The Harbours from Before: Undergraduate Days Part I

I wanted very much to get it back and decided that the best way forward was to continue training under Ansari in Singapore. As such, I ended up spending 5 years in NUS pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree. The first 3 years were spent playing competitive squash, the fourth in Philadelphia under the NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) program and the fifth trying to figure what really mattered.

Let me start with the first 3 years …

Those were enjoyable times. Studies wise, I maintained a certain level of flexibility in my schedule, attending classes and doing tutorials only when I felt it was useful to. I did not have to face any pressure from the school, kept to my own pace and knew just enough to take the final examinations.

Squash wise, of course I faced the usual ups and downs. Some days were fantastic! I felt world-class. Some days were really bad … I would play real lousy. On hindsight, though it did not feel that way then, things were actually going on well.

Belinda Foo came in our lives somewhere along the line. Ex-national squash player, mother of three, a musician by profession and currently a triathlete. She was one great personality and certainly a superb training partner. To accommodate her work schedule, we started training in the mornings. This was on top of the regular sessions we already had on almost every weekday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Twice or thrice a week, we would play for an hour or so starting from 8 am at Temasek Club. She would then drop me back in school for the 10 o’clock lecture in which I would inevitably fall asleep. And therefore sometimes I would rather go for mee soto at Clementi instead. ;-)

Wah Siew, Belinda and I played as a team in the Ladies’ Premier in 2002 and 2003 and also the Men’s C Grade in 2003. While we did not win, we did not do too badly either. Looking back, it was good fun. Some of the matches were excellent.

Yup, the dream team. haha ... ;-)

And it was during the league back in mid-2003 that I played my last matches with Nur and Vicki, who were then No 2 and 3 in Singapore. I can’t remember the matches but I know I lost to one in four games and the other in five after a close fight. In terms of fitness and skill, we were comparable. I only lacked that bit of confidence. Just that little bit more. I felt I was almost there.

But perhaps this set of results came a little too late …

I left for the States on 30 Aug 2003 … only to return one year later to find that everyone had stopped playing ...

Now I really look forward to competing again ...