for the World Championships in Australia. Being shortlisted to be in the national team is one thing. Surviving the internal selection process is another thing. It will surely be the pits if I get kicked out of the team in an internal selection, when I was officially the top ranked lifesaver in pool events for 2 consecutive years!

My weeks of centralized training and the final selection were plagued by out-of-form, slow times and illness. You can’t get into competition form in a matter of days. You'll need weeks, or even months of conditioning, which I didn’t have the luxury of! Suddenly, my ticket to Australia was in limbo, despite my credentials from past national competitions and my contributions to lifesaving.

On Wednesday night, looks like things finally went my way, for a change. In a 6-man, 6-woman team, I was the 6th man to be named! Thank God! This is a lesson on humility, and also on God’s graciousness! My Australian dream is finally coming true!

Then, comes the question of whether or not I choose to go. It’s still a long road towards Rescue 2006. The amount of commitment I have to put into training may be too much to bear. I’m in my final year now. Spending more than 2 weeks in Australia will also mean forfeiting almost an entire quarter of my final semester of studenthood. As much as I dream of Australia, I also want to finish well. There are people that I may never get to see in such proximity ever again, after varsity days are over. In order for me to say yes to Australia, and to finish my varsity days well… I have to be no less than bionic.