alright it's the end of another year again..haha shall post a brief entry on some happenings of the year to sum up 2007 for me..
for a start, i was still in the playing mood when i entered rjc. despite going overseas often and missing so many classes, i somehow managed to hand up work and assignments as the kind classmates of mine wld always help me. however, this did not mean tht i was catching up with my work as much more than homework was required in jc. constant revision of the topics were the prerequisites of being a good student. hence such were the explanations for my poor results which i got for the promos exam. and to add on to tht, the relaxing mood was still on me as the class was such an enjoyable and fun one to have. there was alot of fun in class and also outside class like the class outings to the movies and for meals.
alright moving on, my first trip of the yr-beijing. went for the invitational comp, and it was also our first trip together as the National training team..and we were privilleged to be joined by a few from the first team such as xiaoli, paey fern and jho. yeps having them also made the trip fun. the food like the Peking duck was definitely one of the best i've ever tasted in my many trips to china.
then came the serious trng for the sea junior, followed by a two week trng trip to hebei..some days were fun, some days were not, sad to say this was not the best team we had this yr for Sea Junior. as such results showed in our trip to Laos for the sea junior shortly after hebei trng trip. somehow i felt i didn't play well, esp for the U18 boys. well i realised shortly tht actually pei coach wasnt the right coach for me.. his coaching style and my playing style dun adapt, nevertheless i still listened to him. but this is something i cannot help and i cant blame others for my shortcomings.
and then, just when i came back from Laos, it was much unfortunate tht i had to learn abt the passing on of one of my closest classmates, thaddeus. gabriel, jeremy thaddeus and myself were always in a grp together, slacking and enjoying in sch. we were all sportsmen and we all had different goals tht we aimed to achieve together. not only the 3 of us were affected, but the class as a whole was definitely affected coz the class was very closely bonded and had enjoyed many fun moments together. such was a time for grieving and searching, it took some time to get over it, but we all knew tht all was God's purpose and tht he was now in a far better place.
so much for sad happenings, but life had to move on. then came the july trip to korea for the Asian Junior.. celebrated my birthday there. the 2nd time i had my bdae overseas. had quite a surprise. the team caught me by surprise late at night, when yl and i were watching dvds in our room..haha..and subsequently after the mini celebration in my room i had to surrender the dvd lol wad a joke.. the trip was a real holiday for all of us..got to eat a few korean delicacies too, such as the bbq meat and the ginseng chicken. of the 8 days in korea i only played comp for 2 days haha. the rest was just sitting back and enjoying the competition and the trip.
a fortnight later or so, the b div came..supposed to be my most successful tournament ever but somehow good things do not last long..realised tht actually i wasn't too good and then i started to lose interest in tt slowly..went for trngs once a week, twice at the most..
then came the grand finals for the msia club league. obviously wasnt good enough and lost my point, indirectly causing the defending champions the loss of our title.
promos followed shortly, and somehow after promos, my main objective was to enjoy myself as much as i can.. trng was somehow secondary. really went for trng very few times, to the extend of once a fortnight.. even though hols were here, revision classes started for me and i had to go to sch almost everyday, which meant tht mornings and sometimes afternoons were gone..and i ended up using tht time to enjoy after lessons..haha somehow i felt tht i didn't really wanna play tt tht much anymore..but when i tot abt it again, i still felt tht i enjoyed the sport and i just wanted to play it casually without any pressure or burden on me.
apart from tht, i also felt myself drifting away from the Lord..every now and then, when i was doing my quiet time, i cld somehow feel God asking for His lost sheep to go back to Him. and soon came the year end top10 tournament. i knew my chances were very slim winning it, esp due to my lack of trng while the others were tirelessly trng so much more often than me.. i had wanted to trn more to prepare for it, but somehow there were many other things more appealing to me. after a short holiday to thailand to watch the sea games using my lucky draw ticket, it was time to play the top10.
somehow things went really well for me, and i felt the Lord was really helping me both mentally and physically. i cast all pressure off me and just set out to play my best. all went well, and after 2 days, i had made it to the finals with God's grace. the night i played the finals, i just cried out to the Lord, tht if all be His will, may He just grant me strength to play the last match and no matter wad the result be, may it be acceptable to me. and just before the finals, i told the Lord, i wanted to play for Him, and all the glory and honour was His.
thankfully i overcame the odds and God was really graceful tht day. His pressence was with me and i ended up winning. and when i won, a few tears streamed down my eyes, knowing of God's love for me.
and after a long while blacksliding, i was thankful to have felt close to the Lord once again.
yeps and looking back, tht was my year. it did not start out right, and as it passed, it did not get any better. but all tht was important was tht God had much more better plans for me to and at the end of the yr, the blessings came and no doubt, it was definitely a good way to end the yr. next yr will definitely be a hectic one..alrdy before sch has started, i was alrdy told i had to go to beijing on the 9th on jan for the beijing invitational..haha peking duck again..yeps and not forgetting the need to study for the A's..
to end it all, blessed new yr to all and may the coming yr be a great yr.
God bless!
God loves you
|| Sunday, December 30, 2007
after a minor hiccup, the 3rd finally comes =)
wad can i say but thnk God and thnk God!! haha 15th dec 07 marked a small milestone in my youth career, finally meeting my target of getting my 3rd top10 title and marking a happy and early end to my participation in this tournament as i'd be busy preparing for the A's next yr. even though it wld have been better if i got it last yr and made it 3 in a row, but all is God's will and i shld count my blessings and look at wad i have rather than wad i have not. lol yeps. His presence was definitely there with me, especially during the finals, a match in which i was the obvious underdog.
looking back, i think all honour and glory shld go to God as im much privileged to have actually won it despite my frequent absence at trainings these holidays, all in my attempt to catch up with my work due to poor results. yeps and not forgetting Lu Xi who always trained with me whenever i came at night coz some lessons were in the afternoon. he is one who has really taught me alot during trng and has also made the effort to bond with the team.
and also 'coach ho' jun yi, lol who was my coach during the finals.
somehow i finally feel the sense of accomplishment and tht i can finally give myself a pat on the back and start studying. yeps wad a good way to end my participation in the tournament and also the yr! alright as christmas draws near, enjoy the last of ur hols!
A USA president once said "The greatest moment in history was when man first stepped onto the moon"
An Evangelist nearby corrected him "The greatest moment in history was when Jesus stepped on planet Earth"
God loves you
|| Thursday, December 20, 2007
went back to the hotel and went out again to find some food. we passed by a pub and xh wanted to go it but good thing we didn't coz there turned out to be a fight later on. had some beef noodles by the roadside, a dollar for a bowl..haha real cheap eh.
went back to the hotel and it was abt 1am by then. we realised tht our tv had been changed and we started playing ps2. haha. but somehow the tv did not haf the red plug socket and we cldnt play with the colour. fifa street soccer is quite addictive, all the cool moves and tricks.played till abt 230 and knocked out..
3rd day, left the hotel rather late. 1030 and we went to watch water polo. singapore vs phillipines. they were the strongest opponents singapore had for the title. after 2 quarters the score was still near parity, but after half time the score gap widdened. the match was definitely nicer than the previous match we watch the day before. went to watch soccer after tht. singapore vs msia. only needed a draw to get into the semis and they did just tht. cld haf been a 2-1 win had they not missed a penalty. but agu is really quite fast. yeps then went back to watch swimming and then back to the hotel for a gala dinner hosted by minister. after tht had an escapade till abt 4 plus am..haha shall not really elaborate.
alright so much for the trip and it was home sweet home after a very very short trip overseas. all in all i felt tht somehow it was worth going and i thnk God for watching over me and my friends during the trip, giving me this chance to meet new people and see the games which i might never get to see again
yeps so thts all and enjoy the rest of the hols!
God loves you
|| Monday, December 10, 2007
lol havent touched this place for quite some time..literally..haha.. really living in the past..will blog one of these days before i leave for thailand..
God loves you
|| Monday, December 03, 2007