my IHG story

I wrote a short writeup about IHG this year..

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In all my years of playing badminton, I enjoyed playing for Eusoff the most.

For the four years that I have played for Eusoff, I’ve won three golds. Except this year. The first two years were easy win because we had a strong team and experienced players. The third year was tricky. We spent many many hours trying to come up with a win-win line-up. On paper, we seemed to be the stronger team, but somehow we knew we could not afford to be complacent and take our opponents too lightly. In the end, the line-up which we decided upon was the one which I was the most comfortable with. And so, it turned out that I was to play the crucial doubles match.

It was to be the match that I would never forget. This game was really tight, and I was surprised that I didn’t crack (too much) from the pressure and intensity of the situation. The most amazing part of the match was the support from all the fellow Eusoffians, of whom I need to specially mention Jane Hia. I thought she had probably lost her lungs after that match. Thank you. Of course, I won the match and the feeling was freaking exhilarating. Each time that I recall the moment, I feel like I’m at the top of the world. Thank you Eusoff, for giving me this priceless memory. And I would also like to thank the reporter who wrote my match report, which I still keep.

This year, even though we lost, I thought we lost to a better team. Not that I am trying to find excuses for ourselves, but it is a fact that the other team had shown a better team spirit than we had. Sometimes when I did look back, I do blame myself for not having been a good role model as a senior. For the past three years that I had been a junior, I always had a senior to look up to. I would always leave all the decisions to the seniors. I should have done more this year. Should have.

I would like to quote what Dr Mark Emmanuel (C blk RF) had said to me before, “In retrospect, we all have 20/20 vision.” The important thing to learn from the defeat this year, you have to work HARD to achieve your goal. We need to humble ourselves and learn from others. In badminton, we should never focus only on the key players. Learn from the Sheares badminton guys’ team, they are an excellent example. They are truly worthy of this year’s title because you can tell that they trained hard. More importantly, they trained hard as a team (and they only have one ex-IVP player). Besides training hard, you’ve got to give your best. By giving your best, it does not just refer to crucial points only. You need to give your best right from the start, during every training. You don’t necessarily have to be serious throughout the training, but you have to make sure that at the end of the training, you are a level up from the last training. With something like less than two months to train, one simply cannot afford to start from zero every training. If somehow you cannot train hard, and somehow cannot give your best, the last thing you need to do: love Eusoff! Play with your heart and also be there for your fellow Eusoffians. Your presence really will/does make a difference.

Eusoff always,

Siang Hwee (old old mary goh)

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Kangwei edited my original version.

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