Schedule For Week Of 14 July 2008

Bukit Timah

We have Court No. 2 at Bukit Timah campus from 8 to 10 pm on Monday, 14 July 2008.

East Coast/Kallang

For midweek, we have the following:

• Tuesday, 15 July 2008, at The Cage, Pitch 2, 9 to 10 pm. Minimum 10.
• Thursday, 17 July 2008 at The Cage, Pitch 3, 9 to 10 pm. Minimum 10.

Last week, we managed two sessions on Tuesday and Thursday fairly comfortably. This week, we have only 8 for the second session tomorrow - I suppose it doesn’t help that we have the two sessions on consecutive days, Wednesday and Thursday, but Tuesday this week was not available.

Confirmations

Please confirm early, so that I know whether we have enough people for two midweek sessions.

Confirmations by the end of tomorrow please.

Summary For 7 July 2008

I’m not sure if Tom will get round to writing a report for yesterday’s session. In the meantime, here’s a summary.

Mark L was held up at work, and while George, who we haven’t seen for ages, said he’d play, he was probably put off by the threat of rain.

The weather held (not a drop!), and once everyone had arrived, we lined-up as follows:

• Darks - Yu Teik (captain), Damian, Tom, Heath, Swee Hoe, me
• Lights - Ian (captain), Darius, Nicolas, Shankar, Sze Kuan, Amit

Early on, the score had been 2-2 with just 8 of us, so I just continued with the score even after the final line-ups were in place.

By the time we switched to Court 2, and Amit (who had also been held up at work) arrived, the score was already 6-3 to Lights.

Darks were still in it at 12-14 down, but as the game got niggly towards the end, and Darks fatigued, Lights pulled away to win 18-12.

Sze Kuan made several very good saves, and Lights looked like scoring every time they attacked, with both Nicolas and Amit firing on all cylinders. The link up play between Shankar at the back, Darius in the middle and Ian up front was also very good.

For Darks, Heath’s confidence was shattered by repeated shelling from Tom.

With Nicolas and Tom on opposing sides, the game got “competitive”, but nevertheless ended on a friendly note.

Tom, or anyone else for that matter, feel free to add on.

Summary For 3 July 2008

We lined up last night at the Cage as follows:

Lights - Bret, Sushil, Llion (captain), Sam, Steve
Darks - John, Gilbert (captain), Edardy, K, me.

Darks took a 1-0 lead, but Lights were soon 4-1 up. Darks were still in it at 7-4 down, but Lights then pulled ahead to 12-5, before the game finished 15-6 to Lights.

The game was played from beginning to end at a fast pace, with the oldest man on the pitch, Sam, covering as much ground as anyone.

Lights just defended a lot better than Darks, and attacked with greater speed, resulting in the somewhat one-sided scoreline. Sushil and Bret were very solid in defence, while Bret, Steve and Llion all managed to score from very narrow angles.

Schedule For Week Of 7 July 2008

We have Bukit Timah campus from 8 to 10 pm on Monday, 7 July 2008 - 8 to 9 pm on Court 1, and 9 to 10 pm on Court 2. Minimum 10, with 2 teams if 14 or less and, based on the poll, 3 teams if more than 14. This will be reviewed by the end of the month. As discussed with a few of you on Monday, we may go to two one-hour sessions on two separate days from August 2008 onwards.

For the mid-week games, I couldn’t get Sports Planet @ East Coast on either Tuesday or Thursday, nor The Cage for Tuesday. I have the following mid-week bookings next week:

• Pitch 1 at The Cage on Wednesday, 9 July 2008, 9 to 10 pm.
• Pitch 3 at The Cage on Thursday, 10 July 2008, 9 to 10 pm.

For both sessions, minimum 10, maximum 12. Whether we get enough for both sessions will in all likelihood depend on how many of you want to play both Wednesday and Thursday. If we don’t have enough by early next week, I will cancel one, probably the Thursday session.

If any session is oversubscribed, how priority is to be determined is set out here. Amongst other things, priority is given to those on the official mailing list and those who confirm on the blog instead of e-mailing me (provided that if you cannot access this blog at the time you confirm, and you state as such in your e-mail to me, I will copy your confirmation to this blog for you).

Confirmations by the end of tomorrow please.

Summary For 1 July 2008

With K pulling out as he was unwell, we lined up at Sports Planet @ East Coast last night as follows:

Darks - Bret, Philipp, Shankar, Andy C, Benjamin.
Lights - Edardy, Sushil, Steve, me, plus one more from the guys playing before us.

Darks took an early 3-0 lead but once Lights got their game going, they gradually pulled ahead 11-8. With Darks rapidly tiring, Lights pulled further ahead, 19-11. With the game becoming one sided, we re-organised as follows:

Darks - Bret, Shankar, Andy C, Sushil and me.
Lights - Edardy, Steve, the other guy, Philipp and Benjamin.

There wasn’t more than a goal in it as the score reached 7-7. Darks then scored two late goals, and the game finished 9-7.

End to end stuff, with loads of goals, several shots off the post, and a fair bit of sloppy defending.

Summary For 30 June 2008

We lined up as follows on Monday night at Bukit Timah campus, 9 to 10 pm:

Darks - Damian, Sushil, Gautam, Clive, Tom, Ian
Lights - Shankar, Nicolas, Yu Teik, Vincent, Darius, me

Darks took a 3-0 lead before Lights pulled it back to 3-2. Darks went further ahead, 5-2, before Lights again pulled it back to 5-4.

With the game finely poised, the lights went out, and the game was over.

Vincent and Darius had impressive “debuts”.

Tom’s goalscoring has improved from missing several chances each game to scoring one goal each game and missing several others. Tom, you’ve been working on your shooting, haven’t you.

Despite being a low scoring game, there was a lot of good play, with several close shaves at either end.

Tom, if you get round to writing a match report, set it out as a comment below.

Summary For 25 June 2008

As Gilbert was waiting for his bike to be towed, he couldn’t make it on Wednesday night at the Cage, so we started with 5 v 5 - Andy C, Gilbert, Hamish, Andreas, Ben Y and Sushil (Darks) v John, Reza, Geoff, Kamal, and Steve (Lights) - while I tried to find an extra player.

After about 20 minutes, I gave up and joined Lights, who were 2-3 down. With the extra man, Lights pulled ahead 11-8. With 10 minutes to go, Reza swapped sides so that Darks had the extra man, and Darks pulled back to 12-12 before we ran out of time.

The rule change allowing the team a man short to enter into and score from the “D” didn’t do much to redress the balance.

Anyway, it was a good session. Hamish, I hope you enjoyed yourself.

Schedule For Week Of 30 June 2008

As we have 3 sessions next week, I am sending out the schedule earlier than usual. The 3 sessions next week are as follows:

• Monday, 30 June 2008, at Bukit Timah campus, 9 to 10 pm, Court 2. As I was away last Monday, I was only able to book the court on Tuesday, by which time, both 8 to 9 pm slots were taken (Court 2, presumably by the lot who play there before us, and Court 1, presumably by the netball girls). Minimum 10 and, as we only have 1 hour, maximum 14.
• Tuesday, 1 July 2008, at Sports Planet @ East Coast, 9 to 10 pm. Minimum 10, maximum 12.
• Thursday, 3 July 2008 at The Cage, Pitch 3, 9 to 10 pm. Minimum 10, maximum 12.

You can confirm for 1, 2, or all 3 slots. Everyone who wants to play more than 1 session should be guaranteed at least 2.

Please let me have your confirmations by the end of tomorrow.

Thanks.

Changes To The FIOFAFI System

As stated yesterday, we will have 3 sessions a week from next week onwards, subject to availability of pitches/courts.

You can confirm for 1, 2 or all 3 sessions. From next week onwards until further notice, if any session is oversubscribed, priority for the session will be as follows:

• First - To those who are on the official mailing list.
• Second - To those who are playing fewer sessions that week.
• Third - To those who, in the preceding two weeks, having confirmed, are not absent or unduly late without giving good reason in a timely manner. Family emergencies, illness, injury and work contingencies are acceptable as good reasons provided that they are not used too often.
• Fourth - To those who confirm on the blog instead of e-mailing me, provided that if you cannot access this blog at the time you confirm, and you state as such in your e-mail to me, I will copy your confirmation to this blog for you.
• Fifth - Chronologically, in the order in which the confirmation is posted on the blog or received by me.

However, as the aim is to have 3 sessions a week, everyone who wants to play twice a week should be able to do so.

For each session, the players will be listed in that order, with myself as the last-named, until the session is filled.

Once the list of those confirmed is finalised for each session, the line ups will be determined (as I am currently doing) by placing players in alternating teams.

A captain will be appointed for each team - someone who is fairly regular and able to co-ordinate the team. The captain will decide on positions and organize the team. Unless a player volunteers to be goalkeeper for longer, the captain should try to rotate the goalkeeper, so that each player has a turn in goal (unless the captain is of the view that a particular player is no use in goal, in which case, that player can be exempted). The captaincy can be handed over to another player at the discretion of the appointed captain or the team. Other players in the team should endeavour to follow the captain’s directions.

For Bukit Timah campus, it is a flat rate of S$2. I will collect the money before we start, as it is confusing to do so after the game, when the lights have gone out.

At Sports Planet @ East Coast, the charges are slightly higher (S$80 per hour) than at The Cage, which works out to S$8 per person if we have 10, and S$7 per hour if we have 12.

Summary For 23 June 2008

We had 18 at Bukit Timah campus last night from 8 to 9 pm on Court 1 and 9 to 10 pm on Court 2.

We lined up with 3 teams as follows:

Lights - Bret, Amit, Nicolas, Shankar, Damian and me
Darks - Tom/Mot, Clive, Tim C, Look-Liew, Sushil (in yellow) and Glenn
Reds - Mark L, Ian, Boon Yick, Swee Hoe, Yu Teik and Gautam.

We played 10 minute games, with winner staying, and in the event of a draw, the challenger staying.

For a long while, each team won one and then went out after the next, giving each team a fair run out. However, that sequence was broken when Reds, having won their previous game, beat Lights 3-2 in a thrilling match. Lights went 1-0, and then 2-1 up. Reds equalised late on after a sliding tackle by Teik on Lights keeper, Damian. Shaken, Reds conceded another goal following a dodgy back pass from Bret to Damian. Lights pressed for the equaliser that would see them stay on, with Nicolas shooting from everywhere, and coming close when he hit the post.

Reds went on to win their next three games, against Darks, Lights and Darks again, before the lights finally went out.