We were down to our second game of handball – the decider. Yet again we had to go down to Temasek Poly (which is in some isolated corner of Singapore!) all cramped up in the back of a small truck, which is fun (yet rather painful).

As we warmed up and glued up (yes, we use glue), we went through our strategies. We had thought of some new tactics after our previous game (against EH). The atmosphere was tense, as we were up against the defending champions this time around. We were confident of a good game for sure.

Soon after the first whistle, RH opened scoring. KE followed suit. But as the first half progressed, RH kept penetrating the KE defense with their agile footwork. They crashed through our defense and slammed in some amazing shots. We couldn’t expect YY, our superb goalie, to stop everything. We weren’t as lucky as them at keeping the scoreboard ticking – the pressure was on us. We definitely did have more interesting goals than them though, like lobs over the goalie’s head (Yen Hon) or right through the goalie’s legs (Hong En)!

The scoreboard read 5 to 16 at halftime. We regrouped after a pep talk. We were the underdogs, but no way in hell were we giving up!! We played a better game this half. The defense was up, we conceded fewer goals and managed to score a few as well. We did good, but in the end… Raffles did better. Hats off to them.

We lost out at IHG this year, but I feel we have made a mini-victory at the same time. As a handball senior, after learning to play in hall and playing for hall for 3 years, it’s really heart-warming to see a ‘team’ of players, young and old. Our team has a lot of freshies; we trained hard and played hard (literally sometimes), as we learnt to love the game. Kudos to our captain Wu Hong and his vice Teo Peng for pushing on and pushing hard to form this team, which has been in a bleak state ever since…(I don’t remember). Sadly it is my last IHG this year, but I’m really proud to have been a part of this team. Expect a power-packed handball team in the years to come, mark my words. Go KE handball!!

- Buddhima
KE diehard

The original play, written and directed by Leon Choo and Darius Beh, had been kept tightly under wraps for months from even KEVIIans who were not involved, and for the last few months the cast and crew had been going around with the air of people bursting with a juicy secret to share! And well worth the wait it was. Visitors who were brought by their KEVIIan friends were overheard to say, “This sets the benchmark for all the other plays I will see this year”! KEVIIans themselves were very impressed, admiring the interesting sets and costumes, fondly commenting on the actors’ performances, and chewing over the thoughts raised by the show.

The more ‘lao jiao’ seniors as well as graduated seniors who had been involved in previous years’ Hall Plays and were more “in the know” about what goes into making a good Hall Play too had glowing comments, praising the professionalism of the show and appreciating the little details which often go unnoticed - the smooth transitions between scenes (no dropped chairs and muffled curses this year!), the lights and sound that went off without a hitch, all of which contributed to the success of the show. Seniors who had “retired” from hall play went off satisfied that the tradition was in good hands, but with a bit of nostalgic heartache at the sight of the vitality, camaraderie and happiness vivid in the faces of cast and crew who took their bows on stage, knowing that they had done a good job!

Kudos to everyone who made Hall Play possible this year!

Cast
Joseph ——– Thomas Wong
Victoria ——- Grace Chan, Dawn Cen, Eunice Chua, Celene Ng
Chairperson — Meilinda
Nurse ——— Lingyin
Nelson ——– Jiayan
Donny ——– Lynn
Alvin ——— Nathan
Dewen ——- Josh
Ensemble —– Azahar, Doreen Lau, Andy Tang

Steering Comm
Producer —– Trixie Chan
Directors —– Leon Choo, Darius Beh
Production Manager —- Soo Wai Kit
Stage Manager —- Vijay Luiz
Asst. Producer —- Chan Mun Joe
Asst. Production Manager —- Lai Yi Feng
Asst. Stage Manager —- Lim Aik Leong
Secretariat —- Freddy Chua
Costume —– Grace Foa
Set Decor —– Foo Su Lyn
Set Builder —- Zheng Zhi Chao
Tech Crew —– Lee Yen Ling
CAD —– Poh Chee Hau
Marketing —– Jose Davis Nidhin, Miao Baoqing
Ticketing —– Lee Dang Ni
SLW —- Ivy Nyam

About a hundred KEVIIans were involved in the making of this production. Congratulations on a magnificent job done!