Teammie Things

This blog is dead. Lacking updates. So... I'll just update with some 3v3 matters...

haha. we have the following teams:

Peanut Butter
Consisting of Yr6 seniors!
-Karyen
-Grace
-Yunzhi
-Yingzhen

Jellies
Consisting of Yr3/4 girls :)
-Becca
-Magneline
-Ting An
-Wan Yu

Quickpick
Consisting of Yr4 senior boys:
-Randy
-Xuanhao
-Darren
-Jehon

4D
Consisting of Yr4 senior boys:
-Tionghian
-Weechye
-Lianhan
-Jong

Send-Witch
Consisting of Yr3/5 newbies:
-Zhongming
-Stanley
-Stuart
-Tan Kuan

If your team is not up here, means i don't know ok! pls tag on tagboard ^^ & will be updated ^^

CONGRATS TO YINGZHEN FOR GETTING INTO STANFORD!!!

To the seniors: When are we going to buy the farewell present we are giving to our juniors?

Grassy and I checked it out last week in Watsons. They dont have a big tub but the individual bottles are quite ex. I went online and saw a website that had a 25 L tub. -.-

Course of action?

canoe polo nut <3

drawn by nushcpt cartoon drawer :P

Oops i am not accustomed to writing titles

hengfoo will be coming back next week for training!!! haha. and weehong MAY BE coming.

randy: weehong are you coming next week?

weehong: maybe

randy: nice one!!

tiong: LOL what nice one! so you saying very nice he come or he dun come?

------

anw, hengfoo asked me to update 'cos

1. the blog is dead


2. he dunwant his video to stay up there -_-

so i'll post this picture:

wah... this is no. 37... means got at least 36 other strokes...

flirt along the bench

enjoy!:D

Skewed common sense

from bio class...

1 good and valid reason to drink lots of beer!

"Accidentally" drink a little methanol (make sure its just a little, any more of it will kill you). Then you can drink as much beer as you like, on the basis that it is necessary to save your life.

This is because methanol poisoning is a result of methanol binding to some enzyme in your body. By introducing alcohol, it reduces the chances of this binding as alcohol shares a similar structure as methanol. The O-H on both molecules compete for binding at the binding-site of the enzyme. As we learn in biology, in competitive inhibition, the substrate with the higher concentration has a higher rate of sucess at binding. Drinking lots of beer increases the concentration of alcohol in your body, reducing the rate of sucessful methanol binding, and thus reducing the risk of methanol poisoning.

WARNING: Methanol is a dangerous chemical to triffle with, especially when you are consuming it. And while you may not die from methanol poisoning, alcohol overdose can kill you, in various methods.

Why are you smiling?

The why-are-you-smiling shirt.

The blog is so un-alive! More posts needed! ^^

hey all,

Great job today! let's go on together and keep up the good work.

han

Interesting updates during the 10th Pesta Sukan Championship

Disclaimer -- this has got nothing to do with game play.

General Observations
1. The place is snail and spider infested, although no lizards are found in the boats (thank goodness) even when the boats were resting against the trees overnight.

2. Snails are really persistent -- they would rather had their shells crack or drown than to get off the boat. And when they can no longer stick to the boat, they would throw tantrum and release muscus, just to gross people off. Lesson learned -- we should be like snails, especially when we capsize (the sticking-to-the-boat part, not the throwing-tantrum part).

3. The top steps are the more-wanted seats, as they are away from the sun, especially in the late afternoon.


Observations for the girls
1. We are very gentle, seemingly afraid that the boat will hurt if we charge hard. So thanks to our gentle nature, we had gotten the nickname Ariels (as in the little mermaid from Disney princess), from some spectators on Saturday, Sept 6.

2. We have the capacity to piss other players off, not because we are really good such that they feel intimidated, but simply because we take forever to bring the ball to the center to start.

3. We are probably the only team that has been granted time-out everytime we try to get the ball out of the net to start center-ball. As such, there is sufficient evidence to prove that our games took a longer time (unfortunately, not because of extended time for draw matches).

4. We are probably the only team that leech on other teams' kindness, excessively. Like having other teams to get our ball, having our coach to pass our paddles, having our juniors to get us water, having our teaher and coach to carry our boats (okay this is serious. under no circumstance should we be doing this!).

5. We are all spoilt and pampered in our own way. <-- has to be changed

6. Seeing us getting trashed evoke pity in everyone (as heard from the spectators "看到他们这样子打，真得很可怜。" Evidently so since we had not been granted any foul for illegal sub-ing and holding (and perhaps many more).


Observations for the guys
As heard from the spectators, "Go 小男人!"
(note -- go add your own observations)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR MONSTER 'KID'! (coachie)

"Calling for Loi Heng Foo..."

Hengfoo: *zuomoh(做什么）!!-expression* what

"Please look to your right..."

Hengfoo: *nothing leh!* *look around*

All the people around: Don't pretend dunno lah!!

*Gracie lights candle of cake*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~~
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU~~!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUU!! :]
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUU~~

Hengfoo: let me make my wish first!

*1*2*3*~

*blows the candle*

"CUT THE CAKE!!" (:

we hereby wish our coachie HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy birthday MONSTER KID!!

look forward & ahead to life!~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! BE HAPPY!!

Tiong's exclusive message to Hengfoo:

Dear Hengfoo...

why are you always so serious? I may be always joking, but I like serious guys. OMG, serious guys are so cute! ><

Happy 23rd birthday! We hoped and continue to hope to celebrate many many many more birthdays with you.

Thank you for all that you have done for us. You really turn me on... :D ><

-Tiong

hahaha!

Skewed Common Sense

If you cannot roll up in the middle of the game...

do not eject and then swim to the end of the pool, bail your boat, get into your kayak, put on your sprayskirt, get ready, wait for the next whistle and then sub. As you can see, it takes up too much time.

Instead...

eject, surface for a quick breath of air, go underwater to get into your kayak, roll up, and paddle back for your team mate to sub. It would take a shorter time (seemingly).

Competition details

Upcoming Matches

Day 3: 6/9

1. (Ladies Open) @ 9.20 AM against SP
2. (Ladies Open) @ 4 PM against Scube
3. NUS High W Official Duty at 11 AM for NP V.S. NTU - IVP M

Day 4: 7/9

1. (Ladies Open) @ 9.00 AM against RT Ladies
2. (Ladies Open) @ 12.20 PM against SMOG
3. NUS High Official Duty at 10.40 AM for NP V.S. NTU - IVP W

[edited 5/9]

Hello everyone. Firstly, the indemnity forms & photocopy of kayaking certificates have to be in on the first day of competition, which is this Saturday. Please do remember or we will not be allowed to participate in the competition at all!!!

Next up, our confirmed schedules!! :)

Day 1: 30/8

1. (Men Div B) @ 11 AM against Jokers

that is all for day 1 :)

Day 2: 31/8

1. (Men Div B) @ 11.40 AM against Ocube
2. (Men Div B) @ 1.40 PM against NTU Alumni
3. NUS High Official Duty at 2 PM for Rowdy Boyz V.S. SP C - Men Div A

------

eat well rest well & keep yourselves in tip-top condition, all prepared and ready for the competition.

JIAYOU :)

-a decade of passion in Singapore (:

Coaches' nicknames (Updated)

Heng Foo -- Monster Dad (way shorter, and true-er)
Wee Keong -- Lemon Dad (his hobby of suan-ing people)
Wee Hong -- Frown-deficient Dad
Chad -- Drama Momma

Mr. Chua -- Banana Dad (thanks for the bananas!! ><)


Done by: A group of lame people. x)

Keep checking the blog as there are loads of serious stuff and fun stuff, canoe polo tips and lame posts! ^^ Year 5s should come down more often so that we can know them better and give them nicknames. *nods*

P.S. No, coach cannot be kid. Too OLD le. Ha!

Coaches' nicknames

It's finally here!! Yay!

Heng Foo -- Why-so-serious Dad
Wee Keong -- Lemon Dad (his hobby of suan-ing people)
Wee Hong -- Frown-deficient Dad
Chad -- Drama Momma


Done by: A group of lame people. x)

Keep checking the blog as there are loads of serious stuff and fun stuff, canoe polo tips and lame posts! ^^

your nicknames! :O

Guys
xuan hao -- hot kid
tiong -- stick kid
randy -- cool kid
wee chye -- monkey kid
jehon -- 2-expression kid
hubert -- bird kid
jong -- panda kid
tan kuan -- curly hair kid
lian han -- botak kid
darren goh -- handsome kid

Girls
grace -- hungry kid
karyen -- abused kid (thanks to her bruises)
tingan -- cute kid
yingzhen -- stumpy kid
yunzhi -- guai kid
wanyu -- hyper kid

Aha! You must be wondering about the coaches' nicknames... Hmm, they will not be revealed yet. =) Keep checking the blog regularly!

Done by: A group of lame people. x)

hyper kid signing off~

Skewed Common Sense -- Game Tactics

Game tactic -- Pray Hard

When your opponent drives in with the ball, all ready to shoot, and everyone else in your team, including your keeper, is not confident in blocking the shot (i.e. everyone has been dreaming and left this huge open space and the keeper has unfortunately drifted off), EVERYONE IN THE TEAM DROP YOUR PADDLES AND PRAY.

Theory and logic -- This would really be such a sight that it would shock your opponents, forcing them to stop and stare for a minute, giving you time to recover, getting into a more favorable position.



Little tips on capsizing your opponent --

The serious one by coachie -- push at your opponent's armpit.

Grip hard (or squeeze?) your opponent's arm or armpit, and push.
Theory and logic -- so even if you can't capsize your opponent, it would hurt him/her so much that his/her arm may be numb for awhile, hindering his/her arm usage.

Competition groupings

Competitions groupings are now out.

Groupings in Division B
Group A of B

NTU Alumni
Ocube
Jokers
NUS High

Ladies Opens Groupings
Group A
Red Tide Ladies
SMOG
Sp
Scube
NUS High

jiayou nus high!!! :D (team cookies?) :O

Knowing Your Sport and Yourself

Hello everyone! I've recently borrowed this book from our school library which is really useful.

Below are some planning tips that can help us to improve further in the sport.

Analysing the Sport

Firstly, we have to analyse the sport and think about what aspects are most important in the sport, and rate them from 1 to 5, 1 being unimportant, and 5 being very important.

1. Physical/fitness
2. Technical
3. Tactical
4. Mental

In my opinion, I would say that 1, 2 and 3 are all 5s for canoe polo. What do you all think about number 4? Is it a 5 as well? Or is it another number relative to the others? I know that we should put it as a 5 because it just doesn't seem right to place it lower... but let's just judge it as compared to the rest okay? Then we can analyse further and find the really important aspects we have to focus on in order to ensure optimal performance in the sport. (:

Mapping Out the Four Training Phases

1. Transition or Recovery Phase - the time following all the competitions when you have a complete break from your sport and training. It might last a few weeks or even a couple of months
2. Preseason Preparation - the time when you return to training and before any competitions start. It's the time to work on general fitness, on improving techniques and on developing mental skills.
3. Early-season Preparation - the time when training starts to increase in intensity and become more specific. Typically, although there might be some competitions, the focus is still on preparing for the more important competitions to come later in the season.
4. Competition Phase - the time when the focus is very much on competing, when you have the most important competitions and want to perform at your very best.

Currenly we should be in the 3rd phase. :) and soon it will be the 4th phase starting 30th August! The planner is very simple: draw a table and label columns from January to December. In the rows, label "Phases" and "Sport". Under phases, write the phase that each month is under, and write down important events under "Sport", such as the 10th Pesta Sukan National Canoe Polo Championship 2008 coming up, the recovery phase after that, the preseason phase leading to next year, early-season preparation for the competition phase (SP Champs 2009) etc. (:

We can probably find some time to meet and discuss some of these stuff. (:

Self-Profiling Exercise

Think of the ideal athlete in your sport. It may help to think of a few elite athletes who you admire. Write down all the attributes(skills, knowledge, attitudes) that are important for success. Remember to include all aspects of performance(technical, tactical, mental and physical, in both training and competition), as well as any aspects of their lifestyles with which you are familiar. If helpful, you may wish to ask your coach, teacher or parent or guardian for help.

• Knowledge:
• Skills:
• Attitute:
• Lifestyle:

Now, select 10 attributes that you feel are the most important for success in canoe polo. Write them down and rate yourself from 1 to 10, 1 being 'very poor' and 10 being 'could not be better'. Rate yourself honestly(this should be your opinion; no guidance from your coach, teacher or anyone else). When rating yourself, think of the athlete you want to becomel leave room for improvement. Then, next to your current ratings, put down your desired ratings. (: See whether you have achieved these targets after a period of time, e.g. 12 months.

That's about it for today's post (:

Some feedback from Coach

Please take this seriously. Here are some feedback from Coach, mostly about our attitude toward trainings which needs to, and can be improved on.

These are his exact words

Heng Foo says:
u all must see the importance
if u dun produce any results, u all may not even get to play next yr
probably the sch will jus close down the club

XXX says:
but are we expected to win anything this year?

Heng Foo says:
not win
but at least win matches
but at the rate u all r going
it is hard

XXX says:
is it because we are not putting in effort? or is it because we are not going for trainings?

Heng Foo says:
not enuff training, then often u all tend to want to have fun more rather than train seriously

Heng Foo says:
dun u feel tat when u all come for water training, u all dun feel the stress of need to perform well?
to u all, a bad pass, is jus a bad pass, maybe means more sprinting or push up

Heng Foo says:
theres nothing inside u tat tells u that 'oh, i mus concentrate, at this point of time i shudn't be making so many bad passes'

Heng Foo says:
always need reminders and punishments to push u all...

Heng Foo says:
probably u can tell the team wad i told u today

10th Pesta Sukan Canoe Polo National Championship 2008

Here are the administrative details for the competition, which will begin on the 30th August 2008.

The registration form is to be submitted to SP Pool by this Friday, 18th July. What we need to fill in most urgently are the team details, so we have to come up with team names as soon as possible.

Mr Chua will be holding a short meeting tomorrow morning so that we can settle these administrative details. If you are unable to come for the meeting, boys, please email Xuanhao your NRIC, name, contact number & email, as well as your T-shirt size for ordering of competition T-shirt. Girls, email to me. We will be collating these information and typing them in the final team detail forms.

To participate in this competition, you will need to produce your signed indemnity form as well as a photocopy of your 1-star kayaking course certificate. As we do not want any hassle just when the date of the competition is nearing, I would like to implore everyone to get their indemnity forms signed and photocopies of their certs obtained TO BE SUBMITTED TOGETHER WITH THE REGISTRATION FORM, which by the way, is THIS FRIDAY(might be extended, will update you guys soon).

Please do remember to remind those teammates whom you know do not check the blog regularly. I do not wish to see any people submitting their forms or certs late. Please do exercise some responsibility.

Thanks.

Skewed common sense

What we can add to our helmet (by Tiong Hian) -- a ball catcher
'So that we can catch the ball with our helmet and continue to paddle' ~Tiong

What we can add to our helmet (by Heng Fu) -- a Doreamon's bamboo-helicopter-thing (竹蜻蜓)
'So that you can fly and get the ball' ~Heng Fu


Feel free to contribute to What can be added to the helmet discussion. ^^

Skewed common sense -- dynamic court (part 2)

Remember the last post, we introduced the random expansion/contraction? Here's the extension to it.

Type 3a -- simple random expansion/contraction
Think about this in terms of the cartesian plane, with the middle of the goalpost as the origin and the width of the court (the one along the goalpost) as the x-axis. In this expansion/contraction, the width of the court would expand/contract evenly on the positive and negative end, such that the two distances from each end of the court to the origin are equal.
This may prove to be easier for the keeper, since the center position is the same for all possible goal sizes.

Type 3b -- complex random expansion/contraction
Using the same cartesian plane, with the center of the goalpost as the origin, this expansion/contraction is slightly more complicated. Similar to Type 3a, the expansion/contraction only occur along the x-axis. However the expansion/contraction does not need to result in two equal distances from each end to the origin. I.e. The center of the goalpost/court may no longer be at the origin after expansion/contraction.
This would mean that the keeper would have to move around to remain in the center position with regard to the court and the goalpost. Good luck, keeper!

Something extremely amusing.

In case you all havent seen it before,

Skewed common sense -- dynamic court

Hmm.. think about this, to make the game more fun, we can have a moving court instead of a stagnant one.

Type 1 -- simple random moving
The court will move along one axis, namely the goalposts-directions. The movement of the court is random. So if you're lucky, the goalpost is moving toward you when you are attacking.

Type 2 -- complex random moving
The court will move randomly in all directions in the xy-plane. So in addition to your goal moving futher or closer, your ball will risk floating out of court too. When shielding, you will take a little more effort to push your opponent out to gain possession of the ball.

Type 3 -- random expansion/contraction
The court will expand or contract randomly, along the width of the court (not much point expanding the length). It differs from the above two as when it expands/contract, its goal enlarges/shrinks with it. Hell of a job for the goal-keeper.

Youth Day.

How was Youth Day? The sausage stall sold out all the sausages but not the bread...let's leave Nobbie to tell us how much bread we have left.

How did the shooting stall go? :D

Food for thought:
Today's observation at training is that Nobbie has a slight resemblance to Shawn, and Shawn can be distinguished from ZM by the way they walk.

If you dont get it, it's fine. Dont worry.

:) Check it out.

Karyen and Grassy singing karaoke at Ting An's house.




Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou?

hello!

PA Water Venture is opening a new branch at Sembawang this Sunday, 6 July and my friend needs 100 kayakers to welcome the GOH. The event will last from 8.30am to about 11.30am, plus a short expedition to seletar islands in the afternoon (12-3pm) for those interested. Breakfast and lunch will be provided and and usage of kayaks are free.

Please inform me by wed if you are interested to go :)

-Grace

Skewed common sense Part 4

Home-sweet-home defense

Skewed common sense Part 3

Inversed-smiley defense

hey btw jong suggests. the shooting thing, we do sth like tic tac toe. two ppl play against each other. i guess either do like king. winner in loser out, or maybe just two ppl come challenge each other, or they play against us. anything should be ok. Thn if can make it like easy to end up going wrong hole, should be quite fun. Imagine opp got two in a row, you wanna block end up missing. haha. so wat do you guys think? scoring i not too sure but should be able to work sth out i guess.

Han

Skewed common sense (as Heng Fu said) Part 2

Starfish defense

Star-fish defense

LATEST UPDATES FOR CP STALL!

Hey cookies,

updates for the youth day stall. Currently our stall name is Muffins:Impossible. Which is, if u haven't realised, based on the movie mission impossible. I hope everyone is agreeable with that.

Some changes. No more juggling anymore, cos scared that the people who dunno how to handle the paddle qould damage it. So we're changing to goal shooting, with 3 fixed distance of which people can choose to shoot from. each distance has different points allocated, and each participant has 5 throws. so we total the points then we give the number of stamps accordingly.

oh i think i better explain it now. THE STAMP SYSTEM is this thing the psls come up with. it's like those arcade tokens u collect then u can go change for gifts. so we can save cost of prizes:)

other than this main thing that we're doing at the game booth, we also doing a SHOOT AS FAR AS YOU CAN CHALLENGE from 10.30-11.30am. records for guys and gals would be seperate. so end of the hour we'll give the grand prize of 30stamps (! save money again) to the best male and best female thrower.

so the venue of the game booth would preferably be at the track or field (for safety reasons), and the muffins stall at the canteen. oh there will be no changes to the muffin stall, except that they are called Cruise Cakes due to our mission impossible reference. by seperating the 2 stalls we're also getting twive the amount of capital! sweet:)

okay i hope that is clear. people please be prepared to volunteer urself to the stalls. because you should and because it's fun. eh and we're gonna built goal post for the booth. after we built the goal post we can still keep them to for land shooting.

okay cheers. xh. and btw

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDY!

sweet 16 =D sorry your name i lazy to multi colour liao..

Skewed common sense (as Heng Fu said) Part 1

Smiley-face Defense

Youth Day Stall

Hey people,

Youth day is around the corner and we're thinking of setting up the stall representing our CCA. All the earnings would be for the cca fund.

So far we've came up with 2 ideas for the stall. First we can bake muffins/cookies and sell them. The cost of each would not be much and would definitely be a profit. Secondly we have the juggling contest using paddles. At the end of the day, the person with the highest record would get a grand prize (guy's and gal's scores seperate). This SHOULD be quite profitable also, assuming the grand prize is sponsored. But so far we haven't decided on what the grand prize is yet.

Anyway is this agreeable with everyone? The 2 ideas can be combined together for one stall as well. Please respond soon, as the proposal for the stall is due 25th. Oh, and we do have to think of a movie-/tv serial theme for the stall too. Thanks!

I know that we won't be able to earn much cos we're only getting 15% of our earnings..but treat this as a team-bonding thing and just do it for the fun of it. Oh, and it's for promoting our cca too!

Xuan Hao

T-shirt updates...

Hi everyone! an update...

the t-shirt will be sold at $12 instead of $15!

it is black, dry-fit and has a design you can't find anywhere else!

The sizes come in XS, S, M, L & XL!

Personal delivery will be made by Chad.

Please contact me/Mr Chua with your name/size! Those who have told me you wanna buy the shirts pls tell me your sizes thanks!

Friendlies (June 18, Wednesday)

Hey all!

Remember we are having our friendlies with SP tomorrow. Meet at 2.30 p.m. at SP pool. Guys remember your helmets and your team rashguard.

Regards,
Randy

Support Singapore Canoe Polo

Please show your utmost support for the Singapore Canoe Polo National Women's Team(Ocube) as they are going to Edmonton, Canada for the World Champs 2008.

T-shirts selling at one for S$15!!!

Here are the designs...

Please leave your name or contact me if you wanna buy :) applies to our team people and visitors to this blog...

Thanks.

Phone no.: 81005080

MSN: chentingannyps@hotmail.com

Email: tingan@gmail.com

THE contact tracing plan

Hey people, this is our contact tracing plan. Please take a look and be aware of who you are in charge of. A copy with everyone's contact numbers is in your email. Check it out

Hope after this we wont have anymore problems of anyone having to send 22 messages in half an hour:O
Thanks Wee Chye for doing up the plan so beautifully. Gracias ;)

Exams Over!!!

I hope all of you all have done well in your exams, training will resume this wed, 2pm.

Do everyone still remember the goals setting you all did for canoe polo?
What is your individual goal for canoe polo? Are you all in the process, or lost your direction already?

Now is time to set a short term goal for yourself, what you plan to achieve before competition. e.g to be able to do stationary stern, able to pass from half court, etc etc.

Also, with the experience of previous com, think of what positions you want to play, zoner chaser or keeper for next competition.

I will ask some of you to share your goals this coming training or next land training.
See ya.

Coachie

Exams!

Hey All!

Exams are next week (suxs!) and I just want to wish everyone good luck! Jia you and all the best so you wont regret after leaving the examination hall!

Cheers,
nuts

Comps Video Review

Hello ppl, here are some of the stuff we talked about after the review.

the main mistakes that we committed:

• sticking too close to each other (u noe the part where 1 shot can capture all of us)
  
• passes, not hand to hand, hit the boat, etc
• zoners should keep pushing (u noe the redtide guy said to his nus girls that u should just keep pushing, at least just keep disturbing someone)
• apparently we all like to look at the ball too much, instead of watching the ball we can spread out and/or push the people out of the zone
• again becos we keep looking at the ball instead of moving somewhere, we tend to not support the guy with the ball. go somewhere and call for the ball, expecting him to pass to you is WRONG
• passing too late...opponents start to pressure liao then we pass
• anymore? we lack confidence too i think.

some improvements! (not only from this comp, but generally)

•  build up our confidence (haha i dunno how..)
  
• mentality and game sense
• aggressiveness
• personal skills, ie stern-turns/bow-dips/hand-roll/etc
• team chemistry and communication (you know it's so amazing how all the cp ppl can pass without even calling or looking at the person? they seem to know each other so well..)
• that's all i can remember i'm sure there are more

haha i felt like we weren't very critical during the video review. we seem to be laughing more at ourselves than discussing what we should improve on and the mistakes that we did. ha and i realise we din talk about the stuff that we did good during the games,i think there ARE some stuff that we did well rite?

okay all the best everyone, 3 more weeks till the exams are over!
oh and follow your heart! know what you truly want and decide. about canoe polo or your current cca that is. ;)

cheers! Hao.
.haha so tired already, hope i din miss out anything nor sound like crap

After the Comp

The comp is finally over...the thing that has been keeping me on through all these quiz-y weeks.
But everyone's had fun rite? Remeber to evaluate yourself and think about the things that u done good and stuff that you think u done bad. Rmb all the good stuff you done and improve on all the wrong stuff u did. But don't harp on all your mistakes liao, learn from it and look forward to the next games.
For now study hard for the exams! After that we will all train hard and work hard alllllllllll the way for Augus Nat Comp. =) Hope we really improve tremendously and catch up to the other year 1's standard. study hard play hard!

anyway thanks for all the stuff you all did for me last night! really appreciate it.

Hao.
Haha comp over also signifies that i am no more comp capt anymore. boo...=(

p.s. can someone also please post some of pictures of the games? i think it's important for us to remeber.

GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

WE GAVE THEM A HARD FIGHT! ;) Woohoo!

Happy birthday comp captain!

Keep the target in mind

Good job guys! I think we are much better liao. Must work hard improve much more. Everyone must rmb target for Aug Nat Champs and work towards it.

ALL THE BEST GUYS!!!

enjoy the game!!!

(btw is that weehong? haha)

Trashed!!!! 24-0

Hello kids,

How do you all feel after your first game? Suxs? Depressed? Demoralised? Feel that you shouldn't have join this competition in the first place?
Or do you all feel more motivated to train harder?

Obviously, it suxs to lose, that's why people train to win.

Ask yourself, if given a choice, would you still want to play in today's match knowing you will get trashed?

Being a pioneer in a new sports for your schools is never easy, you all are the first batch of NUS high school canoe polo team, you all have no seniors to guide you all in the process of learning. No seniors to look up to, no seniors to correct your mistakes, no senior to demonstrate every moves. You will have to pick up everything from scratch all by yourself. You all are the pioneer, and soon to be seniors.

Now you all know your standard, where you all stand, how much hard work to put in, how much focus you all need, how much time you all wasted during training with all the nonsensical talk,

Do you all feel more motivated to train even harder?

I'm sure you all want to win, but you can't win just by saying you want to. It requires discipline, commitment, hard work, training is not about having fun, and sometimes is never enjoyable, tough, boring etc. The only fun is when you win during competition, or knowing that you have perform up to your standard.

This competition is just a eye opener for you, time to get serious and prepare for the challenges ahead. Jia you

Coachie

SPCPOC First Match

Hello,

I really hope today's game didn't put you down too much. Don't be too demoralised, sometimes what you are doing is the right thing, but just that the others aren't complimenting you that's why it seems like you're in the wrong. Don't give up! The next match is a NEW match.
Things we need to work on are our supporting and pass-and-go-ing. We know all these, is just that maybe we can't really focus on it. So drill it in your mind and let's see how the game improves in our next match. Don't be afraid that you can't come back in time, and TRUST each other to get your pass. Don't hesitate because you want to make sure if your pass successfully reach the person, or that if the person you passed to is gonna be tackled. Trust each other, and go forward to support. Pass and go, don't hesitate. It is not your fault that you can't come back in time to defend when we lose possesssion because you went up to support.
It might seem like it's easy to say or wadever, but just keep it in your mind, i'm sure our game play will improve. I hope this wont seem like it's a whole lot of bullshit, i really hope we can improve from all this experience.

Please give your best and fight till the very last whistle blow for every match. We must show the other canoe polo people that we are meant for canoe polo, show that what we can become and show them that we have the potential. That way they'll all be expecting something from us soon, like the next coming August Competition.
You know it's not nice when people walk pass you, start pointing or glancing at you then start laughing rite?

You know why we're called the spicy lemons? It's cause lemons never fail to produce juice no matter how much they are squeeze. (haha by randy) =) PLUS we have the added spicy-ness! So when people get a taste of us, they'll be struck so hard that they will never forget, but they will still be coming back for more.

Haha corny. But rest well, and be prepared for our last 3 games next sat. Drink lots of water, eat more, sleep more. NP we got SOME chance lah;)

No bullshit,
Hao

Competition Learning Points (5/4)

Hey everyone, basically we learnt quite a few things today(or rather, forgot but got reminded).

1. (very important! - learnt before) PASS & GO. After you have passed to your teammate, MOVE to another place and anticipate a pass(of course go to somewhere your teammate can pass to you). It is no use to pass and stay there to watch tv. You are not creating opportunities for yourself.
2. SPREAD OUT(it's only a few posts down!!). Don't be afraid that your teammate is unable to catch a ball from you, and therefore stay crammed together. By staying crammed together, the opponent does not need to travel a lot just to mark you all, and they have a very high chance of interception. The SP Z players were crammed just like us because they wanted to intercept our passes. However, once there was a change in possession, they immediately spread out to the side of the pool. There are a few reasons as to why we should spread out. #1: The opponent needs to travel more just to reach you and mark you. By then, you could have passed the ball. #2: The opponent might not be able to reach you fast enough. You have time to think of who to pass to before they are lured over.
3. Move around constantly. Don't be static in the waters. We need to constantly move around and create opportunities for attacking. If we do not move, the opponent does not even have to move to mark us. They can just park there and get the ball easily. By constantly moving, we will always be one step(or one stroke) ahead of the marking opponent(because we know where we want to go). We have to perpetually look for open spaces so that teammate can pass to you. We must remember to move and support teammates quickly or ball possession will very likely be lost.

We have to remember the above 3 points at the back of our palm. They are the very basics of gameplay & we must know to apply them like some form of reflex action/mindset. They will apply even after we have gone on to more advanced forms of playing.

Some Rule Stuff

Remember that when we are sending out substitutes, the whole player's boat must be behind the out line before a substitute can go to the playing area. If this rule is not observed, a yellow card will be given immediately(player sent off playing area for 2 minutes). If 3 yellow cards have been given, the team will be disqualified. This is crucial!

------

What I've observed today:

There were a lot of instances when the zoners could not get back in time(there was practically no zone) and it felt as though the whole team was depending on the keeper to save the situation. as hengfoo said, it is not the keeper's fault that when the opponent tries a near shot and the keeper is unable to block. the keeper's job is to block long shots, and the zoners are supposed to be the ones preventing the opponent from getting into near shooting position.

well, i guess we could be more alert in ways like, when possession has been changed, while the chaser can go pressure for ball, everyone else must be on their way back to the zone(it's like a reflex action). i think that today, a lot of the players were trying to fight for the ball and were too slow to get back to zone.

the problem might be that:

#1: we don't dare to spread out: opponent very easily gets the ball.
#2: when the opponent gets the ball, some people like to stay there and try to fight for the ball using paddle/hand/handtackling etcetc
#3: other players turn out to be watching tv there instead of returning to defend

we should all have a sense of urgency yeah(what hengfoo told us during the friendlies too).

----------

we must listen very carefully and apply whatever hengfoo teaches us after training/friendly matches. i notice that a lot of these mistakes have been mentioned before more than once but it has not been applied/might have been forgotten. you may like to "revise" these learning points again by reading our blog archives again.

an entire week of rest, reflections & mental preparations for 3 matches next saturday! all the best spicylemons!

SPCPOC confirmed details

Hello everyone!

These are the latest, final details of the competition. It is also time to hand in your indemnity forms and order your food from me. Please do so! Or risk starvation...... RAWR. (for 12th April only I presume)

5th April
4.15 pm - SP Z
Referees: Zoe Lek, Wei Chen
Linesmen: He Say Name Already

12th April
9.30 AM - Red Tide 1
Referees: Chad, Li Zongxian
Linesmen: NTU 2

2.10 PM - NP 1
Referees: Wei Chen, Kenneth
Linesmen: NUS A

4.40PM - Ocube
Referees: Wei Chen, Ray
Linesmen: Monsters

---------

Why aren't we assigned to be linesmen? hahaha.

Btw, we can go down to support:

5th April
12.25 PM - Rookies(SP) v.s. Red Tide 2

6th April
11.35 AM - Rookies(SP) v.s. He Say Name Already

12th April
11.10 AM - Rookies(SP) v.s. NTU Alumni(wooooo!!)
1.45 PM - Rookies(SP) v.s. SP C

(& definitely the last two weeks)

Why support Rookies(SP)? Because our Coachie is playin'! GOGOGO! Hahaha.

SpicyLemons, please rest well and prepare yourself mentally to put up a good fight in the waters! It is not unforgivable to make a mistake after you tried, but it is a mistake not to try. :) (Though try to familiarise with those points-of-note & training-learning-points below and be very very careful not to make stupid mistakes, most importantly don't watch tv in the game)

Don't give up just because the teams you'll be playing against are stronger. Don't let their headstart over you, skills over you etc become excuses for you to take losing for granted, and stop trying. Believe that with more practice and training, you guys can do it too. And I know you can.

Love, Tingan.

Pictures!

Pictures courtesy(sp?) of Darren!

Correction for Training Learning Point number 1

Opps, forgot to tell everyone that you can always drop the ball away from your own hand reach, and shield the ball with your boat. Then this way you will have more 5 secs. The situation for you to hold on to the ball for more than 5secs and commit the foul is when you got no one to pass and no space to shield the ball.

Pls dun really go and hold on to the ball for 5secs when you can shield.

Coachie

Training Learning Points (2/4 - it is APRIL now GUYS)

Here are the basic training points for today(if you would like to update, please do! or tell me to do it)

1. You have 5-seconds possession. Firstly, don't be so anxious to shoot that you miss the goal. Take your time, calm yourself down(does not take more than 2 seconds), aim and shoot. Basically, be careful about each step you take. Secondly, if you are trying to pass to a teammate, look around and take your time to find a teammate that is free/open/will get the ball. Of course, don't take too long. You must have a person in your mind already(what we learnt in last few trngs/land trng), and must be alert at all times and be aware of the game situation. If 5 seconds is up and there is still not a player in sight that is free, rather than giving an any-old-how bad pass that may very well land with the opponent(who can very likely go up and fast break), shield the ball until 5 seconds is up while your teammates can go back to zone.


2. SPREAD OUT once there is change of possession and you are attacking now. Spread to the sides! (see picture below - black dot represents front of boat) Don't stay crammed at the zone(lots of opponents there). Pass to a teammate that is far away PROVIDED you know the opponent cannot easily intercept or travel very quickly to your teammate to get the ball. (will someone please elaborate about this, i am not very sure about the explanation)
3. on losing side - play man-marking(for our standard, don't do this yet.)
4. on winning side - DEFEND. 1-3-1 is fine. don't do the stupid 3 keepers thing.
5. centre zoner, should sweep and try to push an attacker, who has slid in, all the way out to the back(try not to charge keeper). it is the attacker's own problem if he allows himself to be pushed since he is doing nothing inside(if we are caught in such a situation we should get out because we are not doing anything to help the team)

the rest, please just check below.

Focus on your studies, try to do your work earlier so you can concentrate on training! & also if there is extra training, we can turn up.

and PUH-LEASE, cut down on incessant nonsensical talk during debriefs(as well as during game - don't scold one another or waste time talking; competition waits for no one). i think i don't really appreciate it.

-tingan.

INDEMNITY FORMS PLEASE.

Latest details of SPCPOC

FYI, drawings are out and the teams we're playing against are:
-Ocube
-Redtide 1 (nus)
-SP Z
-NP1

apparently most of the above teams are very senior teams. Redtide's the most senior team in Singapore, ocube's Singapore Nat girls team, SP Z's the alumni team. But i'm not very sure about NP yet though. So for now just be optimistic and have fun at all the games!

The schedule's out but it's expected to change so not confirm yet. For now,
5 Apr:
SP Z @ 4.15pm

12 Apr:
Redtide @ 9.30
NP @ 2.10
Ocube @ 4.45


Thanks! Play hard okay? Give it ur best=)
Hao

points of note.

alright team. here goes: a compilation written by chen ting an :D

here is a list of the important points to note(for myself, as well as for you if you have forgotten):

job of a zoner

• push opponents out of shooting position/out to the side(for side zoners)/out at the back(for middle zoners) without charging keeper
• question: what is the point of cramming the opponents together? what does it do? does it restrict their movements so that they cannot pass to wherever they want at will?

job of a chaser

• letting in one opponent or 2 for zoners to deal with is fine. prevent overloading by pushing opponents out of shooting zone
• when an opponent is left outside with the ball, chaser can try to pressure and chase for ball

passing

• when someone is near you, do a fast pass. it is difficult for opponent to block a ball that is travelling so near them(especially when their hands are primarily on their paddles to block high passes) --> this is from the handout hengfoo gave out
• when opponent is not so near you, you can pass a high ball but pass it high enough to evade their paddles
• when someone is too far away, do not do a high pass as there will be enough time for opponent to travel to where the ball is going to land and chances are that he will succeed in interception. try to pass to someone nearer, row to a more suitable position and call for ball back
• have a formed idea in your mind already, before you pass. this is to ensure you do not fumble when you get the ball, and not know whom to pass to(very easy to lose the ball). everyone must be very alert and aware of the game

dribbling

• pick ball from under
• first sweep after throwing the ball should be on the side where the ball is
• place paddle on bow(not horizontally across cockpit) when getting ball(this can apply during cross passing as well)

rolls

• head last to come up
• hip flick, must be able to rock the boat while lying on it
• paddle not too close to face(for paddle roll)
• must be comfortable under water
• prepare yourself before coming up, don't be too eager

these are either from the handout hengfoo gave or the tips that i have asked from people. i am not sure if they are entirely correct. please give some comments ok? (the tagboard is there for a reason).

---------

to recap somemore: once the boat bounces off your bow/stern/boat(in general), it's GONE. those other sch guys are gonna get it man. they are PRO/STRONG MEN okay. haha. so must make sure we do simple/hand-to-hand passes!!!

---------

Game play!
Defence
[1-3-1 defence formation]
Zoners

• maintain position! don't drift/"cross into" other zoners' territory
• not impossible to push opponent(no matter how heavy/strong). just PUSH EARLIER, don't wait until opponent approaches! or you'll be easily pushed by him instead & he can then get into any position he prefers
• Boat has a LENGTH. don't just use front of boat to push. sweeping can be used to change opponent's direction(using your whole boat to push); back paddling can be used to push opponent out(using stern)
• If you play more, you will know more about boat movement and will be more familiar with how to counter every attacker's invasion to zone. you can then push "with strategy".
• ultimate role of zoner: to prevent/push opponent from shooting position!!

Chaser

• Stop opponents from overloading one side
• you just gotta watch hengfoo demo. lol. --> fast, alert, (the game's never relaxed!!! you can see how hard hengfoo's trying everytime)you take care of one you rush to take care of another. NEVER let them have the chance to pass the ball properly

Attack

• Watch your passing! --> simple, hand-to-hand passes
• once you know you are doing nothing inside, i.e. getting crammed, just parking inside -- no communication with teammates, being pushed in undesired directions etc; GET OUT IMMEDIATELY to support other teammates who will drive in!
• Always lookout for ball. don't drive in without a purpose!
• only call for ball if you are certain teammate is able to pass to you + you are able to catch + if it is a safe/useful move(i.e. no defenders in between you)
• don't always try to shoot. if you see many paddles in front of you, pass OUT! & then create more opportunities to shoot
• try not to pass to a teammate that is being marked & opponent is in between --> high chance of interception
• always keep moving so as to create open space for passing
• picnic situation! not useful to the team to park there. move around!

--> man-marking

(look at hengfoo's magnetic boats. haha)

----------

hengfoo's recent reminder: only shoot when it is a one-on-one situation!

that's all. many loves, tingan. enjoy.

PT meditation session

Well, today was PT and hengfoo had this interesting meditation+reflection session with us. So i think i'll update about it? as much as i can remember. (will not mention whose faults or whatever lah)

Faults

• when you are being closely followed/cornered by opponents and find no chance to pass the ball albeit your teammates' incessant callings for the ball, you give an any-old-how pass.
• solution: rather than risking a pass(and risking a fast break), shield the ball(must be confident with rolls lest they handtackle you). if the ball goes out, at least you and your teammates still have the time to rush back to zone.
• charging own keeper
• solution: improve boat skills/control
• turning wrongly and allowing opponent to slide into zone
• solution: remember the FUNDAMENTALS of zoning!(will update soon!)
• (sorry... i cannot remember anymore... :( please tell me over msn or something and i will update! this is for the benefit of everyone okay :D)

Satisfactory performance :)

• can do paddle roll le :D JIAYOU. mastering a boat skill is something really very satisfying. :)
• can drive in efficiently & manage to get into shooting position - continue the hard and SMART work :)
• can remember to come out of zone to support once realising that staying inside is useless - game sense improved! :)
• can effectively push out opponents as a zoner le. :D

HAI. i really really really cannot remember! so pls update me yeah haha.

okay now i am going to import more canoe polo tips that i had typed previously in my own blog. now sharing with everyone. :) hope they help.

Polo For Thought

Hey babes,

Always remember the positive things you've done in canoe polo and the negative things. By remembering the positive things, you will continue to perform them in canoe polo and improve your play. By remembering the negative things, you will learn from your mistakes and similarly improve your game.

Work hard! ^_^

SP Friendlies Pictures

Hello. These are the photos taken at our friendly match at SP on 29 march!



Hi! We are from canoe polo!

Hao the keeper!

Our goal!

Lian Han looking for a pass.

Wee Chye chasing for ball.


A shot from the opponent!


Tan Kuan takes a shot...


Effective ball bracing


Save the damsel in distress!


waiting for....?


listening to our coach HengFoo


rush back to zone!


Je Hon feels the pressure of the competition


Debriefing...

Thanks Han Siang and Wan Yu for helping us take all the photos, and Wan Yu for uploading all the photos for us. =)

SP friendlies (29/3)

Take note that I was not there until the last match. So if you've got more stuff to contribute, please tag and I will add your point =D

Singapore Polytechnic Friendly Matches
学んだこと(mananda koto-- things learnt)

1. Once a teammate is attempting to shoot, the rest of the teammates must prepare to rush back to zone!
2. Change of possession--> just ONE player stay to chase for ball. Rest of the players must go back quickly to zone (Hao rushed back to keep today but the zone seemed undefined/non-existent)
3. Above 2 points mentioned: to prevent fastbreak situations. Two kinds of fastbreak situations: 1. When opponent dribbles ball towards zone. 2. When opponent sprints to zone and anticipates a pass from teammate.
4. For #1: Nearest player rush back, try to catch up. Keep jostling him, get beside him and handtackle. Rest of the teammates must rush back already as well! Turn your boat and go back. Do not BACKPADDLE: less easy for you to become as fast as attacker, even less easy for you to stop him or whatever you want to do. -.-
5. #2: Come back to zone QUICKLY. Before the long pass between attackers takes place. By placing ourselves between the attackers they can pass less easily. Quickly go back to form defence formation.
6. It doesn't really matter if there is a player who is open inside the zone as long as you know he really cannot cannot cannot recieve any pass from his teammates. This kind of opponent no need to care :D if he can't get out himself it's his own problem. Then they'll have one man down le. (that's why after we know we are doing nothing inside, must get out immediately to support teammates who will drive in) but can't intentionally trap him i think...? (will someone please verify this)
7. Know very well beforehand who to pass to so you can pass early
8. Passing early: Don't spend too much time pondering/contemplating about who to pass to. This lures the opponents towards you and it will be very easy for him to use his paddle to block your passes then unless you throw at a really really steep angle(not easy)

Lots and lots more points to take note, but this shall suffice for today. The rest: maybe later or tomorrow. hahaha.

Boys, have a good rest. Drink more soyabean :D You look cool in rashguards!

But you still have to pass up your indemnity forms to me okay. :@

opening post

<訓練の大切な点>
(important points in training)

Polo Discipline/Attitude matters

1. Listen to hengfoo whenever he's trying to tell us something
2. Don't just keep trying out own stuff--> will miss out on hengfoo's words
3. Most important: gameplay! Personal skills can be picked up along the way
4. Concentrate on observing good points of other teams, don't just always want to go down the waters to have fun
5. To improve, it is inevitable that we must force/push ourselves to do stuff we don't like
6. Training is not just about playing & having fun, or we will never improve and be as good as other teams

why do we start with discipline/attitude stuff and not game play? please remember, that in canoe polo, skills/strength etc are secondary. your GAME & LEARNING ATTITUDE is essential!