What does my future lies?

MIDNIGHT!/ Saturday, August 08, 2009

NTU Canoe Polo Invitational 2009. 080809. It was only a mini one day off competition where we would get to play with different girls cp team before the national champions later at the end of august. Yet, it was also an exciting competition for me.

In total, 8 teams participated in this invitational; NTU Grads, NTU Kids, Devlin's, Titians, Bom Bom Pa, Redtide, Black Crooks and Blizzards. Out of the 7 games which blizzards played, we peobably only played well for 3 of the games. Off-form for the other games, especially in the match against titians. We wanted to win, but we lose to them 0-1. :( Nonetheless, this invitationals has been an enriching experience, next to gauging how we fared against the other teams. This competition was also a test of our stamina and endurance level, since we played alot of matches the entire day. It was really sweet when we drew with blackcrooks 1-1 for our final game. To top it off, the finals/3rd and 4th placing matches were so exciting! At our current blizzards level, we're still some way off from playing at that level. Nonetheless, as long as we train hard, I believe we can do it!

The final few matches were really exciting. That's what happens with the power of national term players playing in different teams. After the draw against bc which boosted our morale, we stayed back to watch the remaining matches. Rt lost to Bom Bom Pa, but it was a well fought match. At the first half, both teams were scoring point for point. It was only in the second half where RT started to lag behind slightly. That said, RT played well! *thumbs up* Then there was the finals, where it was Bom Bom Pa against NTU Grads. Bom Bom Pa had already played 20mins prior to the finals and there was hardly any time to rest. Yet, they put up such a good match. Both teams fought hard and it was so exciting to see both teams play! After the second half, both teams were tied at 1-1. So it moved on to golden goal, where the format was 3-1-3. No goal was scored, so the game couldn't end and they moved on to another golden goal. Again, no goal was scored. You could see then, that both teams were starting to tire out. However, they still played hard! Once again, at the second golden goal, both teams didn't score any goal. Come the third golden goal and finally, NTU Grads scored. A very nice shot too! Good job NTU Grads. It was a game well played. (:

And so, I bring away from this invitationals so much more experience and insights. Really, we should just played hard and put in our 100% during any game. I'm guilty of not putting in 100% of our effort during some games though. =x The first game against Devilins was well fought, we lost to them 0-2 when we thought we would get thrashed. Subsequent games weren't as good however. At some games, especially against Titians and NTU Grads (2nd game), I just played super badly. My energy level was super low and I failed to get the first balls. :( My fault I know, because I wasn't fully rested for the games today. At this time yesterday, I was playing mahjong at selina's house so I only had 3h of sleep. I was surviving on redbull and teh peng today!

So there were bad games but there were also classic moments! Against NTU kids, whilst going for the first ball in the second half, I got the chance to experience what is known as the referee's ball. Both Kailing and I were snatching for the first ball after we both slided pass the ball so the referee (mary lek) called for the referee's ball. I kept screaming/shouting that the ball was mine but kailing just wouldn't let go of the ball! HMMPH. But anyway, none of us blizzards had experienced it before during the match, so we were quite confused on what we were supposed to do. I had a rough idea, but still clarified the doubt with the ref first. The rule goes like this: A referee’s ball will be declared when two or more players of opposing teams have one or more hands firmly on the ball, so that the players share possession of the ball for five (5) seconds. If initial contact is made directly with the ball illegal holding will only apply if either player uses the opposition for support. If the referee needs to stop the game, not during a break in play and where neither team is at fault (e.g. referee error, faulty goals, injury) and the referee cannot determine who had possession at the time of the whistle, the referee will restart the game with a referee’ s ball. A referees ball will be taken at the nearest point on the sideline to the incident. Where a referee’s ball is awarded for an incident that occurs between the six (6) metre line and the goal line, the referee’s ball will be held at the nearest six (6) metre line. Time-out applies. Two opposing players will line up at right angles to the sideline, on the side nearest their own goal line, near to the sideline where the situation occurred, one metre apart facing the referee. They will place their paddles on the water, but not between their kayaks and their hands on the deck of the kayak or on their paddle. All other players must be at least three (3) metres away from the point between the two players participating in the referees ball. The referee will throw the ball on the water between the players and blow the whistle to restart play. Both players must make an attempt for the ball with their hands as soon as it touches the water. The players must not play the ball before it hits the water. Infringement incurs a sanction. So yepp. Quite exciting snatching the ball from kailing! Woo~ I was so happy when I snatched the ball from her. But then I lost it again at the next pass. -.- I got it back after that though. Haha.

Another classic moment got to be the game against black crooks. We played well and defended well and surprisingly, scored a goal in! Haa. After first half, the score was tied 0-0. Then the second half begun and Clara shot a ball in! Both bc and blizzards were shocked. Haa. Of course we started screaming and immediately you could see that blizzards' morales were much higher. At the same time, we also knew that we had to defend hard, so that bc wont score back. On the other hand, bc started to panic slightly and wanted to score back, since we had first scored against them. They played even more aggressively, but they didn't play very well, because they just wanted to get the goal back quickly. They were successful though. Shortly after our goal, bc scored a goal too. Sigh. And I had a chance to attempt a shot after that but my ball totally failed to obey my command. Sobs! My throw failed me when I best wanted it!!! Not very prepared when I released the ball from my hand so I guess that's why it went the wrong way I wanted it to go. Thankfully, we fought hard so we drew against bc. :)

Yays. I finally got all my 5modules this sem! Sigh. It's getting harder and harder to bid though. My points account is so poor now! Sobs sobs. But thankfully, I managed to get everything! The last module I bid for was really lucky. The winning bid was the bid I placed for that mod!! So now I have a 4day week! Wheee. Wednesday's my free day! Aiya. Because of the national day holiday I have a make-up lecture at 6pm-8pm this thursday though! Sianed.

Caught Harry Potter with Siti on thursday and wells, I find the storybook much better than the movie. Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince is so much more exciting in words than in motion. This movie definitely isn't as good as previous harry potter movies. Definitely a disappointment.

Crashed arts owk in sentosa on wednesday together with liting, steph, alvin and david. Thankfully there was no sun! But there's still UV rays la. Most of the games were repetitive to those which I had played as a freshie so I didn't really play them. Tag-of-War this year invovled lesser freshies though. A tough fight, that was. Oh. NTU Hall2 residents were also having their camp at sentosa so I saw yeehan and jiayin at Palawan after our beach games!

And I've finally got to check out ION orchard, on Friday with liting. The basement shops are definitely more affordable (x many times) than the shops that are occupying the upper levels. There's many unique shops over at ION too. There's this shop that only sells havaianas slippers. Then there's Uniqlo too. And there's also those common shops like Zara, Mango and Topshop. So I went shopping again and got myself 2 tops when we were at ION!

Ohh. I suppose my look hasn't changed much over the years. People still recognise me! Haha. I taught a half day vjc kop last tuesday and my junior (back in secondary school) recognised me. But I couldn't remember her face! =/ She was sec1 back then and I was in sec4. It's such a coincidence.

Past. Present. Future
8/08/2009 10:56:00 PM <3

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