"Victorians, for Inter-Unit Campcraft Competition 2012, Victoria School Team 1 and Team 2 both qualified for the Finals on 3 March after defeating 146 other teams.
Viva La Victoria!
Nil Sine Labore."
- Mr Chan Chow Hung's Facebook status.
It put a wide smile on my face.
It's been 8 years since my own Campcraft journey, but it's definitely the most memorable and painful time in my entire NPCC career.
Trials were just the beginning. Having to learn the basics of knot tying, the theory of lashing and the techniques to peg, coordinate and make everything look perfect. It was a cruel process of knock-out, and it was during this process that I decided to give my all in trying to be part of the pioneering team instead of the tent pitching one. Campcraft consists of tent pitching, pioneering and flag staff. The first one consists of the team that pitches the tent, the second consists of the team that sets up the pioneering structure and the last team that sets up the flag pole. I spent the whole month of December, and it felt like I was part of 'Survivor'. Come January, it was down to just 2 people vying that for final pioneering slot and it was bittersweet that it went to me as the other person was a very good friend of mine.
Between the months of January and March 2004, the earliest I reached home was 8pm. School usually ended at 2.15pm and training would start at 3pm. Training would stretch all the way till 7pm and it'll be too dark to do what we do safely. Water breaks and debriefs were the only times we weren't in the thick of the action. (Minus the one time where Addison and I fled due to a swarm of bees that conveniently flew into our training pitch. We returned half an hour later after a self-declared water break in the canteen).
Saturday trainings were even longer. While the rest had their normal CCA day, our training started at 8am and stretched all the way to 5.30pm. I do look back in amazement and wonder how we could spend so many hours doing the same thing over and over again. The level of perfection that we slowly attained was simply unbelievable. All the 14 pegs made perfect rectangles around the tent. The angles at which the pegs were pegged into the ground were perfect 45 degree angles. The knots on all 14 strings were tied exactly 1m above the pegs and all our hoops were exactly 2cm wide.
Pioneering was the structure that I built with Siu Sing. We had to create a structure and tie a mystery list of knots that would only be given to us one minute before the competition starts. At the beginning of training, it took us about 4 minutes to complete the entire task. Before competition itself, we hit a 2min+ timing. Our lashes were immaculate and I could do every single know/lash without even having to think of it. It just naturally flowed.
We got through the preliminary rounds with a bit of luck. During the prelims, while the judges were judging our tents, the tension caused 4 out of the 14 twines to snap. The twines were lousy. But as the judges had already seen that masterpiece and were actually there when it snapped, they judged us on the original structure and we got high scores. Other schools weren't that lucky.
Then came the one day that we were working so hard for. March 20, 2004. I'll never forget that date. We made our way to the Old Police Academy at Thomson. It was the quietest bus ride there. Nerves, running through all the steps in our head and simply just anticipating what was to come. None of us ate breakfast that morning. I remember lining up in front of our allocated tent site and the organiser passing me the list of knots that I had to do. I tucked it in my track pants pocket and the horn sounded.
The next 7+ minutes went by in a flash. It was like a well-oiled machine that was going through the motions. We looked at our final product and it was really an emotional moment. All the months of hard work, it was right there in front of us. A tent that was perfectly symmetrical, a pioneering structure that was tough enough to withstand a hurricane and the crown jewel, the vertically upright flag staff on which the VS flag was unfurled. Seniors were walking around, looking at the final set-ups from other schools. They made one whole round, came back smiling from side to side and gave us a thumbs up.
Results time. We were 7th. SEVENTH. Our hearts sank. The whole camp ground went silent. Every single school there were expecting us to win, and yet it was announced that we were seventh. We went up, collected our trophies and just slumped back onto the grass pitch. My seniors were already tearing, my teachers were in shock and everyone else from the CCA were subdued into silence. Prize presentation ended.
We never deserved to lose. It might sound biased, it might sound skewed coming from me, but we know it. The team that spent the last 3 months together almost everyday. We had at least 5 blisters on every palm, all of us (yes, me included) became blacker after all those hours under the sun. The sacrifices, the pain (literally)... everything we had gone through. We just sat there crying. Our seniors just sat with us and cried. Teachers went around trying to lift our spirits, but you could see the sadness in their eyes. Losing wasn't the worst part, but losing when we all felt that it was unfair was the heartache.
I'll never forget that day. Nor will I ever forget the process of Campcraft. We all moved on, the seniors signed off and the rest of us took over the Exco. We achieved success in so many other ways during our 4 years there, but this one will always haunt us. If anything, this was the one true time that I learned and laboured. Nil Sine Labore at its finest.
At the end of the day, deep in the hearts of the 9 who stood on that pitch, we knew we were the best.
Campcraft 2004.
