Thursday, March 11, 2004
HAPPY EASTER!
Sunday is a super-slack day, because it’s Easter, and most of the officers and sergeants are on leave. So we don’t have much to do – which means a lot of admin time for us. In the morning we are supposed to have a one-to-one interview with the PC, but Sir Law is away. Then the afternoon lecture after lunch is cancelled, because the lecturer (the CO) is not around. Aaron, Qihui and Louis play Chinese chess continuously.
In the afternoon, there are games to play. In actual fact, only two choices: soccer and basketball. I choose soccer as I’m not really that agile enough to jump around and to toss the ball into the hoop.
Whenever I take on a soccer game I always play the defender. I cannot play the goalkeeper: I have a fear of the ball, and will always AVOID it rather than catch it. Which is as good as giving up the defence of my goal and allowing the opponent to gain easy access to it. I fail as a striker: I don’t have the skill of dribbling or passing the ball. Besides, being the defender calls for a slack position that allows you to watch the game in progress, and relax on the field, particularly when the action is all taking place around the opponent’s goal.
That does go to say that I cannot be aggressive. Here are some of the “memorable” (but obviously screwed-up) movements I make:
1. Early in the game I do a handball – Justin comments that it is exactly like the hand block taught in BCCT lesson, and that I’d do well for that subject.
2. I used “psychological warfare” in the game when marking Juffri. I make lighting-swift movements from side to side, at all times making sure that I never move out of Juffri’s line of movement thus allowing him a chance to kick the ball towards our goal. I think he got frustrated in the end and kicked the ball back in the direction of his goal to pass it to someone else.
3. I dived down onto the sandy ground to kick the moving ball in another direction, and got knocked over on the leg. Miraculously I climb up and shout, “Continue game!” Often I would have been left blabbering in pain and shock on the floor – come on, I’m not a sissy, but if the injury is very hard, who wouldn’t be stuck onto the ground calling for help?
It is a good game, very unlike the one I played at Tampines about a week or so ago, when a group of eighteen-year-olds who are about to serve NS, serving NS, or have served NS, playing against KIDS – and I mean those whose ages are ten to twelve. What the hell, if we knock one of the kids down like skittles, we’d have their parents charging after us for child abuse. The other players are very good. Harun is damn strong; he doesn’t tire out running and kicking for a long time without break. Most of them can do beautiful headers, or chest-blows. Junhan defends the goal aggressively, to the extent of sliding down onto the sand to save the ball. But some bastard kicks Qihui’s leg and causes him to hurt his ankle, which is a very serious problem because the next day will be our IPPT categorisation exercise (Qihui passes it). ¶ 3/11/2004 05:53:00 pm
Sunday is a super-slack day, because it’s Easter, and most of the officers and sergeants are on leave. So we don’t have much to do – which means a lot of admin time for us. In the morning we are supposed to have a one-to-one interview with the PC, but Sir Law is away. Then the afternoon lecture after lunch is cancelled, because the lecturer (the CO) is not around. Aaron, Qihui and Louis play Chinese chess continuously.
In the afternoon, there are games to play. In actual fact, only two choices: soccer and basketball. I choose soccer as I’m not really that agile enough to jump around and to toss the ball into the hoop.
Whenever I take on a soccer game I always play the defender. I cannot play the goalkeeper: I have a fear of the ball, and will always AVOID it rather than catch it. Which is as good as giving up the defence of my goal and allowing the opponent to gain easy access to it. I fail as a striker: I don’t have the skill of dribbling or passing the ball. Besides, being the defender calls for a slack position that allows you to watch the game in progress, and relax on the field, particularly when the action is all taking place around the opponent’s goal.
That does go to say that I cannot be aggressive. Here are some of the “memorable” (but obviously screwed-up) movements I make:
1. Early in the game I do a handball – Justin comments that it is exactly like the hand block taught in BCCT lesson, and that I’d do well for that subject.
2. I used “psychological warfare” in the game when marking Juffri. I make lighting-swift movements from side to side, at all times making sure that I never move out of Juffri’s line of movement thus allowing him a chance to kick the ball towards our goal. I think he got frustrated in the end and kicked the ball back in the direction of his goal to pass it to someone else.
3. I dived down onto the sandy ground to kick the moving ball in another direction, and got knocked over on the leg. Miraculously I climb up and shout, “Continue game!” Often I would have been left blabbering in pain and shock on the floor – come on, I’m not a sissy, but if the injury is very hard, who wouldn’t be stuck onto the ground calling for help?
It is a good game, very unlike the one I played at Tampines about a week or so ago, when a group of eighteen-year-olds who are about to serve NS, serving NS, or have served NS, playing against KIDS – and I mean those whose ages are ten to twelve. What the hell, if we knock one of the kids down like skittles, we’d have their parents charging after us for child abuse. The other players are very good. Harun is damn strong; he doesn’t tire out running and kicking for a long time without break. Most of them can do beautiful headers, or chest-blows. Junhan defends the goal aggressively, to the extent of sliding down onto the sand to save the ball. But some bastard kicks Qihui’s leg and causes him to hurt his ankle, which is a very serious problem because the next day will be our IPPT categorisation exercise (Qihui passes it). ¶ 3/11/2004 05:53:00 pm
