Last Competitive Basketball Game

What a way to end my competitive basketball career. We lost to SH by 1 point. The final years played to their best together with our centres Lucas, Wilson and Ron, as well as our outgoing captain Honjie and newly elected captain Derek, KR was able to give SH a good run of their money. We were leading them by 1 point with 50 seconds left and we just couldn't get the ball at the crucial moment which led to them scoring a basket and thus for the dreadful results. I teared.

Yes, once again I teared. I was touched by the fighting spirit of our team. Individually we are definitely not as good as 7 or 8 players of their team but we gave them a good match and almost snatched it. I was disappointed with myself. Once again, I was not able to step up when required. I am mentally disturbed and weak. Perhaps that's the sign of me giving up basketball. I am just not good enough at this level.

I have enjoyed some great basketball moments for the past 10 years. From the age of 12 when I just started basketball, I was an accurate 3 point shooter back in primary school. The passion to play made me bought a black chicago bulls synthetic leather ball for my own personal training. I still remember how I asked Yishu, Sinlong, Zongwei and a few of our other classmates down to Bukit Merah CC to have a game of basketball every weekend. We beat some of the best players and even ah bengs in that court. Slowly I developed my game, from just having only shooting ability to being a passer and eventually learning centre movements. Yes, I developed all these without any coach. I was asked by my secondary school coach a few times to join the basketball team but I didn't as I never had the confidence to make the move. I'm glad that I was able to help develop the game of Sinlong and Yishu, who was a smart point guard back then. During Inter-class games, we led our class to Semis. One of the "best" moments was when I was the top scorer of the match with nearly 20 points which also included 2 "own goal" points that I helped the opposition scored.

It was not until secondary 4 that I eventually took up the offer to join up with the school team for their training. We had an alumni as our coach. He was a creative basketballer and coach. He taught me some tricks and made me love the game even more. But he is not a old school coach, as he himself crossover from volleyball and didn't have any formalised training before. He never taught us any basics but just creativity and runs. I played some good games back then, gaining competitive basketball experiences from friendly matches and B' boys matches. That was the time when I scored some 17 points in a game against Clementi. I can still recall how I shot two 3-pointer past the opposition and grabbed plenty of offensive rebounds and did some incredible centre moves past their big players. Sweet. The passion carried on through the holidays where I joined my coach's outside team for the youth cup. Our team name was 401, simply because we trained at the neighbourhood basketball court under this block 401. We didn't proceed far in that tournament but I had witnessed some great players in action.

Decided to go SAJC for my college education. In fact I didn't want to as my original wish was to go to the top 5 JCs else it's poly for me. But I guess friends and basketball drew me back to SAJC. During my times, SA was 5 times finalist and one of the most feared teams in A' division.
I went for the trials and was lucky enough to get a chance to train with the school team and under the guidiance of the head coach/PE teacher Mr Khoo. He was a nice teacher and coach. He emphasised lots on physical trainings and drills. After about two trainings, I felt so inferior to the other players. All of them had really good skills and basics not to say their fitness was better than me as well. Plus the fact that we trained in indoor court with less oxygen circulation, some of the guys who couldn't get the training vomitted. I was lucky enough to only get giddy spells. Nevertheless I decided to quit after two trainings. During the first three months, Mr Khoo asked me to reconsider going back to train with the team, stating that I have the potential and there's no harm trying it out. But I held it back quite a number of times as I still didn't feel comfortable being in a strong squad. Sad to say that after the posting results were out, I didn't get into SAJC and all my secondary school classmates were pushing me to appeal for re-entry into SA. Somehow there was still a part of me which wanted me to try out for basketball. In anyway that was one of the reasons for me to choose SAJC. With that, I went to Mr Khoo and told him that I was interested in rejoining his team. To my surprise he was quite nonchalent about it but I could understand as there were quite a few basketballers who wanted to appeal back to SA through basketball. I was again lucky enough to get accepted by the principal as she preferred students from Nanhua secondary school. So that was how I got back into SA and Saints Basketball team. I dropped to 3 A levels subject and put my heart and souls into the trainings. Had some greatest fun training with the mates. People like Sean, my primary school best buddy whom has lost contact with me until coming to SA, Kangquan my captain, Hanxin the monkey, Max the buaya, Yuxing the yandao shooter from RV, Alex the ah gua shuai ge, Guoxiong the big size bully! and plenty of other guys and seniors who have given me lots of encouragement and guidiance. Sad to say I was "forced" to play as post players as we had a shortage of tall players for my batch, there goes the chance to shoot and further my cutting skills. On a hindsight, maybe it's not the fault of the situation but maybe it's really because I was good enough in that area.

During the december holidays, we went to Thailand and Hongkong for our basketball training tour. In the first match against one of their high school students, the startes were trailing 11-0 and I was sub onto court. On the first attack, I've managed to spin past my low post opposition and scored a baseline jumper shot. Subsequently I managed quite a few offensive rebounds as well as the defensives ones. Althought it was disappointing to hear the coach telling the team that "even yaozong can score, I don't believe you guys cannot!?" but there was encouraging comments from the a senior girl that "SA has a good centre in yaozong..." Maybe she was just being generous but it was sweet enough for me. Just when you thought that was an one off case, in the last match against a Hongkong school team, I shot in a 3-pointer and he once again mentioned that we were lucky in that match as he said "even yaozong scored a 3-pointer today". Some said I had my best games for SA during the training tour, I could understand why as I was later injured and was unable to perform as usual when I was back in Singapore. Just about a month before the A' division tournament started, Mr Khoo called me up and informed me that I would not be included in the tournament team. I was deeply saddened by the news. I was sad because all my hardwork would be going to waste and somehow I couldn't show the school my ability...

From then on, I never touched much of basketball until I came to KR. This is the place which rekindle my basketball career. I chose to come to KR because of my friends Yishu, Gerald and Tong Dee(although he phantom away). My SA senior and fellow basketball mates were both in TH and wanted me over initially but I sort of declined... I must say I didn't regret. Yes I would have a IHG basketball and handball Gold with me by now if I was there last year but I think that I wouldn't be any part of the glory. I saw how my friend become a fourth choice team player and subsequently a water boy, I wouldn't want that to happen to me. I don't like to watch from the sideline! KR basketball gave me really fond memories...

My first IHG basketball match was against EH, I was Jieming shadow and it was not until fourth quarter when JM was in some foul troubles that I got to play. We were leading back then and I got quite a few free throws to convert in that match. I must say EH supporters gave a really good atmosphere for me experience how noisy and disruptive a highly supported competitive match can be. They were making noise all over the place, with sands in the bottle, they really made the whole place rockz! I shot the first free throw "air" but was able to convert a 50 % free throws rate for the 10 free throws I got in that game. We lost in OverTime eventually but that's another story for another day...I didn't managed to play in the second match against KE7, for that was an easy match and Capt Cailong decided to field the people who didn't played in the first game. Against TH in the Semis...they were class above us.

In the post IHG04/05, Cailong jio-ed me and wilson to join this "Uncle" team for Singapore B division tournament. I must say it was an eye opener for me. This team comprise players in their 30s and still playing basketball as though they were 17-19s. That's when I told myself there's no such thing as "wo lao le" as these uncles were definitely lao le and still able to perform at the top level. I was only there to learn and they were kind enough to let me play 2-3 minutes for most of the matches. I gained quite a bit from them and the most important thing, there's no such thing as "too old" for a sportsman.

This year's IHG05/06, had TH in the first game. We had the game to them in the first quarter but somehow we couldn't managed to contain their 3-point shooters and ya know the results...however I was quite glad with my personal achievements as none of the shooters had a 3-pointer that passed me and got in. To top it up, I made their fastest player Panda to commit a "travelling" on his fastbreak. Nice :) In our second match, KE7 was a much stronger team than last year, they consist of some great shooters and post players plus a M'sia state player. It was a game of trash talking as the KE guys brought the game to us, it was not until the 4th quarter that we managed to pull away and secured a victory. As for the Semis...ya it was already mentioned in the first paragraph...

I am quite sad to say that I don't really have the passion for basketball again...maybe because of the injuries and countless disappointments I had. I wanted to win something in basketball with my own abilities...but it seemed unreachable. From leading my class in inter-class to school level then to Block level and eventually Hall level, I was always unable to push myself or the team beyond the potential. Maybe it's just not my sports. It's time to move on. And I will remember what Mr Khoo told me before, "I will not encourage my son to play team sports like basketball as it's a game which needs the commitment of all individuals...not only oneself..."

Thanks for the wonderful memories.

K...this is the edited part. After much pursue from DM Hon, I decide to include the BEST match of my life in this last part here. It was my first IBG match in the season 04/05. Our team was strong, comprising the Hon brothers- Hon Hon and Hon Jie, Ron, Wilson, Me and Junjie. Up against B block, we are against a legend of his own, Cailong. I have heard about him since JC, as he was legendary the only guy in NJ who scored 80 % of their points. The match was closely contested as both teams were on par for the first 3 quarters until the last one when Hon decided that we double team against Cailong, the guards involved - the Hon brothers. There was even at one point of time we tripled team against them with Junjie involved. I even came out with a name for that in the post match, the VJ triple team as all three of them were VJ players of different years. The defense was effective as we made them commit numerous turnovers and I rememberd I ran fast breaks like never before, combining superbly with Hon and Honjie at times. As what Hon mentioned in the comments page, I had this one good piece of fastbreak passed by him and I converted the two points with a foul IN! Sweet...really sweet.
To me it was a superb win against a team with a legend and some good players in Huihu and...Huihu only. But I could feel that to Hon, it meant hell of a lot to him. Maybe because he's never beaten the team with Cailong before and this made it even sweeter being his final year. I was told by him that Huihu even had tears in his eyes when they shook hands, as Huihu was left speechless after the match. We failed eventually in the finals against the same team, our gameplan backfired and we just didn't have a backup guard as Junjie was injured, and we focused too much on Cailong which led to fringe players getting in TYCO and easy baskets. I was made popular in that match as well, but sad to say for very wrong reasons. I screamed at this senior (eventual B block head) Eeyang for his countless pullings and shovings of my teamamtes. It snapped when he floored Ron to ground and I just went up to him and shouted..."*****" only those involved that day will remember what I said to him.

Once again, thanks Hon, thanks E block, for the beautiful basketball that we once played. I hope E block will one day win the bloody IBG and I mean IBG not some CBG basketball title.