Saturday, July 22, 2006
champs! =)
This is an excerpt from my blog =) (okay fine, it's not exactly an excerpt) For the full entry, feel free to read it at HEREwe are the champs =)group stagesngee ann poly { 0 - 0 } republic poly { 2 - 0 }
serangoon jc { 6 - 0 }
semis
serangoon jc { 5 - 0 }
finals
bukit batok secondary sch { 1 - 0 }
this is only the beginning.
2 Divisions. 2 Pool per Division. 4 teams per Division. 16 teams. 14 schools.
Division A
Pool A
Hwa Chong Institution
Millenia Institute
Nanyang Polytechnic
TPiranhas
Pool B
Temasek Junior College
St Andrew's Junior College
RP Pixies
Singapore Polytechnic
Division B
Pool A
Nanyang Junior College
Bukit Batok Secondary
Team Temasek
ITE Simei
Pool B
Raffles Junior College !!!
Serangoon Junior College
Ngee Ann Polytechnic
RP Phoenix
yup. We won (only) Div B. But as I said.. this is only the beginning. We were a J1 team. As individual players, we've played in a few competitions with our seniors. But as a J1 team, this is our first time (other than LFS).
Everyone would be thinking that beating a secondary school at the finals was probably easy. But I think that for BBSS they had more time to train and build up experience. After all, they must have had some kind of ability to have reached the finals. But, we're damn estatic, excited, exhilarated, exuberant (yada yada) to have come this far. =) I'm so so proud of you guys and us as a team. Raffles touch rugby lives forever =)
it's our FIRST official competition as a J1 team =)
early in the morning, my whole family (thank you so much) sent me down to turf city (that god-forsaken place) as well as to support me (but they ended up reading newspaper/playing gameboy =P). after settling in, we did our warm ups and drills. Khai came shortly after. Derelyn was still at Athens.
FIRST GAME UP - 9am - ngee ann.
to put it shortly. I played like crap. Was on the starting 6. But I failed to perform. the team didn't do very well either.. maybe it was the nerves.. but that first match taught us a lot. and yup, we improved on the second match. btw, ngee ann is extremely aggressive with their touches. haha.
2nd GAME - 11am - republic poly.
we rested after our first match, had a 'thrashing session' to identify our problems etc. shiwei and I became glucose-addicts. =) we then tried to influence the team to become glucose-addicts too, and they worked on some people... haha.. did our drills before our next game, which we were bent on showing how Raffles Touch can play touch. well. haha. Khai gave us a mental prep before the game, which we all think and agree that it REALLY helped. He's amazing. =)
3rd GAME - 1pm - serangoon jc
this had to be one of the best morale booster. we scored a total of 6. I scored one. our defence was good and srjc barely had the chance to pass the half-line. attack wise, all praise to those who scored. to those who didn't, you guys were the BEST supporting players, who are equally important.
after that we ate lunch, which mich and dawn went to get for us. THANK YOU =) viola and I had chicken rice while the rest ate fillet-o-fish. haha. while waiting for our semis we watched the Asian cup thing going on, which was really cool. -thumbsup- and I occasionally found people to go pester the (what do you call them) receptionist? haha.. We would go find her (yes.. is a she) and ask about the fixtures, the time, our score, if we were leading, goody-bags yada yada. haha..
khai and his friends are hilarious. and they have a team called '6 packs'. But khai can't play cos of his injury, so we were watching his team play. Then there was the fiji-ians, NZ-landers, Bedok Kings, Hong Kees etc. Quite an electric atmosphere.
BTW, I hate guys, especially ruggers, who think touch rugby is lame, stupid, not fun etc. RUBBISH. You don't know the game so you SHUT UP. =)
oh and people watching is fun too. haha.
SEMIs - 3pm - serangoon jc
yup we played them again for semis. Semis, the 1st vs the 4th and the 2nd vs the 3rd of the pool will play. Then however that works out.. anyway, we won and we moved on to finals. Heh.
We were very serious about not being complacent and I'm happy we won. Moving on to the finals, we knew we were most probably playing BBSS. Khai was telling us don't underestimate them just because they were from sec sch. So we were watching them play against NYJC. whoah. they were fast, nimble and their stamina was.. unbelievable. They only sent 7 people down, and it's a 6-a-side game.
FINALS - 5:15pm - bukit batok sec sch
I think we overestimated them. we played a lousy game. we could have scored so much more. definitely. and at first I had a positive impression of them, cos there was this girl who wished me good luck and was smiling to us before the match. then during the game "the horrors, the horrors" (that was a lit reference btw).
we didn't play well. but argh. it was a lousy game overall. don't want to dwell on it and get agitated again. gotta put it behind me. gotta learn to control my emotions more.
we won. but that moment when the ref blew the whistle, I surprisingly didn't feel the immense happiness and joy that I thought I would have felt. perhaps it was because the game didn't turn out like how a fairytale would turn out - perfect. it wasn't our best game.
also, there were some stupid guys and other people watching the finals at the sidelines.. and to win champs with that match.. it just didn't feel right. but.
we WON!
after that, we had a debrief by khai. some people had to rush off. so left with a few of us, recollecting the events of that day.
we were talking, waiting for the prize presentation. then toffa and i decided to double-check on the prize presentation and guess what? They will be coming down to school to present it to us. Hopefully it's the way we think it'll happen.. then maybe FINALLY touch will have more recognition. =)
toffa and I decided to trick those who were staying back for prize presentation that there were no medals. our hard work for that day was just for 'experience'. haha.. when we finally told them the truth, both of us got drenched in icy cold water. heh.
before that, toffa and I tried to 'boo' khai, who was paying extremely a lot of attention on his team playing against some other team. didn't work. after that, the team tried it again. HAHA.. didn't work. anyway.. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT?!
HEHEHE..
{ insert picture of NZ team and us here } I can't figure how to use blogger. :$
do you see mr. mohawk? well.. fake mohawk. erm. you can't see it anyway... but he's damn cute. haha. he's the 'baldie' among all the guys at the back wearing caps, he's wearing black. I find the guy wearing white in extreme left damn hot. HEHE. the both of them are so cute la.
that's the reason for the picture anyway. cos after the whole thing, we were about to leave when we saw them. then I was too tired to move anymore (at least I think that's the reason but you never know) so I plopped myself onto the floor (yes the carpark). coincidentally, I was sitting in front of them. =) then after that, we were.. discussing if we should take a picture with them. so I was kinda rushing (cos my parents would be coming any min) so I went up to them and asked them if we could. and of course they said YES! haha.. before that, we were.. spying on mohawk doing some stupid lame stuff because one of the females was video-caming him. HAHA. so cute. =)
I was aching, tired, burnt (my shoulders are still red/black) by the time I reached home (quite late, we went out for family dinner). but I enjoyed myself tremendously.
I love you guys so much. thank you for giving me such a wonderful and unforgettable time and experience.
raffles touch rugby lives forever
100% heart//18 july 2006
okay, would like to say some words of thanks and appreciation and acknowledgement.
khai - for coming down early. for his support. for his mental prep. for believing in us. for his patience. for being an awesome coach =)
derelyn- for constantly sending messages to khai and toffa (cos they must have cost a bomb) and being with us in spirit/morale/{insert appropriate word} even though she was in Athens.
mich . dawn - for coming down. for their support. for helping us buy food. mich for her deep heat which was really useful. for taking pictures of us. for cheering us on. for just being there. it meant a lot.
jerm - for that message of encouragement. =)
toffa - for being a great captain. for being that pillar of support. haha. for her speed. for her agility. for her intercepts. for that bad tumble she took for the team to score a try (though it was not considered). for putting her life and knees on the line for the team. for her resilience. for her strength. wah. I'm really praising you leh. =P pfft. okay done. HAHA.
the shine team - for your perserverence. for your team spirit. for the 100% heart. for giving your all. for your hunger to win. for your chemistry. for the laughter and fun. for the love. for the passion. you guys were awesome.
the raffles team- we gotta continue to work hard. all of us. no one is more equal than the other. no one has a confirmed place in the team. it's all about the spirit, the attitude. we are one team. =)raffles touch rugby
vengeance tried at
4:42 PM
