What our Female Tennis Captain has to say about our IHG Gold!

Writer: Fang Chee
Editor: Janice Fan

Fang Chee’s personal thoughts as the Females Tennis Captain:

Overall, the team did an excellent job. We went there with the mindset that we were going to emerge as champions, and everyone worked towards that by putting all their efforts into the game.

The 1st singles match of the night, between Jenny and KR’s IVP player, Sherene, was kind of the deciding match for our gold medal. Jenny has always been a confident player, so she kept a cool head throughout and played her game nicely, giving no chance for her more experienced opponent to triumph over her. The 2nd singles match played by Geri portrayed her superb ability to control her balls. Despite a few costly mistakes in the beginning, Geri played on steadily and picked herself up. Soon, she had her opponent running around frantically in the court to return her balls! With excellent strokes, Geri eventually won the game with ease. In the 3rd singles, Jeana’s opponent was no match for her. However, Jeana did not take things for granted. Staying cool and calm like her sister, she played her game with minimum flaws and emerged triumphant from the court, thereby securing the gold medal for KE with a result of 6-0, 6-0.

Our doubles were less fortunate as we were playing against stronger opponents. The 1st doubles match that night (played by Jene and I) was a tough game. But we never gave up and continued fighting hard – we gave our opponents an especially hard time during the 2nd set, and had our scores tied for that particular set. Considering the fact that neither of us had undergone proper training under any tennis coach, it was a good experience that gave us greater exposure to the sport. The 2nd doubles (by Wei-tse and Mae Yue) tested our players’ patience, but Wei-tse and Mae Yue certainly gave the best they could. Even though they lost the game to their more experienced opponents, I knew that they had put in their best because of the look of satisfaction on their faces. I am sure that they have no regrets, especially since Wei-tse said that it was one of the best doubles matches she has ever played.

Sports are not just sports when it comes to tournaments. A lot of times, the key to winning is not one’s skills, but good emotional control, a positive mindset, patience and the strong will to fight back. This is especially so when one faces an opponent that is as strong as you. Like what Geri always says, no team is unbeatable, and the game should be played slowly and steadily: “One point at a time!”

It has been a long journey to the finals, and the finals itself was a long night as we fought our way towards the championship. But I have always had faith in my girls, and they had never once let me down. I am very, very proud of them! From the prelims to the semis, every match taught us new things and prepared us with better skills to win the next one. We thus performed better and better with every match, and made it into the finals. At long last, KE7 is able to wipe the smug looks off the faces of those who have been looking down on us.

I’d like to personally thank my vice captain, Jenny, as well as Jeana, for coaching the team well throughout last semester. Thanks again to them and also to Geri, for coaching the team during the matches, teaching us new things, and always perking us up with words of encouragement/jokes during the breaks. Thank you!

OF COURSE, the team also wishes to express our deepest gratitude to the following parties:

1) WELFARE COMM, for bringing down our dinner and also bottles of 100 Plus.

2) ALL KEVIIan supporters, for coming down to stand behind us and cheer us on (and also those who couldn’t come down but cheered us on by sending “all-the-best” SMSes).

3) Video comm, Photo comm, and KE Press, for taking nice shots and writing reports that made us look sooooooo good.

WELL DONE, GIRLS!!! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

Handball Camp 2008

Writer: Eric Wu
Editor: Angel
Photos: Eric Wu

29th Dec (Monday) was the day we had our annual Handball Camp.

Handball camp 2008 got off to a rainy start, resulting in a shift of our training area from the MPC to the communal hall. We started the day with some basic warming-up passings and basic attack and defend games. The moment the sun emerged from the clouds, we eagerly moved back to the MPC for some real action. The pace of the training picked up from our usual shooting drills to 3-on-3s, and we worked ourselves all the way until noon.

Pakkin (Captain) flying past the defence with the ball

Jonathan (Vice-Captain) ensuring that no balls gets pass him

Finally, our stomachs beckon us to take a break for lunch. The entire team of hungry handballers stormed the ARTS Canteen and ate to our stomachs’ fill. After lunch, we continued the camp with tactical discussion where we decided the strategies for our up-coming IHG matches. After the mind-boggling discussion, we took a short break in our own rooms before commencing the afternoon training.

The sun was hanging high and the court was sizzling hot for our afternoon training, in contrast to the cold morning we had earlier. Nevertheless, we started our tactical training with much zest. Tactics that were discussed earlier were now put to practice. Discussions were made and we were continually improvising the initial tactics for them to be fail-safe. After the practice, we decided to put the tactics into practice in a handball game. We tried and failed several times but we never gave up and eventually we managed to pull off several good setups. However, amidst the game, Greg (an German exchange student) accidentally tripped and landed on his elbow. This was the first and last casualty in the camp (in contrast to the numerous casualties in last year’s Handball Camp).

Time flew past while we were having fun and soon it was time for dinner. The team proceeded straight to the PGP canteen for dinner since everyone’s stomachs were growling by then. After the quick dinner, the team went to wash up before proceeding to the main lounge to enjoy an Olympic Handball match between Germany and Russia, in which both teams ended in a draw. The end of the video marked the end of Handball Camp 2008.

It was an enriching and tiring day but we all had fun!!!

One Team, One Family

IHG 07/08 Closing Ceremony

Pubz Comm Reporter: Jason Lun Leung 

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After the races were over, the closing ceremony proceeded. While the points were computed and the results were being finalized, those who came were treated to some performances. Temasek and Kent Ridge sent their cheerleaders to do some stunts and celebratory performances, while KE sent its own Wushu & Dance teams.

Overall, the public watched and liked the spectacle, which were all greeted with applause. Shortly after, the prize- giving ceremony began, with Jeevan and Adelyne as MCs. Every hall cheered loudly for the winners. For KE, the highlights were when our Gold medalists were called to collect the trophies for Squash and Softball. The overall winner was Eusoff Hall, and they celebrated their title by running around the track wildly and cheering.

IHG was over. In spite of some minor incidents, it was overall a well- organized event. Congratulations to the Convening Committee!

See you all next year, when we can hopefully improve on this year’s performance.

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With this, Pubz Comm would like to thank all those of you who have faithfully read our reports during the IHG period 07/08, and we apologize again for the minor mistakes we committed along the way.

Track and Field

Pubz Comm Reporter: Jason Lun Leung 

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Last Friday, the track and field events were held at the SRC, followed by the IHG closing ceremony. KE supporters went down to the field to cheer up our athletics team and for the ensuing ceremony.

At around 5pm, the first people started arriving. The athletes began preparing and the first supporters arrived. Very soon, the place was bustling with activity. Our athletics team had been training for this event under Ying Rui, but during the last weeks, many runners had to pull out because of injuries. Thus, with the team of runners stretched for numbers, our prospects looked quite grim. This was very sad, especially considering that some had been training months before in the hope of mounting a serious challenge for this event, in which, it has to be said, our hall generally performed poorly in the previous years.

Nevertheless, those who were still fit were there on the track, preparing themselves for their race, while those who had trained but would not be able to run simply joined the groups of supporters.

The 4×100m (Men), one of the most anticipated races for KE, was the second event of the day. Initially, there had been 6 guys contending for the starting places, but because of injuries, two of them pulled out. Nevertheless, we knew of their training, and were quite expectant on this one. But our injured runners were no match for those from the traditional athletics power houses, and Yong Shen, Pak Kin, Han Sheng and Joe could not bring us the medal we had hoped for despite their best efforts.

The following events were also quite dispiriting. KE never managed to really put up any challenge for any of the races. The final event of the day, the medley, ended with KE last.

It would not be fair to indiscriminately criticize the athletics team. Those who ran trained diligently for several months. Some of them ran through pain and injuries to complete the day’s events. Bad luck made it so that they were not able to compete with the other halls even after they have dedicated so much of their time to preparing for this day.

However, some things can definitely be improved.  I thought that there was no ‘squad depth:’ we had too few runners. Some of them had to pull out, leaving the remaining few to run 2, sometimes even 3 races on the same day. KE residents are not usually super- athletes. The fact that the few who do go to trainings end up running all the races by themselves will not help. Maybe if we could get more people to train, they could specialize in an event, and, hopefully, this would give us a better chance of competing.

Also, the supporters can do better. Here again, those who did come down cannot be criticized. Over the whole of IHG, KE supporters have been quite few, especially when compared to those of other halls. One good thing is that those who came down were never afraid to shout and cheer as loudly as they could. Here, the message would be to come down in large numbers, and then, just shout and cheer with everybody. Cheering is a simple thing: there will always be somebody to try something funny or start a new cheer. The hard part is getting enough people to follow. So, yeah, do come down to support next year.

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Touch Rugby (Male)

Pubz Comm Reporter: N Puneeth

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This year’s Touch Rugby for guys was held at the SRC fields on the 16th of February, a Saturday of the month. The event kicked off at about 3 PM.

Our starting line consisted of Horace Owino /H, Jialun (Vice Cap.), Wei Liang(Cap), Dominic, Kevin and Paul.

First Match: KE vs EH. 0-5

We kicked off the proceedings for the day with the first match against a very strong Eusoff team. We were completely outplayed in this match which we lost by a margin of 5 tries to nil.

Second Match: KE vs KR, 2-4

In the second match we had a better outing and we managed to score two tries courtesy of our star player H and Paul, but we conceded some easy tries, and in the end went down by a margin of 2-4.

Third Match: KE vs TH, 0-4

We were up against a very strong and competent Temasek Hall. Again, we were outplayed by a much better team and we let them score four tries. As was the case for the majority of the evening we ended up losing this match as well.

Fourth Match: KE vs SH, 1-2

We had a very good match against Sheares Hall, the defending champions. We put in a tough fight and the writer’s opinion is that we should have gotten way more out of this match.

Fifth Match: KE vs RH; 1-2

Once again a tough opponent for us to play against. We were up against the eventual champions of the IHG Touch Rugby, Raffles Hall. We managed to score a try thanks to Paul but we again let in some easy tries in the second half, and we ended up losing the match by a margin of 1-2.

On the whole, we really ended up having no points to show, but the most important thing is that our boys had fun playing.

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Volleyball Prelims (M): KE vs SH

Pubz Comm Reporter: Yu Kit Chan 

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It was a relatively quiet evening at the volleyball courts as both teams took their time warming up for the Volleyball IHG game. The sparse number of supporters and relatively relaxed atmosphere gave no indication of the exciting game that was to come.

For Volleyball, it was different from Badminton and Squash in that both sides had the opportunity to score points, regardless of the team which had the serve. It was also interesting to note that players were allowed to run out of the court to save a ball – something that probably is not very good news for teams with overly-enthusiastic supporters who tend to crowd around the courts.

The match started. The pace of the game felt somewhat cautious, with carefully timed passes and sets which were then followed by spikes. A few valiant attempts by KE players to spike the ball were thwarted by the quick reflexes of the opposing team. However, Sheares seemed to have a tendency of hitting the ball out whenever they spiked it. Following another ball which Sheares hit out, a brilliant spike by our team shot into the corner of the opposite court, out of reach of the Sheares defenders.

As the game heated up, our players had to dive twice to try to save the ball and the opposing team used double blocks to pre-empt spikes from KE. A serve by Sheares that barely grazed the sidelines of the court marked the end of the first set, 14-25 in Sheares’s favour.

The second set had a quicker pace and one could tell that the players were really going all out for each and every point. KE adopted the tactic of using double blocks and successfully managed to block a few attempted spikes by Sheares. This time, Sheares seemed to have reigned in the distance of their spikes better as they made less unforced errors while executing offensive spikes. There were several long and exciting rallies through the second set. Our boys fought hard but had to concede defeat eventually, with the score of 17-25. Nevertheless, we are still proud of our volleyball team for their tremendous efforts and applaud them for a game well played.

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Road Relay (M): 3rd Place Finish Delights Hall

Pubz Comm Reporter: Jason Lun Leung

An inspiring report, for an inspiring sport… 

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KE road relay guys had been training hard for this day. Our team was heavily reliant on seniors who had already experienced it all in the previous years. Ma Rong, Kumaran and Terence had already been part of the much celebrated KE team which had ranked third last year, and, luckily for us, were willing to give it their all for the hall again for this IHG. Kelvin, Yong Jun and Yannick had stepped up to make up the rest of the team. The KE guys assembled at the car park at around five, and went through the preparations for the actual race together. After careful consideration, the team lined up as follows: Kelvin, Ma Rong, Kumaran, Yong Jun, Terence and Yannick. 

I was watching the event from at the Central Library slope. After receiving news that the first runners had been flagged off, the anxious wait for their appearance at the bottom of the slope began. Some time passed and the first runner, from Temasek hall, appeared closely followed by the yellow of Eusoff. Then, a nervous few seconds elapsed before the next runner came into view round the bend. The red jersey of Kelvin was an extremely uplifting sight. We were all relieved and happy to see that we were still in the race and only trailing the top two by a small distance. On seeing Kelvin, the red supporters started shouting words of encouragement.

Cheering the runners is one of the ways of acknowledging how hard this particular event is on the body and mind, and, in this respect, cross campus race is slightly different from other IHG sports: you cheer every runner passing by to support him/ her through this exhausting process even if he/ she is from another hall. The sight of somebody toiling his way upslope brings about respect even if that person is from another hall. It was nice to see people lined up along the sides of the road egging every runner on, irrespective of his hall. 

It takes around 4 minutes to actually run to the start of the slope. By the time one reaches this point, one is already starting to tire, but still needs to will oneself up this punishing slope. People who have never tried this route can find it hard to visualize how hard running it in such insane timings is, but one should try to picture the lactic acid in the legs, the gasping breaths and the mental struggle required to complete this in 8 minutes or less. Road relay really is one hell of a race to run, and it truly requires all of your focus to push yourself all the way to the finish.

Thus, this year’s race was full of emotions for the KE supporters. The determined look on Kelvin’s face as he chased the two from TH and EH and the calm, assured striding of the veterans Ma Rong and Kumaran inspired respect and excitement in the KE people. As Kumaran finished his lap, we were still well placed in third position. However, Yong Jun faced strong race opponents and, despite his best efforts, KE was fifth by the end of the fourth round.

With Terence and Yannick left to catch up, the rest of the race was going to be a nerve- wracking experience. They were our best two, but some doubts still lingered over whether they could catch up with the rest. As Terence controlled his race and calmly gained ground on the fourth team, he overtook the Raffles guy and pulled KE one rank higher just before releasing Yannick as our last runner.

The last lap was quite demoralizing as far as the supporters on the Central Library slope were concerned. We saw three of the other halls pass by before Yannick appeared round the bend. He pushed himself to the limit and managed to win us the third position by clocking in at 7’ 39 (he beat his personal best by 20+ seconds), to the extreme joy of the KE supporters who had assembled at the car park.

The KE guys had, against all odds, repeated last year’s heroics and ranked third overall. Yes, we had been quite lucky. But the point remains that they trained hard enough and were there to seize whatever luck threw their way. This result would not have been possible without the excellent training sessions conducted in the months before the actual race day.

After giving their all to win this rank, the guys were understandably overjoyed, and celebrations were ecstatic. We had bettered the timings set before the race by several seconds. With sheer perseverance, we had managed to hold our ground against the other hall teams packed with IVP players. This was a truly memorable event, and, as such, I would like to congratulate the KE guys’ road relay team.   

Thanks to Kelvin, who proved a fantastic captain, motivating everybody through all the tough trainings and successfully building a nice team of runners.

Thanks also to the seniors who did not need to run, but offered their help, trained intensively and gave wise advice. I hope their passion and love for this event has inspired several others to take their lead and try their best to contribute to KE.

            Long live KE VII road relay team!!!

To finish off this report, just two quotes which I heard from people who competed in this sport where motivation plays such a strong part:

“All the way!”

“Every second counts.”

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Soccer (M) Semis: We will be back!

Pubz Comm Reporter: Jason Lun Leung

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This football semi-final against Eusoff hallwas always going to be a hard match for the KE guys. Eusoff had scored 3 past KR and then thrashed RH 8- 0 during their qualifying matches, and was looking quite unstoppable. Nevertheless, KE had recovered well after a shaky start to this year’s tournament, and we were still fancying our chances.

However, we were on the defensive from the start of the game. The Eusoff players were very athletic, technically abled and played well as a team. In spite of that, KE managed to hold on by sheer determination and grit. Still, it was quite natural for them when they opened the scoring with their player blasting his shot in from a tight angle. The goal itself may have come as a surprise, but with the way Eusoff dominated the play, they were bound to score, one way or another.

The red supporters down the side were fully aware of the grim situation the KE boys were in, but tried to cheer them into action. Our Hall Master and GH block’s RF Jenson Goh even came down, with Jenson particularly vocal. However, all of them were silenced when we conceded a penalty. Terence, who has proved extremely dependable as a goalkeeper during the whole tournament, was unable to keep the shot out. 2- 0 to Eusoff, and this was the score at half-time.

The half-time talk was quite grim. Everybody remarked how we never got going, and absolutely needed to get our act together. The players all agreed to give it another try, and walked onto the pitch determined to give a better account of KEVIIan soccer. It has to be said that some improvement was noted; especially when our midfield composed of Andy, Hansley and Raymond clicked. Although they never managed to fully impose themselves as in the previous match, they made a significant improvement over the first half. But we still let ourselves down, and conceded two other goals. The final score was 4- 0. Even then, we have to give credit to some of the players who never gave up.

Kevin gave his all, and was all over the place, attacking in search of a goal even during the dying moments of the match. Andy tested the keeper with the last shot of the game. Raymond ran tirelessly and chased every ball. H got close to a lob, which could well have changed the whole match had it gone in. Terence was extraordinary and got us out of jail on several occasions.

Nevertheless, we still lost by 4 goals in the end. Whatever is said now is not going to change the fact that we lost our title. Yet, we have to admit that the Eusoff team outplayed us, and be gracious in defeat.

Some of the players have already moved on, and are already thinking of coming back again next year. This defeat hurts, but we are not looking for excuses. We will just get up, and have another go next year. For now we wish the Eusoff team all the best, but we can already send a warning that we are focused on coming back as a stronger team. KE soccer guys may have been eliminated, but we are not wallowing in self- pity and regret. We are already mounting next year’s challenge for the IHG soccer.

Now, that’s the spirit of champions! Keep it up boys!

 

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“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another without any loss of enthusiasm.”

 

VolleyBall (F) Prelims: KE vs TH

Pubz Comm Reporter: Grace Chan 

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               The girls were excited as they had a chance to beat Temasek Hall (TH) to advance into the semi-finals as we only lost narrowly to Sheares Hall on Monday evening. However, TH proved to be the better team when they defeated Sheares in the preliminary rounds. With that, KE7 girls knew they had to watch out for TH this evening.

                The starting six for the match against TH were Qian Hong, Kim, Stella, Wan Ling, Mei Hui and Hui Ann. TH did not waste any time in getting their first point. TH is definitely the better team compared to Sheares and our girls had to make an effort in getting the first point. With the score in TH’s favour, our team called for time-out to regroup the girls and to calm down their nerves. This worked as we slowly inched up the scoreboard. Nevertheless, it was not enough as we ourselves were making a lot of mistakes which gave TH an advantage. Qian Hong and Stella each made a gallant save for the ball by running out of the court. Their efforts were rewarded when we managed to clinch a point after volleying the ball over the net. Sadly, we lost the 1^st set by 11-25.

In the 2^nd set, the girls were more nervous as they knew they either will make it or break it. As such, TH slowly began to gain points. Most of our services did not get over the net and we failed to get the first ball up. One could see the tension on Mei Hui’s face when it was her turn to serve. With a deep breath, she threw the ball up and hit it and it was over the net! The look of relief on her face said it all. During the 2^nd set, Qian Hong was substituted by Michelle for a while. TH spikes proved to be too much for the girls as we found it hard to retrieve them. With that, we lost the 2^nd set by 6-25.

It was understandable that the girls were disappointed with the loss but through it all, they managed to form a bond among themselves. Qian Hong, the captain for the female volleyball team would like to express her gratitude to the girls for coming down for training and being a part of this year’s volleyball team. This year’s line and formation was definitely better than last year’s and one can only hope for more improvement next year. KE7 whoosh!

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Soccer Semis Result

Males: KE vs EH 0 – 4

Soccer Semis!

KE vs EH: Multi Purpose Field 2, 1930 hrs.

Be there!