Looking back on the 2 years in Raffles Basketball…
To begin with, one of my most cherished memories is doing warm-ups before training together with the team. Because that’s when we spent the most time together, talking in a circle while we stretch, asking about each other’s day in school, whining about training, and predicting what our coach was going to make us do for the next 3 hours. Although warm-ups may be short, but these moments together were precious to me as it is where I learnt more about my teammates, the kind of lame jokes my batch mates can come up with, and realizing how much more mature the juniors were as compared to the seniors… Just like how warming up and stretching our muscles before any exercise is important, warming up to our teammates, I believe, is equally essential to develop the chemistry that we have on court.
One match that had left a bittersweet memory was the crucial semi-final against HCI back in 2015, where our close fight, led to double overtime quarters. Back then, I felt regretful over the loss, and thought about how much it should be us, advancing into the finals, and not our opponents. Looking back, I learnt an extremely important lesson, which is to play with the right goal in mind. We were probably not as driven as our opponents were to get into the top 2, and gave in too easily in the last quarters, resulting in our eventual loss.
One of the few challenges that I had to overcome was my fear to lead the team in 2016. I remember telling the teachers-in-charge during the interview for the exco selection that I didn’t want to be a captain of the team as I was not confident enough that I could lead a huge team. There were many occasions that made me want to give up and quit. However, I am extremely thankful for this opportunity and the support throughout the months of being a captain, given by both my teammates and my teachers, which I’m sure they are unaware of, because I would not have such experiences, and being able to overcome them and strengthening my self-esteem in the process. I would say these were blessings in disguise; and I would like to pass on to anyone who is reading this, with a simple quote from the Bible, “Do not be afraid.” Because fear is what stunts our growth, limits our aspirations and crushes our dreams. The journey to achieve your goal will not be smooth sailing, as cliché as it sounds, but it is more about the training, discipline and the friendships that leads up to the race than about the race itself.
Shout out, firstly, to the girls’ team in 2015, even though our journey throughout the season was full of bumps and aches/cramps (physically and mentally), I’m glad and thankful we took the hard route, and managed to get through it all despite not being able to clinch the gold.
To the girls’ team in 2016, thank you for fighting even harder and turning all our blood and sweat from training into fruition.
To the teachers, thank you for the support you have given to us and for the many lessons learnt, despite our constant let downs and disappointments, and lastly to Jiao Lian and Coach Ong, thank you for coming down to train us every week, and the effort spent to coach us, allowing us to obtain such great achievements!
Finally, I would like to share a quote that pretty much sums up what I have learnt over the 2 years,
“The surest way to lose at any endeavor is to quit.” – Morgan Freeman
Feeling disappointed over a lost game, or even not meeting your/others expectations should be seen as stepping-stone to a greater achievement!
Thank you for the memories!!
Bernice Yeo