Rote Learning (Stories From The East - Part 3)

Note:

If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)

By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Stories From The East - Stories that fascinated me during my intensive running days.


Rote learning

There was once in India where the Indian Army decided to recruit many people into its defence force. Hence, they selected as many people as they can. Those selected were sent to different units for training. At times, these units were inspected annually by the top brass people in the army. It was very rare that a person by the rank of General to inspect the camp.

In one of the units of the army camp, there was once a sudden order from the top Commander that this particular company would be inspected. In the army, a company means a smaller division of the unit. The company was called Jaguar company.

As soon as the officers heard that the General by the name of Anand Raj is coming, they were stressed up. They were thinking about what to do with the predicament of this General visiting the camp. They started to brainstorm and decided that all men should be confident of themselves in answering the General's usual questions, especially to the private soldiers. It so happened that the Jaguar company had a person by the name of Somu who was slow to react to simple questions. The higher echelon people, the sergeant and the corporals were terribly worried as to how to deal with the problem. During the theory and practical sessions, Somu had fumbled and failed most of the tests. He had also made a mess of many situations. Somu was also 21 years of age and was inexperienced in many things related to the Army. As Somu was not clever enough to answer, an officer by the name of Muthu instructed Sargeant Raman to teach him to answer properly if Somu was asked some questions by General Anand Raj.

Just before the day of the General's visit, it took the sergeant the whole day to teach private Somu to answer the usual questions that General Anand Raj used to ask always. He told him that the first question that the General will ask on a person's name. The third question will be on how long a person has been in the army. The second question would be on what is the age of the person. Finally, he was known for asking the soldier whether they know Tamil and English. To this the sergeant told him to answer as, ''Both, sir".

The hours of preparing Somu to answer to the usual questions came to an end. Eventually, Somu seemed to get the answers right. The day came when the General came and inspected everything of the Jaguar Company. He was very happy with everything until he met Somu. When the General came very close to Somu, the latter was very scared and nervous. He began to fumble. Somu was muttering, "Why me?" He could not know what he is going to answer. He told himself to answer in sequence as taught by the sergeant.

The conversation went like this:

Gen Anand Raj: What is your name?
Somu               : Somu
Gen Anand Raj: How long have you been in the Army?
Somu              : 21 years, Sir. (To this the General seemed puzzled)
BG Anand       : mmm...Strange...What is your age right now?
Somu              : Three,  Sir (Somu started to show confidence by smiling)
Gen Anand      : What! Preposterous! Either you are mad or I am mad?
Somu              : (Somu was wondering why the General Anand Raj was behaving like that and then answered)....... Both, Sir.

The moral of the story is to not do rote learning. One such rote learning is doing well in academic studies and uses that intelligence to rationalise your training program. Hence, we must be aware that we attached to the intellect. If you want to come up with a program, it is good to read some books on running first. At least one should read 10 books on running before coming up with a simple program. Another advice is to talk to people who like to run and also to have contacts with coaches. One should be humble enough and learn from mistakes and over time gain valuable experience. By doing rote learning, one can get an injury and also progress at a slower rate. Sports Science knowledge like physiology and psychology are very important topics to learn before coming up with a training program. If these don't help, the help of an experienced runner could come in handy.

Last year, around August, I met a friendly German runner by the name of Thomas Ganzhorn. He was asking me to assist him in running. He told me that he follows a book written by a German. I wanted to see the book. He showed me the program to do a marathon timing of sub 3hrs. The program seemed very good. However, just imagine if 100 people are following that program. It is advisable to take note of the training one has been doing in the formative years. It is good to know whether one has been recently training and also about the injury that took place recently etc. Adapting the training program would help. Individualising the program would be the best solution. Thomas was able to tell me the things he did in the past. Hence, I came out with a revised program. He was very appreciative of that.

Seated From Left Ben Lau, Ashley Liew (2hrs 51min), Brendan Lee (3hrs 05min), Thomas Ganzhorn (2hrs 55min) and Amrit Singh.
Standing From Left - Agnes Tan and Chong Yi Mei

Thomas used to e-mail some questions and over time he was able to do two personal best timing of 53min 30sec for 15km time-trial and 2hr 55min for last year's Standard Chartered Marathon 2010. On the day of the race, after finishing the marathon race, he wanted me to meet his parents. We were not able to meet due to some circumstances and he had to fly back to Germany. Now, he is able to draw out his own program independently and let me show his program for his progress through the e-mail. He has done a personal best of 16min 47sec for the 5km race, recently. Not bad for a person who just started running seriously.

Note:

By Narayanan

Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes to do marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners to do sub-4 hours for marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’  by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).

He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.