The ‘C’ division team was finally decided sometime in early 1995 and we played our first Milo Age Group tournament during the March holidays. I emerged second, losing to Jacey Shi from Nanyang Girls in the finals. I can’t recall much about the match, except for the fact that she served real hard and I had problems with the returns. Probably lost 5, 6 points per game on just the service alone. Nonetheless, I got my first deserving trophy and a huge tin of Milo.
We went back and trained hard for the next important tournament, the National Schools Championship. We probably did thousands of services and returns over that period. I think I developed some sort of phobia for services and returns and the next time I met Jacey Shi on court, I froze even more badly upon hearing the sound of her services.
We lost the ‘C’ division National Schools title to Nanyang Girls that year.
Minmin played the first tie with Gail and did not manage to deliver the expected point. And when it was my turn, I went in with anxiety gnawing my heart. I had to win this match but I had just lost to Jacey Shi a few weeks ago. I felt so much pressure … I did not want to be the one losing the deciding match, the one causing a break in the chain of consecutive Championship titles won. I felt all eyes on me and I felt my legs going soft. In the end, I played like a frightened little mouse (yes, I was still little then) scrambling in the court. I was even further from beating her this time around.
Weiwei won the third tie but it did not change the fact that we had already lost the ‘C’ division title. We had a good cry in the YCK toilet. It was a very upsetting defeat, especially since I was the one who lost that deciding match in a most unrespectable fashion. I felt like I had let a whole lot of people down. My teammates, my coach and my seniors who had worked hard to build that string of titles before me … We could have won the 5th consecutive title.
But I guess in the end, the defeat served to bond the team together and motivate us to train harder. Another three months down the road, I won the U14G title in the 2nd leg of the Milo Age Group Circuit, dispatching Jacey Shi rather effortlessly on the way to victory. And we clinched 3 out of the top 4 positions in our category.
As a team, we never lost another National Schools Championship. No other team would even harbour the thought of beating us. It was virtually impossible as all 7 players in our team would be able to beat at least the 2nd or 3rd player in any other teams. It would take a miracle for any one team to get 3 ties out of the 5. They could only fight for the 2nd berth while we set our sights at winning our matches 135-0.
I recall winning the finals against ACJC with the score of 135 plus a few points to 13 in JC2. Minmin dropped a set to Junjun, giving away 9 whole points out of that 13. Yah, it is a team I will always be proud of.
To Weiwei, Minmin, Yanjun, Liling: Thanks for walking those early days with me. You guys made the times very memorable … training, playing doubles, chalets, parties, Fun tournaments, Christmas walks, organizing tournaments (with plate events, but sadly no forks and spoons), holiday programmes, day camps …
You know, I still look back to that ‘C’ division title with a tinge of regrets. We were a much stronger team. If only it was based on a best-of-5 lineup … Perhaps it was just our luck that they made the change only in the year right after us … what a pity.
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Achievements from 1988 to 1997 …RGS Squash, our first ten years of proud history …
B Division
1988 Second Runners-up
1989 Champions
1990 Champions
1991 Champions
1992 Champions
1993 Champions
1994 Champions
1995 Champions
1996 Champions
1997 Champions
C Division
1988 Champions
1989 Champions
1990 First Runners-up
1991 Champions
1992 Champions
1993 Champions
1994 Champions
1995 First Runners-up
1996 Champions
1997 First Runners-up
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