One fine day I was happily doing work when I got a call from the HR boss asking me to be in charge of the cheerleading team for the Karnival Sukan MPIC 2012. And when I went to the meeting, the first thing they said about concept was 'Gangnam Style'. Since to just focus on that one song for an entire cheer is not really practical, I thought of a KPop themed cheer and choreography. I roped up my good friends Nik and Kevin (who dropped out later because he felt he could not give due commitment to the project). 
My first practice with the team was on the 30th November at the sports complex with half of the members and only half of the choreography. It was decided that the same team doing cheerleading will also be in marching so we had shared rehersal time amid practice for sporting events. We had one full week to practice; even got time-out from the Management and everything and the last days of practice we stayed there until 8pm with the finalized choreography. Phew!! The music and choreography came from both Nik and I and the training was mostly done by yours truly with some visits from Nik, the "choreographer". 
All of us had to gather at the INSPEN Training Center a day before the sports carnival was to start. The night before the opening every athlete was called to gather for a speech from our KP to boost up morale. It was there that I taught the the whole team the cheer for LGM (later to be copied by other agencies). Then, it was photo time with the big bosses.
On the day, my team managed to squeeze in a few hours of practice and also we got to have a dry run at the actual venue before the competition. At about 3pm the event was officiated by our Minister and there was even a performance from a guest cheerleading team (they had almost the same songs as ours.. LOL). Great minds they say. Our team went in second for the cheerleading competition and everyone was a bit nervous but that quickly diappeared when the crowd started to cheer for us and we were well on our way towards best performance. Everyone looked like they were having fun and we even had a quick appearance from our mascot. Hearing the whole venue cheering for you is definitely one of the highs of my life. Watch our performance here
After the performance, my team and I spent the nights and days cheering for our athletes. However because of our small number (less than 25 people) we could not be in every venue and we also had a slight disadvantage in cheering instruments causing our cheers to be drowned out by our opponents. Here I apologize to all because of this lack of insight we lost several games. May this serve as a lesson for us okay..??
For the marching and also cheerleading events, announcement of the winners are made at the Grand Dinner on our last night there. And my team sweeped both golds with cheers from everyone and also to our delight. Someone suggested I do Gangnam when I got up on stage to receive the trophy, of which I graciously did not do. Hehe. So a big huge thank you to my team for their commitment and also for giving themselves the opportunity to dance. I am just happy to see their all their hardwork; learning the choreography, coming to practice day in and out, overcoming their own feelings of self-consciousness to dance in front of everyone, everything paid off. Thank you everyone. And I will say this again; it was an honour to be your team leader. May the dance always be with you. Go Fight Win..!!
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