Sunday, September 2, 2007

On Feeling Relaxed.

Relaxed: [adjective] Being free of or relieved from tension or anxiety.

Its been a long time since I've felt this relaxed, free from all the worries that I've managed to bog myself down with over the last year. Now that my hall and floorball commitments have come to a temporary end, all the stress and fretting have vanished and I can't help but feel a peace in the air.

Over the past week, I was faced with a dilemma: Dinner & Dance clashed with Div 3 Floorball Quarter Finals. For the longest time, I could not decide on which to choose. Should I attend Dinner & Dance and witness the fruition of months of hard work by the committee that I am part of? Or should I go for the quarter final playoff which the Blizzards and I have fought so hard for? Cursing my luck, I weighed the consequences of my choices carefully before finally deciding to go for floorball instead of Dinner & Dance.

So it was yesterday evening when most of the hall residents were dressed nicely and socialising that I was sitting on the train for an hour, waiting to arrive at Tampines. Warm up was as per normal and one could feel the tension in the air as both teams got ready to faceoff. At the centre of the court waiting for the starting whistle, I could feel my heart beating hard and fast, the muscles in my legs and my grip on the stick tightened with each breath I took, trying to keep my mind clear and focused.

The whistle went, and we soon found ourselves in a very different game than we were accustomed to. The opponents, El Dorado, were neither skilled nor fit, but they were dirty. Taunting seems to be their forte, no exception to their Coach and Captain, as they tried to cope with our speed using underhanded means of pulling, shoving and ridiculous play acting. Childish and lame remarks were hurled at us from their bench as we played on into the 2nd period. The Blizzards punished them with sheer abhorrence and damnation, tasting sweet vengeance as we pulled into the lead 4-1.

The 3rd period turned out to be a nightmare. The fools of a referees proved themselves to be utterly useless as they made ridiculous calls one after another all in the favour of the team that should be condemned from Singapore floorball altogether. Words fail me as I try to make apparent their incompetence, their worthlessness, their purposeless existence! The Blizzards seethed with anger, furious at the bootless referees as they allowed the other team blatant infringements while condemning us for every non-existent foul. I would have walked right up to that pair, slapped them full across their faces to wake them up and cursed their entire family if I did not have my responsibilities to the team.

At full time, El Dorado managed to equalise with us through sheer luck, dirty play and world-class refereeing. Penalties were played and the Blizzards lost 2-1. It might seem that I am just a sore loser, but I'm going to say it anyways. It must have been really easy for the El Dorados to make it this far into the tournament, especially so after we've witness their outstanding tactics on court. I'm sure your tactics were really effective against the small kids you played against before us and I am sure you lousy buggers know for yourselves that you don't deserve to go any further in this tournament. If I had known that we would lose in the end, I would have put my blade right across the face of your hypocritic childish so-called captain and earn myself a glorious 10 minute penalty. Oh ya I forgot, the referees would not have seen it anyways, so I would definitely have gotten away with it.

On a brighter note, the Blizzards have gone far since the day we first came together, improving by leaps and bounds. Doing sadistic drills, bleeding, shuttle runs and pumping when we take more than 5s to gather (courtesy of *ahem*) are memorable moments of our training. We would like to show our appreciation to our coach, Louise, for all her time & effort to coach us F.O.C. Also for her never ending patience (actually not really cause we pumped quite a bit) when we don't do the drills properly. =) Thanks Louise.

Not to forget all the Hurricanes seniors who have supported the Blizzards, coming down to train with us, whooping us when we play during training (although the Blizzards did win the last one) and to support our matches at all the 鸟不生蛋 places. We appreciate it. Thanks~

Finally, a round of applause for the Blizzards.
As we take a bow and end a season, I present to you readers,
NTU Blizzards:

From Left to Right,

Front Row: John, Yew Keong, Zi Wei, Andrew.

Middle Row: Xin Ping, Bala, Joshua, Sufian, Kevin, Louise.

Back Row: Lee Cheong, Jun Yuan, Li Xiang, Guo Yi, Dobson, Kai, Chen Siang, Gerald.

Not in picture: Clemence, Jia Liang, Kenny, Simon, Yew Hong.

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