It was the sport whereby the result would much depend on the true strength of the team. There wasn’t any national player or varsity player that could be brought specially into any particular hall to swing the outcome.
Temasek had always been strong in handball given our pool of athletes from various other sports, especially basketball and netball. In Year 1, we won with Jean and Lixiang being the main scorers. In Year 2, even though they had graduated, the team remained pretty strong. However we screwed up somehow and did not even make it through to the semis. It was very upsetting.
In Year 3, I finally made the main team. Well, compared to the basketballers and netballers, my footwork was never as nifty and passing as swift. However I worked on my defense and made the effort to be one of the most accurate shooters. It was like aiming for the nick … Every ball I shot, I would aim for one of the 4 corners and after many trainings, I suppose my shooting naturally got sharper. With that, I earned my keep as the right winger, the position with the smallest shooting angle for a right-hander.
But in Year 3, we lost to Kent Ridge in the finals by 1 goal. 5-6.
And in the following year, we again lost to Kent Ridge in the finals by 1 goal. I felt that familiar heartache when I read the report in Philly.
In Year 5, we finally won that handball gold that slipped through our fingers for the last 3 years. I am very proud of the team that I played with, especially Yuhan, Yolanda, Haili, Candice, Huilin and Weiling.
It was not the actual winning that still touched my soul. It was the journey we took together as we worked towards the common goal. That strong desire to bring home the gold.
I remember on the day of the finals, I was in my room suppressing the prematch jitters and trying to focus on my thesis. Suddenly I got a sms from Haili saying that she was getting excited and nervous about the match and could not concentrate on her work. And immediately I got smses from Yuhan and Yolanda from their classrooms expressing the same thing. I replied “Me too! But let’s just breathe …”. That was followed by a string of messages as we encouraged each other and affirmed that we were going to play a smashing game that night.
That was our final year, our last chance at the gold. It was such moments that connected and bonded the team, and made the difference.
p/s: guys, i just thought about that beautiful cross we did that day. The cross so swift and smooth that we created that huge gap. we did not manage to score but gosh, it was one cool set-up ... =) ... haha ...
I remember on the day of the finals, I was in my room suppressing the prematch jitters and trying to focus on my thesis. Suddenly I got a sms from Haili saying that she was getting excited and nervous about the match and could not concentrate on her work. And immediately I got smses from Yuhan and Yolanda from their classrooms expressing the same thing. I replied “Me too! But let’s just breathe …”. That was followed by a string of messages as we encouraged each other and affirmed that we were going to play a smashing game that night.
That was our final year, our last chance at the gold. It was such moments that connected and bonded the team, and made the difference.
p/s: guys, i just thought about that beautiful cross we did that day. The cross so swift and smooth that we created that huge gap. we did not manage to score but gosh, it was one cool set-up ... =) ... haha ...
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