Handball

And so we lost the finals to RH. I will be lying if I say I am not upset over the defeat but we didn't deserve to win. Maybe the seniors understand this and thus not many have mentioned about it since then, unlike the girls finals. Throughout the tournament this year, we hadn't been playing well as a team. Yes, we are a team with good individual techniques. Player to player, we are one of the best in NUS but team play wise, I think we are one of the worst, maybe just better than KE7. Maybe it's not right to reveal certain things here but heck, it's MY blog. Our team spirit hasn't been the best. Other than one commonness in wanting to win the GOLD, the team wasn't really bonded. It's seperated into first team, second team and the rest... Throughout the whole two months of trianing sessions, it's only the first team that was playing regularly together and still the teamwork was lacking. I am for the idea of first team training together more often, but when things are not going right, do we stil stick to the smae 7 or should we mix and match some player in? As a result, we have two separate teams, a team who is capable of attacking because of their own individual technique and confidence and another team who is equally capable but lack the confidence to prove it for whatever reasons in them.

Complacency? There was no training since the start of the tournament right till the week just before our finals match. It's that confidence? arrogance? or simply complacency? These questions got to be answered by whoever captain the team next year. It's not the time to blame this year's efforts.

Support? Talk about strong KR handball tradition. Where was the training and guidiance from the alumni? Forgive me if I am wrong here. But I think other than the captain not being proactive in contacting the alumni, maybe the alumni themselves can make the effort to come down or do whatever to give us guidiance? Of course having said that, I am not talking about you, tootall, you have been on of the most dedicated senior I have seen.

Fear? From the start, we have been saying RH is good at this and that, why are we worrying about others when we should be learning from their strong points and try to achieve them? Why are we trying faciful tactics when we can't even do a simple penetrating waves?

I cried. Yes again. But it's for very different reason this year. Unlike last year which I cried because I felt for the triple Hs, I cried this year simply because we didn't fulfill our full potential. For all the great technique our players shown on court, there's no teamplay to prove our worth as a Champion. And RH surely deserved to be the king for this year. They played simple pentrative waves and kept their composure and played the "dirty" professional way. Something we should learn if we were to win games without getting silly fouls and sent offs.

I have learned a great deal this year. I have received some encouraging comments. I have got one of the best support in my baby. I have got great training partner and neighbour. I have got the best seniors to help me. BUT do I have the mental to go through all these all over again?

On a sidenote, it's quite disgusting yet funny to see how some oranges chose to be wrapped up in leaves during the finals. Is there no sense of pride?