Tammy van Wisse is a name I never heard of before tonight; and it is a name I will never forget after tonight.
She is this fantastic marathon swimmer who currently hold an astounding six world record. She event beat the men in some of the events she took part in! During her lifetime, she had swam a total distance of 60,000KMs. And luckily for me, she was just in University tonight to give a talk entitled "To motivate, just add water".
It was very inspiring to hear her talk. Her achievements are spectacular: she had swam over huge distance and theacherous waters. What is more inspiring is the background work involved. I am sure it is very often that we see and hear people's achievements and thought that they had it lucky being born with a talent or being pick out to star in whatever they excel in. What we often didn't realise is the amount of work they put in. For Tammy, she swam 25km laps for two sessions per day seven days week, went to gym 3 times per week, and jog for the other 3 days. And that didn't include other preparatory work like mapping the location of her swim and organising sponsorships and support crews. She talked a lot about leadership - and her talk nearly moved me to tears. Like how leadership is about asking people to join in and have fun. Or how she use her fame to highlight environmental issues. It was just fantastic and motivational. For more info about her, check out her website here.
Her talk lead me to contemplate on the event PISA is going to hold soon. It is gonna to be a huge scale entertainment night and I had my reservations about it going to be a success, because we never done it before and it is so big. After her talk, I guess it is better to fail gloriously rather than never try at all. Going to have revived enthusiasm!
Anyway, her talk is part of a memorable night organised by the University's Foundation. The Foundation basically functions to get money for the university and ensure the students have a bright future - so all these leadership things like tonight's event. There were also a panel of pharmacy movers and shakers who answer questions from students. After the event, we even got time to mingle with them. It was fun talking with all these high achievers, they have such a sense of humour and so many advice to offer. Too bad I'm going back to Malaysia after my 4-year stint here....
As a footnote, I just loved these University organised events because they usually provide us with fabulous food and drinks. Just had a glass of red wine, white wine and a bottle of Heineken as well as tasted 10 different kinds of cheese...yummy!
Heard during PISA meeting: "Looking for sponsors is fun. What else can you do where you got a chance to flirt with people and walk away with prizes after that?" But yeah I still don't like looking for sponsors coz as someone else pointed out " but you can't keep the prize..."
She is this fantastic marathon swimmer who currently hold an astounding six world record. She event beat the men in some of the events she took part in! During her lifetime, she had swam a total distance of 60,000KMs. And luckily for me, she was just in University tonight to give a talk entitled "To motivate, just add water".
It was very inspiring to hear her talk. Her achievements are spectacular: she had swam over huge distance and theacherous waters. What is more inspiring is the background work involved. I am sure it is very often that we see and hear people's achievements and thought that they had it lucky being born with a talent or being pick out to star in whatever they excel in. What we often didn't realise is the amount of work they put in. For Tammy, she swam 25km laps for two sessions per day seven days week, went to gym 3 times per week, and jog for the other 3 days. And that didn't include other preparatory work like mapping the location of her swim and organising sponsorships and support crews. She talked a lot about leadership - and her talk nearly moved me to tears. Like how leadership is about asking people to join in and have fun. Or how she use her fame to highlight environmental issues. It was just fantastic and motivational. For more info about her, check out her website here.
Her talk lead me to contemplate on the event PISA is going to hold soon. It is gonna to be a huge scale entertainment night and I had my reservations about it going to be a success, because we never done it before and it is so big. After her talk, I guess it is better to fail gloriously rather than never try at all. Going to have revived enthusiasm!
Anyway, her talk is part of a memorable night organised by the University's Foundation. The Foundation basically functions to get money for the university and ensure the students have a bright future - so all these leadership things like tonight's event. There were also a panel of pharmacy movers and shakers who answer questions from students. After the event, we even got time to mingle with them. It was fun talking with all these high achievers, they have such a sense of humour and so many advice to offer. Too bad I'm going back to Malaysia after my 4-year stint here....
As a footnote, I just loved these University organised events because they usually provide us with fabulous food and drinks. Just had a glass of red wine, white wine and a bottle of Heineken as well as tasted 10 different kinds of cheese...yummy!
Heard during PISA meeting: "Looking for sponsors is fun. What else can you do where you got a chance to flirt with people and walk away with prizes after that?" But yeah I still don't like looking for sponsors coz as someone else pointed out " but you can't keep the prize..."
1 comment:
..."Looking for sponsors is fun"... when u have the motivation and skill.
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