Tuesday, September 22, 2009

It Was....A Splendid Night

Once upon a time, there was a floorball club called Innebandy! Co. Every member in this club believed and upheld 3 sacred philosophies which are the importance of the Inner Circle, Independent Culture, and Insane Courage as a team. Firmly holding on to these beliefs, they grew tighter and stronger as a team and eventually defied all odds to become champions of the Rising Star Competition 2009.

The End
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Not at all dear readers. This is in fact just the beginning of many more achievements, victories and success to come. Therefore, the formula that can be deduced from this story is: Inner Circle + Independent Culture + Insane Courage = Gold Medals and a…….

CELEBRATORY POTLUCK!!!


Which was held on the 18th of September to not only celebrate our recent success as Rising Star Champions but also to grow tighter as a team, to makan as a team and most importantly, to have fun as a team!

The potluck was held in Deswyn’s apartment and was initially meant to be held at the poolside. However, as the weather did not permit and it started to pour heavily, the potluck was held inside Deswyn’s apartment. Nothing is going to deter us Innebandiens from makan time!

By the stroke of 7.30 pm, everyone was all there eager and waiting to begin makan time. All except Joshua who ‘cleverly’ went to the poolside of the wrong apartment and got stuck there due to the heavy rain. As Deswyn mentioned to Joshua that his apartment is 20 storeys high and white in color with a brown top, Joshua went to another apartment nearby with “deceivingly” the exact same characteristics!! Finding out that he was at the wrong apartment from a resident there, Joshua kept his teammates waiting and starving while waiting for the rain to stop.

The team was however very kind and gracious and waited for Joshua to arrive before beginning the potluck. In the meantime, everyone huddled up in Deswyn’s living room to watch the World Floorball Championships Final Match between Sweden and Finland. GOOD STUFF.

At the stroke of 8pm, Joshua finally arrived at the door dripping wet with his mashed potatoes ala josh still dry and edible as he risked his life and body as protection for the potatoes for the sake of the hunger of his fellow team mates. Well, that was the least he could do for causing the long wait=p

Everyone quickly gathered around the potluck table eagerly waiting to sample the many dishes prepared by the Innebandy members. After praying for the food by Captain E, the potluck began! Everyone was happily chomping away as the food was really good indeed. Who would have known that Innebandiens had a secret talent for cooking other than floorball ! Amongst the food brought were ·
  • Chicken ala “Chick Flick” (Rooban) [as named by Rooban himself]
  • TESCO’s “Kenny Rogers” Chicken (Deswyn)
  • Cream Puffs (Win Shern)
  • Nuggets (Chester)
  • Pudding (Valerie)
  • Sago Dessert (Andrew)
  • Fried Bee Hoon (Jason)
  • Mashed Potatoes (Darien)
  • Banana Cake (Lin Ken)
  • Curry Sandwiches (Previn)
  • Pork Curry (Ephraim)
  • Soft Drinks (Sam)
Just by going through that list, you can sort of have a rough idea on how happy our stomach’s were that very night.=)

Darien's Mashed Potatoes

Win Shern's Puff

Previn's Curry Sandwich

Every item brought was indeed scrumptious as all Innebandiens began attacking the potluck table round after round. Sam told us not to worry if they gain any weight cause he will make sure we all lose it again in training on Sunday by doing 2 rounds of Shuttle Runs!

After everyone was stuffed and happy, it was time to ‘toast’ to our success in the recent Rising Star Competition. And what’s more a better way to toast as a team if not the customary victory “champagne” toast together! However, in place of the champagne, a fine bottle of Sparkling Juice was brought by Sam which tasted almost as good as having real champagne itself. AHH the sweetness of victory=p.

The officiating of this ceremony began with Captain E really giving his best in trying to pop the bottle. After numerous tries, finally only was Captain E able to “merasmikan” the ceremony by producing a well rounded OOMPH filled POP!! Sparkling Juice was then distributed all around by the captain himself. The team then gathered in a circle and toasted to their recent success by singing the Innebandy song together followed by everyone BOTTOMING UP! Although sparkling juice was used instead of wine, Jason “the superstar” still did not dare to partake of the drink as he felt it safe to not drink from any wine shaped bottle for fear of being drunk.

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Innebandy, Innebandy! CooooooOOoOOoooo

The night prolonged with much enjoyed rounds of the game MAFIA in which killing, saving and catching took over eating for the night. Since the last MAFIA session at the Innebandy Camp, this round of MAFIA saw the improvement of all players using psychology as well as body language to steer the crowd their way. Two outstanding killers of the night, Valerie and Jason were the only ones able to kill everyone in a single round. Certainly targets to be cautious of in future MAFIA games! (For those who don’t know what MAFIA is all about please refer to Sam for an Introductory Course)

Sam Phd in Mafia

Jason killed everyone with his fake drunkard technique

Valerie going in for the Kill

After rounds and rounds of killing, the night finally came to an end with everyone satisfied both in their stomachs as well as their hearts. We certainly bonded as a team and believe that our tighter Inner Circle will bring us to greater heights than ever. The team would like to thank the coaches for their dedication and undying “love” and sacrifice in constantly training, motivating us and pushing us to achieve more than what we already are. Most importantly, we would like to give all the glory to God!

Win Or Lose. Innebandy moving forward as a team can be truly felt in the hearts of each and every member and is indeed the most important form of victory any team can achieve.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Only one word...

Penang Women State Team vs. Innebandy! Co.
24th August 2009, Monday
5-1 (2-0, 0-1, 3-0)

1st period
Jason (Ephraim)
Joshua
2nd period
Sarah Ng (Sheryn)
3rd period
Ephraim (Joshua)
Nicholes
Joshua

The first game for Innebandy! Co. since the end of the Penang Floorball League. How will we fare?

We were invited for a friendly match on the 24th of August, Monday night, by the Penang women’s state team. It was a win-win situation for both parties with the Penang side looking to build on their team chemistry and strategies while Innebandy hoped to gain some valuable experience for the junior players by facing them off against the much seasoned Penang women’s team.

The atmosphere that night was pretty quiet with both teams starting off with their respective warm-up drills. Sam Teoh and Deswyn Wan both refrained from participating and coached the team instead as the objective of that night’s game was more towards helping the team get use to coping without two of Innebandy’s main players rather than winning. On top of that, Innebandy had to play without Cuilin and Valerie Tan, who were called up for State duty. However, with the return of the much missed forward, Nicholes Ong, and the ever solid keeper, Lin Ken, in goal, things looked to be leaning slightly towards Innebandy’s side.

Preeeeet!

And we’re off.

The first period started off with the women’s team putting on an aggressive mind-set. Their quick passes and constant pressuring nearly paid off for them. Quite contrary to the oppsition’s strategy, Innebandy played a calm and collected game. Our forwards were having difficulties getting past the women’s first line of defence. That combined with Sharron in goal proved to be a difficult wall to break down. Furthermore, the female forwards were playing well for about half the period by pressuring the Innebandy defenders. Fortunately for us, they did not keep up their starting momentum and soon Innebandy drew first blood with Captain E setting up Jason “the Superstar” Chew followed by Joshua Yam.

Nevertheless, at the break, the two coaches were not happy with our game play thus far. Sam demanded a more solid performance from us Innebandiens especially the back two. He also challenged us to net in another five more goals by the end of the second period.

In the second half, things didn’t exactly go to plan. The women weren’t improving, Innebandy was counter attacking well from defence to forward in a blink of an eye. However, the players couldn’t finish off the opportunities and blew a number of one-on-one chances against the Penang goalie. More than once, the cutting edge of Deswyn was sorely missed by Innebandy as they came close on more than one occasion. But as we all know, in floorball, coming close is just not good enough. As for the women, they lacked the speed and dynamicism to penetrate our back line, the forwards did not chase down each ball and soon their game play grew stagnant. The period ended unexpectedly with not only a clean sheet for the state team but a late goal as well! The Ng sisters, Sarah and Sheryn, combined to catch the defense ball-watching which left Innebandy in shock and Lin Ken on his feet screaming profanities at his defense who left him wide open.

Wow. Not only did we NOT meet Uncle Sam’s target, but we let in a goal too. Things were looking bad. With the score at 2-1, the women’s team could easily turn the tables on us in the next 20 minutes of the 3rd ,and final, period. Once again, we were told to go out there and grab five goals while keeping the opponent’s at bay. After a invigorating team talk, Innebandy marched back into the court again to do battle with the Penang women’s state team for one final period.

The third period saw a transformed women’s team coming on court. They played with a burning determination to win and pushed up high with good fore checking. In the goalkeeping aspect Sharron was replaced by Suleen at the other end. Suleen managed to pull off many fine saves that would have done Lin Ken proud. Her quick reflexes proved to be a difficult obstacle for Innebandien forwards to overcome. However, with Insane Courage, we successfully netted in three more thanks to the Captain and Nicholes getting one goal each and Joshua finding the net for the second time of the night. The final score : Penang Women’s State Team 1 : 5 Innebandy! Co.

After the match, our coaches gathered us round in our Inner Circle for the customary team talk. Although we succeeded in getting a win, the scoreline did not reflect the real story. Our players squandered a host of chances while our defense was penetrated time and time again by the women’s team. Sam asked us to describe our game using only one word. The answers varied from player to player, some calling it “Messy” and “Rusty” while others thought the play was “Good” and “Okay”. In the end, Sam told us only one word “Gai”. I could understand how he felt like sitting on the sidelines, unable to do anything to help a struggling Innebandy side which he felt deeply about.

So, I strongly encourage each and every Innebandien to start or build on your Independent Culture. It is vital to have personal training sessions to improve on our physical condition and also our floorballing skills. Do it for yourself, do it for your coaches who place their trust in you by coming week in week out to train us, do it for the feeling of ecstasy of lifting up the 2010 Penang Floorball League Trophy and knowing you deserve every bit of it, and most of all, do it for Innebandy.

One Team, One Way.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

One Team, One Way, One Malaysia

Innebandy! Co. had their first ever camp last weekend. It was a time for the team to hangout and fellowship after PFL 09.

The venue for the camp which was initially supposed to be held at Pantai Keracut but was later changed to Penang Watersports Centre. All the ‘campers’ gathered at T.O.P. somewhere around noon and had their ‘mee hun’ lunch. Oh boy, what a nice plate of mee that was!

Later on, we were all briefed on who’s following who to the camp site. The seniors drove us there. The lucky few who followed Nicholes managed to watch the chef at work, marinating the pieces of chicken which were going to be our dinner. The sight of the chicken being marinated made the observers drool.

When everyone reached the campsite, the campers were briefed on the groups they would be in for the camp. We were split into three groups of four. The three teams were named after each training philosophy : Inner Circle, Independent Culture, and Insane Courage. The seniors were all split into each team, except for Deswyn. He was the one who acted as the judge in our tasks and observed our every move. We then went to set up our tents. Each group had one except Deswyn and Sam, having their own tent. The girls had their own tent also. After that, were given a task. To write down what the philosophy of our team name meant to us and how we could apply it in everyday life. When it was complete, the paper we wrote on was stuck onto the tents respectively. However, for team Independent Culture, the crows ‘attacked’ their tent by bombarding a series of ‘poop grenades’. The paper merely lasted 5 minutes before being decorated with droppings of the crows.

Next up was the Amazing Race. Each team had to complete four tasks.
1) Answer a series of questions
2) Cook an egg
3) Roll the ball only using our stomach from one end to the other
4) Covering a floorball stick entirely and vertically in the sand without burying it.

The team started last at the final task but finished first thanks to the idea of Nicholes. All teams showed such teamwork in this challenge. After that, Deswyn told us that each team had to execute a morning exercise the next day. Each team was given the task of instructing either abs, upper body or lower body exercise Then, we were given free time to mingle around or take a shower. Soon after that, everyone chipped in to help prepare dinner. We had salad, BBQ Chicken and BBQ Sausage. The salad looked like it was prepared in a restaurant. The chicken pieces were simply magnificent and tender. The sausages were soft and well cooked.

As we were drinking orange juice, the guys sat around a big table. Each person shared their most embarrassing moment when it came to their turn, except for a few that decided to just listen. It could have gone on for rounds and rounds. We took a group photo, each holding the Malaysia flag as we were counting down for our National Day. Chester brought his beautiful camera to be used to snap photos throughout the camp. Sam then called all of us to play a card game called ‘Mafia’. He became the narrator at first. Many of us played the game until about 3 am in the morning. Kao Lin Ken succeeded as the only one that night to be the last killer standing. Kudos!

After that, chocolates were distributed among the campers who wanted some. Those who could not sleep went to shower. Some continued to playe ‘cho-tai-tee’ and others talked. As for me, I was talking to a team member of Innebandy! Co. who would be leaving Malaysia soon. We will miss her and we all wish her all the best in her pursuit. Her presence on court had always been noted.

Anyway, most of us slept at 5 am or so. Joshua Yam was the earliest to go to bed, but had difficulties sleeping because he heard the constant arguing of ‘My Bait Your Bait’ between Darien and Jason who were fishing alongside Nicholes. Nicholes was the last one to hit the sack. I woke up at about 8 am or so, from the morning alarm of nature, clucking of roosters and the chirping of crows. Yes , crows too. Lin Ken’s voice gave me the final push I needed to wake up. He was the earliest one ready (as usual) and standing in the middle of the camp site, waiting for everyone else. Everyone washed up and brushed their teeth, changed their clothes and met on the sandy, stone covered ground.

We had our morning devotion which was related to sports. I’m sure many of us learnt a couple of things besides reinforcing whatever we have already known. We were finally awoken by warming up with a game of dodge ball. The winners of the dodge ball game started their task last. Joshua Yam who did abs had such enthusiasm and showed such charisma in delegating the exercise for his team. His team was said to be the most ‘well-executed’. Then, Ephraim Teh took on the lower body. The song he chose to play along with the exercise was something to do with The Pink Panther and a soundtrack from Spongebob Squarepants. His team was awarded ‘most fun’ exercise. Then, team leader Cui Lin requested Nicholes to lead the upper body exercise. His team was awarded ‘most challenging’ exercise.

We then were told to pack up before having breakfast. Team Independent Culture were the last to finish packing up. Two of them washed the tent covered with crow droppings. After washing, they ran around the field trying to dry the layer. What a physical exercise! Then, we went kayaking. We were split into groups of two. The instructor briefed us on choosing the proper oar, rowing the kayak and staying safe. Four of the kayaks had a little race from one end to the other. After that, each team took a photo. Valerie Yentl Tan however wanted to be in every team’s photo. Sam was the photographer. Thus, he did not participate in the kayaking.

After that, everyone took their bath before they headed home. A few of the guys went for the group bath since the individual bathrooms were occupied. The few who went there (names not to be mentioned) really bonded after coming out of the bathroom. I wonder what might have happened in there.

A few of us then went to Fatty Loh Chicken Rice shop to have our lunch. I went to bed the moment I reached home. What a wonderful camp! Everyone had fun and made great team bonding. I can’t wait for the next outdoor activity!

p/s:photo will be updated soon