post-season analysis

our a-div season is over..
lost to ACJC 1-0 yesterday. i think NJ is an unlucky ground for us. we've played 4 matches there in the last two years and lost every game by one goal (last year 1-2 to ACS(i), this year 0-1 to NJ, 1-2 to AJ and 0-1 to AC). the two matches we won this year were played at SR (3-2 against dunman) and VJ (2-0 against NY).
so our final standings for this year is played 5, won 2, draw 0, lost 3, scored 6, conceded 6, pts 6. LLWWL. scorers: justin 3, me 2, caleb 1.
i think in our group we were like 5th out of 6 teams. unlucky if you ask me. i'd say we bounced back pretty well from the first 2 defeats. all our losses were down to defensive errors. some stuff that just can't be helped. all these little details make the difference in a tight competition like the a-divs. the teams that we were expected to beat this year like NJ and AJ have improved alot as well.
we really had high hopes for the season. expected to at least make it to the next stage. but well, the first two games really cost us, and by the time we bounced back, it was too late. had we not made the mistakes against NJ and AJ i think it would have been a much different story. but as it is, we're out and have to hope the next batch does better next year.
one thing i feel about our guys is that we're too "nice". we don't go into tackles hard enough. we have to put our head and body in more. if you go 100% into a tackle you're less likely to get injured. i'm probably the meanest tackler in the team (rahim and floyd tackle harder, but i tackle MEANER. there's a slight difference lol). and for some reason i just love going in really hard into a challenge.
although one good point about us is that we don't play-act or whine to the referee (in fact i quarrel with the refs haha). well, i don't mean to stereo-type, but there's a reason why we don't like schools like NJ and AC. even in a soccer match, you can see their people dropping onto the floor the whole game and hear them crying and complaining to the ref. AJ and NY didn't do that. for dunman, they just kept sucking-up to the ref ("good call ref!" i've never heard that phrase more times in any soccer game i've ever played). so yeah, CJC are really the a-div nice guys (except for their vice-captain lol).
for me, it was only a satisfactory a-div. the bad point is that i didn't get to attack as much as i, or even coach, would have liked. the teams we played just didn't allow it. the only match where i produced match-winning goals was the dunman high game. i had 4 shots the entire competition and i scored with 2 of them. the two misses were a header just over the bar and a long-range effort which the keeper saved. the good point is that i probably held my position really well. none of the teams bossed our midfield. and i'd like to think that i was more than a match for any centre-midfielder i was up against. against AJ and dunman it was easy meat. in the NY game i outplayed their big guy and he had to be subbed off. and against NJ and AC i was up against their combined schools team players and i matched them pretty well, if not better. so yeah, i'd like to say that i'm one of the better centre-midfielders in this year's a-divs. (i can't make the bolder statement that i always love to, cos we didn't play all the teams. haha..)
so for me, it was good tackling, passing and positioning. not enough attacking. and although my air challenges are not that great, i've improved alot in a short space of time as compared to last year when i didn't win a single header.
well, i'd say the experience of playing competitive soccer again was a good and enjoyable one. despite the early disappointments, the way we came back was encouraging. and so, i've played my last game in a CJ shirt.. haha. proud to have been vice-captain of a CJ team and wore the no.7 shirt for 2009. and not to mention the no.39 in 08 too! haha.
ok, time to throw away my soccer socks and hang up my boots..
byebye

easter and A-divs

whoops.. haven't posted anything for a long time!
it's good friday weekend! and for PLH, that means easter retreat!:)
this easter retreat was actually more fun than i expected. the youth comm really organised it well. i think the new people we've put in have contributed with quite a few new and fresh ideas.
on friday everyone came at about 3plus and had the usual registration and groupings. paul and shona were in charge of the ice breakers and they had some nice interesting games:)
my group was rebecca chan, michelle goh, colin, darren ho, coco, daniel and justin. grace foong and becky koh left early.
after ice breakers we had 1 hour for wash up time. and paul and i decided to use this time to have our wrestling match!! the undefeated giant vs the plh undisputed champion! lol. it was arguably the greatest match in our plh wrestling federation history lol. i think it comes quite close to the first match we ever had at bbc 07 (the 6-man elimination match involving me, jeremy, tim leong, shaun, david and jon, which i won and became champion). for the fact that paul and i went on for an amazing 40min (5.30-6.10pm). i got paul in some arm bar on the ground early on. twisted his arm and stuff and he was like shouting in pain on the ground. heh. i'm really shocked that he didn't tap out. that was definitely the most gutsy thing i've ever seen. but it helped me cos he played the rest of the match with a weakened left arm, preventing him from having the strength to lift me at times. i don't remember much details, but i somehow got paul on the ground and managed to pin him in a 3-count. wow. haha. just wow.
now my back, neck, and right arm are aching alot from the match. lol. paul is like the hardest guy ever to get onto the ground. my spinebusters almost didn't work!! good thing i had the submission move haha!
then it was dinner. and at night we had a passover meal thing. we kinda did it before during the easter retreat that i was sec1. and then we had a reflection time for 1hour-plus in the sanctuary which quite a few of us found helpful.
oh yes, then at night we were about to have our first-ever PLH wrestling tag-team championship match. i was partnering paul! i'm pretty sure we were favourites to become the first-ever tag-team champs of PLH, but just before the match could start my dad came in and stopped everything... in the end our room was super guai. lights off by 1145 and most of them slept by 12plus. the twins, paul and i were awake til 1plus then we got hungry. we decided to come down to the kitchen and we found the leftovers from supper haha! we finished everything!! four hungry boys at night. what do you expect? lol. yes and after some heart to heart talks we were asleep by 2plus with full stomachs. i love that feeling:) eat and sleep. lol.
the next day i woke up in the morning at 530 cos i needed to pee. then i decided might as well take a nice morning bath. shiok! haha. breakfast was at 7am. then we had devotion and worship too. after that the groups split up to plan for their presentations. the skits were not bad, considering the amount of time they had to prepare. my group got second for it:)
then it was lunch time. paul and i ate at a fast pace so we could go up to the youth comm room early to take a wrestling video. lol. a fake one. our acting is quite lousy but funny too! haha! it was supposed to be a hardcore match and we used lotsa weapons in the room. even the tables! haha!!
then it was the group games which were pretty fun. and musical chairs too! it's fun at the part where the people wear blindfolds and you can mess with them by taking away the chairs haha!
and we ended the camp by 5pm.
today went to church for easter sunday service. there was baptism and confirmation. congrats to michelle, amanda, shaun, and serene! these are those from plh who went.
then went up to mph to jam for awhile.
ok i'm running outta time. needa speed up my posting pace haha.

anyways, we've been having a-division matches the past 2 weeks.
lost to NJC 0-1
lost to AJC 1-2
beat dunman high 3-2
beat NYJC 2-0
our last group game is against ACJC on friday. despite losing our first 2 matches, we've still got a good chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals after winning in our last 2. we were quite unlucky in the NJ match. lost to a headed goal from a freekick. i'd like to think we were equal with them the whole game.
for the AJ match, it was defensive mistakes that cost us.
i scored 2 goals in the dunman match. i think we played kinda badly and were fortunate to come away with the 3pts.
but in the NY game we really played well. fully deserved the 2-0 win.
i think if we win on friday we're through. gotta take a look at the table when i get back to school this week.
ok that's all for now. i think i'll post again after a-divs end.
byebye:)

what holiday??

the common tests are over! i'm pretty sure i failed almost everything. maths was the worst. i left ALOT of questions blank. if i get full marks for all the questions i attempted, i will get 26 marks. lol. and maths was the only subject i studied for! this just goes to show that studying does not guarantee anything. if you go into an exam without studying, you have nothing to lose. that's what i feel. haha. but only this kind of not-important tests then can play play. when a-levels come then cannot anyhow play play liao haha.
last friday we had a friendly against river valley high too. we beat them 7-0. but i'm quite disappointed cos it could actually have been more than 10-0. ALOT more. i managed to get 2 goals before being substituted off 10min into the second half. so i've been top scorer so far with 5 goals in 2 games (reko is 2nd with 3). mum says why can't i be top scorer in studies too lol.. i can, but give others a headstart first lah.. haha! makes it alot more interesting again. just like o-levels.
GIGS was okay. i guess the game was quite fun, but maybe not practical for so many people to play. but the comm should get better with every event it organises. so i'm not thAt worrried yet..
hmm... i've got nothing else to say i guess. i'm just happy for the one-week away from any lessons. looks like nothing's changed for me even though the holidays are here (except for not needing to go school for lectures and tutorials), cos during school term i also act like it's my holiday haha!! just ask the twins and michelle lol.

9U3

it's been a pretty eventful week.
on wednesday we had the CJC annual cross-country. at macritchie reservoir.
i managed to get 9th place in the school. so got another nice trophy:) but my table a bit no space to put it. it started really congested but i managed to break through the crowd half way through the jungle. then just keep running til the end haha.
yesterday (friday) had chinese alevel results. i got a U! haha... so have to take CL 'B' this year.. sian lah. i expected to fail chinese lah so don't worry people i'm not sad. stop comforting me guys lol. i just don't like it that i have to go for CL B lessons. waste time..
then we had a friendly against NUS high too. we trashed them 8-1. i got a first-half hat-trick. first goal was a tap-in from a goal-mouth scramble. then the second goal was a nice scissors kick from a cross from the right. the hat-trick goal was a cut-back from justin to me on the edge of the box and i shot it first time into the top corner. it was 5-1 at half-time. then second half we scored 3 more and then coach subbed me out cos he was trying out the substitutes for 2nd half. so yeah, a nice win for us. but they weren't very good lah.. that's why it was just a warm-up for the A-divs haha.
yup that's all. next week is common tests!! die..

rockafella

HELLLOOOOOO CJC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
haha. that was what i shouted when the curtains opened and the cheers from the crowd greeted us. for a moment i was stunned and just stood there soaking it all in. then came to my senses, took the mike and shouted into it lol.
yeah, rockafella was pretty ok. actually it wasn't as good as i had hoped. cos i kinda messed up abit of my second solo. and according to daryl, brother paul wasn't very happy cos we blasted our instruments until the judges couldn't hear me sing. but everyone i asked told me they could hear the singing. so i'm wondering what's the difference between the judges ears and those in the audience. cos the video yiying helped me take could also hear the singing very clearly. haha. ah it doesn't matter now lah.
actually i thought it was quite bad, but after seeing the video i think it was actually quite ok.
i think "only one" was good. the crowd sang along during the chorus. my class were cheering like mad haha! and there was one part where the crowd did a kallang wave. i think it was during the solo haha.
now i look back, i think "i'd hate to be you" was a wrong song choice. cos it's not a very well-known song. so the crowd couldnt sing along. maybe something like "she will be loved" would have been better. but no use crying over spilt milk lah.
well, it was a good experience:) the biggest stage we've ever performed on! and the largest audience. i think about half the school went? the whole auditorium was filled lah. and to just hear the crowd was like... wow... haha. too bad my classmates weren't allowed to go right up to the stage so i couldn't do my planned stage dive. LOL. we had REALLY planned to do it! totally nuts haha. but thanks to the class for supporting me(: hearing them scream and seeing them stand up and cheer my name was the best part of last night.
having a band performance is really something. i'm not sure if i'll ever perform in front of such a big crowd again. or having such mad supporters. but i really hope i get another chance. performing is really something else.
but being in the crowd is another thing!! haha. when Class Act (last year's winners) performed "beat it" i escaped from backstage to the hall and joined my class. and we starting going OUTTA CONTROL. haha! jumping like crazy and a BIT of moshing. hahaha.. moshing is the most fun thing ever man. too bad the school didn't allow it...
yep. all in all a good experience. i performed not to win, but to just perform and entertain.
one great rock show can change the world...

busy busy

wohoho haven't posted here for quite some time!
i've been really busy in school.
bcos first of all, trying to keep up with all my work. actually not really trying, but you know what i mean..
soccer training is getting intensive cos a-divisions is coming in april.
and also Hastily Assembled auditioned and got into rockafella. so there have been rehearsals. unfortunately the student council put them on days where there's also football training. so i've had to juggle them. i think coach isn't very happy that i missed some parts of training.
we had a friendly match with AJC yesterday. the match got cancelled after 10min cos of rain... we were actually leading 1-0 early on through an own goal. i missed a good chance and reko hit the post too. so we could have been 3-0 up after 10min haha.
anws, rockafella is tmr! (rockafella is an annual CJC rock concert event where all the ticket and shirt money goes to charity) our band, Hastily Assembled, is gonna be playing "only one" by yellowcard and "i'd hate to be you when people find out what this song is about" by mayday parade. i'm lead singer and lead guitarist, cheang is rhythm guitar, YC on keyboard, matthew tay on drums and edwin on bass. we haven't played at all since the auditions (which were one month ago) cos we're all so busy. me with soccer, YC and edwin with fencing, and cheang with dunno what he has lah. so the rehearsals have not been that good. due to some unforeseen circumstances such as the council not letting us play our full songs due to time-constraints and curtains closing on us while we're playing. lol. but i think we'll do fine tmr. i've got some nice crowd-rallying stuff up my sleeve(:
yeah well, it's been a really stressful and busy week. juggling soccer, rockafella, and studies. not to mention there's interclass handball tmr.. i have to play cos i'm either gonna be keeper to stop the goals or play centre to dictate the game and make killer passes. so i'm very important. haha..
normally with a week like this i would feel so dead and anxious, but a good thing happened this week that made me feel much better. God knows how much i needed that, man..
oh yeah, liverpool beat real madrid 1-0 last night too:)
don't know when i'm gonna post again, but definitely when i've got more time:)

Jersey

Cause Jersey just got colder and
I'll have you know i'm scared to death
That everything that you had said to me was just
A lie until you left
Now i'm hoping just a little bit stronger
Hold me up just a little bit longer
I'll be fine, i swear
I'm just gone beyond repair

Let's write a song that we can dance to
Cause they all wanna listen
Just to know how it sounds when
I do that thing you know that i do
When i find inspiration
This is me breaking down when

Jersey just got colder and
I'll have you know i'm scared to death
That everything that you had said to me was just
A lie until you left
Now i'm hoping just a little bit stronger
Hold me up just a little bit longer
I'll be fine, i swear
I'm just gone beyond repair

Let's write a song that we can sing to
And you can lead the choir
And put the hook where it hurts most
And you threw a spark that lit the candle
That set us all on fire
And sent a flame down the east coast

Jersey just got colder and
I'll have you know i'm scared to death
That everything that you had said to me was just
A lie until you left
Now i'm hoping just a little bit stronger
Hold me up just a little bit longer
I'll be fine, i swear
I'm just gone beyond repair

And i should have been your everything
I'm now at the end of my eternity
And i will sleep to have the darkest dreams
This just won't seem right to me I close my eyes and beg for peace

Jersey just got colder and...
Jersey just got colder and...
Jersey just got colder and...

Jersey just got colder and
I'll have you know i'm scared to death
That everything that you had said to me was just
A lie until you left
Now i'm hoping just a little bit stronger
Hold me up just a little bit longer
I'll be fine, i swear
I'm just gone beyond repair


another Mayday Parade song..