What greeted us at the start of the day...=)
The ‘C’ division was against Raffles Institution for their morning game. However, they seem to be all jittery and seemed fearful of their opponents even before they played the game. From their warm up to even when the players were standing on the batting plate, the expressions and body language they exuded just hinted to their opponents that they were not ready to bat and not even confident to be on the batting plate to hit the ball to their best ability. They performed way below their normal standards and as expected they lost to Raffles Institution unfortunately at the last inning where, they got in 4 runs which edged us out by 1 run at the last minute.
Competition jitters?
Ready to field...
Maybe because they did not get to have their competition game yesterday and it was their first this morning? However, this cannot be an excuse for this team who won the championship last year. With that achievement, a heavier stake weighs on them to take home the championship again for 2010. This team having gone through National Championships, equipped with the experience already, have to really step up their game and propel even further than last year in terms of their skills, team spirit and especially their mental strength.
The ‘C’ division redeemed themselves during their second game against Satit Chiang Mai University (not really a university team) as they seem more composed and realized what they erred in during the first game. Unfortunately, our fielding cost us 7 runs in the first two innings, making it difficult for the team to catch up at the last few innings. The ‘C’ division has to really work on their foundation on fielding and more importantly their mental strength and confidence. They have to believe in themselves and the team that they can do it.
Pitcher
Running....
and scores at home...
Bringing in the run...
group shot with PYU
For the ‘B’ division, they played relatively well but could have done better when playing against PY University. Their maturity of the game has grown with the years they have trained as a softball team. Some of them are in Secondary Four already and would be their last chance to really play with the rest of the boys competitively. Individually, the boys need to really remind themselves of the common mistakes and bad habits they tend to make and really make an effort the change them so as to be ready for the upcoming Nationals very soon in the earlier part of the year.
Also comparing both CHS and PYU, the cheering and encouragement for each other on the field could be done much better. You could really sense and feel the spirit of the Thai team with every run or good hit made. Even when their team members make the mistakes, words of encouragement that come sincerely from the hearts always seem to help their team mates forget their mistakes and to carry on with the game with a clean slate, allowing them to perform better. There is no fear within their team for mistakes and they trust their teammates very much for whenever anyone of them made a mistake, they are confident of their teammates that they will help cover them and back them up in any way. No hesitation in throwing or committing in an action for they know it is okay to have mistakes. And one could really see the different dynamics just because of this basic common interest that the PYU had of each other-FAITH and TRUST in their own teammates.
Another would be the desire and really the hunger to really want to win the game badly. The competitiveness and arrogance needed at times in team games is still lacking in our ‘B’ division team and our team being too “gentlemanly” always seem to be taken advantage off at times. Nice guys always end up as being losers? It seems to apply to our team today. Not calling the team to turn rough and playing dirty, but more so of being aggressive competitively and playing all out in every game they partake in.
After the games, Coach RJ asked them to rate themselves in today’s performance and many of them had points not more than 5 upon 10. It is at least good to know they know their mistakes and that they need to improve of things. At least from here, we can work things out and iron out anything for each individual player before the Nationals itself.
Let’s hope tomorrow would be a better game day for the boys.
P/S: The boys got to head down to the night bazaar (Chiang Mai version of Pasar Malam) after dinner and they had quite a bit of fun shopping, bargaining (which I do not think they are very good at =P and what else, what Singaporeans do best, makan again!
