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Monday, August 08, 2005
woots three cheers!!
im back!!! or rather mi com is back!!!
haha alive from the dead...
okay now i wanna relli relli relli blog...
so mani things... dunno where to start...
okay firstly... nt having a com aint dat bad after all...
u dun get distracted... but yeah u'll miss bloggin n all... n end up spending lotsa time at the school's library typing stuff... n yeah if u hafta lose all yer info in the process den it truly truly sucks... but hey... look at the bright side:
it looks as if i just got a new com!!!
haha yup....
everithing's so factory shipped lar... open windows media player got no music inside... hafta make new documents folder n music folder... everithing seems so wierd...
okay nvm...
opened msn - 80 new emails... n i havent even checked them yet...
schooling has been rather stressing... i guess the o lvls r catching up...
datz nt a gd thing... it resulted in mi getting a nice new pimple on mi forehead... luckily its gone now...
theres something i wanna blog about for so long liao...
i think i'll do it now...
to start off with... this is quite a thorny issue n im afraid i will offend a few pple... n this will sound veri naggy... so if u dun wanna read it well mi advice is dont...
but yeah if u feel offended... dont b coz i didn't intend for it...
okay it is about bowling... so yeah if u find mi bowling blogs boring... do not read... coz i predict dis is gonna b long...
aniwae... here goes...
SJI Bowling... founded in 2000... n ever since then... we have grown in strength to strength....
Only five years old... but by far one of the better achievers in SJI...
in 2000... having just started off... we did not finish aniwhere near the top four... however... ever since then... look at the results:
2001 - C div: 2nd; B div: did not compete
2002 - C div: 2nd, Masters 1st, 2nd, 3rd; B div: (dis i cant rmb if we competed or not)
2003 - C div: 3rd; B div: 2nd, Masters: 2nd
2004 - C div: 5th, Masters 1st; B div: 2nd; Secondary Schools League: 2nd, Masters 1st
2005 - C div: 3rd; B div: 2nd, Masters 1st
stated above r all the major achievements by the SJI Bowling Team since well yeah since we started... of course there are the other stuff... but these are the major ones...
it is quite an impressive list... i know i sound like im boasting or wad but honestly... i dun think u cld deny dat... in fact... in this school... this record can onli be matched by that of table tennis n canoeing...
in SJI... at present... the king of all sports is quite evidently table tennis... always challenging for the title everi year... n in some years... actually winning them... this year... they were champions in the c div n runners up in the b div...
canoeing has also done well... winning a few titles bfore... n dis year too - c div claiming gold...
however to be honest... following in the order of merit... wld hafta b bowling...
not mani CCAs in our sch actually challenge for the national schools title... in fact dats veri rare... most sports are satisfied wif a top-4 finish... n some r alreadi satisfied wif a top-8...
however... why issit dat it seems dat these sports are the ones dat gain more respect amongst the school... n are looked more favourably upon... rather sports like those that i named earlier do not get the same kind of respect...
n it is even more evident in bowling... i have asked this question many a times to many of mi schoolmates: "how do u find bowling's achievements?"
n the answer is always about the same: "quite suck ar... ", "not veri gd..." so on n so forth...
when i tell them tt bowling has more or less gotten second or third everi year... most of them tell mi the reason for tt is because bowling has SO FEW schools taking part...
now dat is a myth im gonna break today... the myth tt bowling has veri few schools taking part... of course u cannot compare us to CCAs like track n field... or CCAs like basketball or soccer... but i can honestly tell u there are around 30 schools taking part... there r CCAs where there r lyke onli 7 schools which take part (now i did not name ani particular sport so if u think im referring to one.. well yer just making assumptions)
now dat is little... but another thing to note is... the traditional power houses all take part in bowling... schools lyke ACSi n ACSbr... schools lyke RI... they all take part in bowling... in fact the onli sch i can think of tt is a power house n doesn't take part is Chinese High ba... dats all...
now many of u might wonder... why m i saying all these for?
it is due to the veri circumstances dat have made mi do dis...
bowling firstly has zero financial support from the school... pple might say dat itz coz bowling is an expensive sport... but think about it... why issit an expensive sport? why r bowlers paying 1000 bucks a year? it iz because the school does not subsidize our fees...
i have made calculations... n it does make a hell of a difference... most CCAs hire external coaches... and the average pay to these external coaches is around the range of between 2000 - 4000 a month... lets say just 2000 bucks were channeled towards bowling everi month... bowlers would end up saving bout 60% of their training costs... so tell mi dat doesn't make a big difference?
it isn't onli dis... it is the discrimination bowlers face...
sports is generally divided into two main aspects - the physical n the mental... some sports, e.g. track n field is more towards physical... while sports like bowling r more mental... there r sports which r well balanced - badminton, basketball etc. And it is because of this tt these sports r more popular...
thus bowling is more towards the mental aspect of games... physically of course u dun hafta be super fit or sumthing... but u must still be fit... n have stamina... or there is NO WAY u can last 10 games in a masters finals... but of coz this game tests u mentally like no other sport... to master dat level of concentration to allow u to throw at exactly the same target, wif the same release and the same amount of revolutions... making sure the entire approach n release is perfect... is something tt not mani pple can do... n it is thus which makes bowling so difficult to master... tt mental strain is something not many pple can cope wif... and u can never be a true champion wifout mastering it...
but it is because of tt lack of physical effort that many pple view bowling as a "slacker's" sport... well all i gotta say is this - if u think it is so easy... come play the game...
thus again it is because of this view that bowling is often viewed in a negative way... so mani a times... i have heard bowlers being called by teachers as slackers... n of coz as a slacker's sport... i've haf mi juniors come up to mi to complain tt their teacher has just said something about bowling... so mani a times... throughout these four years... i've seen n heard it all...
i rmb the first few months when i was in secondary one... i had been a runner in pri sch... n thus i was wanted to join the school's track team... however... things just seemed to point in a different direction n i relli had mi heart set on bowling...
thus when i was given mi CCA option form to fill in... there were six choices. I put in "ten-pin bowling" as the first choice... and for the rest - i simply left them blank...
so a PE teacher came one day to announce our CCAs to us... and this was heard: "Wong Yew Liang - Track n Field"
so for the next two months i fought hard to get into bowling... it wasn't easy... all the teachers were like "join track n we'll make u a star"... while a few seniors were going "bowling is a slacker's sport lar..." n all that crap... even mi friends around mi... some were calling mi nuts to join bowling...
but the thought of changing mi mind nv came up... and eventually i guess they gave up n i got mi place in the bowling team...
everi year we receive the same amount of shit when we try to recruit our sec 1 members... often putting in a list of 16 means getting just 10 to eventually join... most get pulled to other CCAs... even when some veri obviously have a huge potential in bowling... they r pulled away...
n it is frustrating... all these... maybe u might find it funny... when u see yer friend's sport being called a "slacker's sport"... everione laughs n even yer friend laughs along... but think of how yer friend feels inside... u think it ain't frustrating? it sucks... the feeling just sucks...
sometimes i even wonder why we are wearing a jersey with "SJI" printed on the back... we play hard n we win lots for the sch... yet this is the kinda treatment we get... it is frustrating n as most bowlers r quiet n not known to talk much, mi teammates simply dun say anithing... but it is obvious many a times... n now im starting to see it amongst mi juniors... this frustration of getting virtually zero support from the sch population... luckily we have lionel coming up... or else i dun even think pple wld know SJI Bowling exists...
lets face it... some sports cant even get top-4 yet the school mobilizes so much support for them... to go down to support them n in the end get nothing... and they come back to sch acting as the usual big shots they think they r... (now i did not name ani particular sport so if u think im referring to one.. well yer just making assumptions)
but even so... i must commend the team for what they have done... everitime being wif the team, esp. during competitions... these times relli forge themselves into mi memory forever... tt team spirit tt is replicated by no other... tt special team spirit dat onli belongs to SJI Bowling... tt will be something i will rmb for a long time...
being able to walk into the alley n see the pple on the nxt lane saying "wah how come must pair us wif SJI one?"... tt sense of fear we strike in our opponents... it something tt the team can relli b proud of... after kenneth, aloy n travis left us... we hardly had ani star bowlers to boost the team's lineup... yet we have still managed to get 2nd year after year... n i believe it is because of the team spirit tt we have... it is as simple as tt...
so wads mi point? its time for SJI Bowling to gain some respect n at the veri veri least - equality wif the other CCAs... this wont be easy... of coz... but we can do it... just like in the past... always going against the odds n striving through... and eventually - succeed.
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