The holy month of Ramadhan have witnessed the scholars striving to excel, finding enjoyments in the company of each other while persevering through hunger and thirst. While the Coronavirus restrictions were still in place, I had to find something to channel my energy into – that was the fitness training for me.
The memorable first week of Ramadhan training, I could recall my struggles to pick myself up for the 9PM session. Admittedly, I was often sluggish after breaking my fast but I pushed through and drove myself to Dewan Gerak Badan, Bolkiah Garrison.
We carried on with our warm-up before conducting a series of weighted strength exercises designed to strengthen our core and back. I remember us having to do a 3-minute wall sit and that was probably the culprit to my sore body the next morning. The instructors from the Performance Optimisation Centre (POC) were very patient with us to ensure that we are adapting well with the rigorous training. They explained the mechanism of each exercise alongside the muscles it isolate. We also spent more time stretching to prevent our muscles from tightening up. We ended quite late but I felt very accomplished and happy I pushed through. Over time, I was able to see some improvements in my running – achieve a personal best for my 5km time at 29 minutes!
Another memorable day of training was when the scholars were instructed to go to the Muara naval base for our swimming session. As I was not familiar with the area, the scholars decided to carpool. The Physical Training Instructors, especially Staff Nurul, made the session really vigorous, as she wanted us to finetune our swimming techniques. She made a specific emphasis to me to not panic or rush when I swim. Swimming has always been a big hurdle for me as I had only learned it recently. My tendency to rush normally comes from trying to keep up with the others who are more capable swimmers. Over this session, Staff Nurul did not only teach me how to do breaststrokes efficiently, but also taught me how to float! I was so ecstatic because I did not know how to float properly, but to be able to jump over that difficulty gave me the spirit I needed to excel my upcoming fitness test.
During the day, I was mostly pre-occupied with the tasks handed to me in the Judge Advocate General's Office (JAG). For instance, I was in-charged with creating the drafts for several policy guidelines for circulation within the RBAF. Furthermore, there were courses materials that needed to some updating. Hence, I was entrusted to polish the materials and keeping them up to date with the latest legal developments.
In a hindsight, Ramadhan has been busy and filled with a continuous demand for my time and energy. However, I viewed this as a golden opportunity to equip myself with the resilience and skills required to be a competent Military Legal Officer in the near future, Insha Allah.
Prepared by,
NurLiessa binti Mohammad Daliz
RBAF Scholarship Recipient 2015
Arranged by
Aiman Abdullah Tee
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