Monday, August 23, 2010
Woke up at 6am on a Saturday morning and snoozed until 6.15am before I got out of bed. What's the special occasion you might wonder? There's this student-initiated soccer tournament that would kick off at 8am. It's a real honour to be heading back and playing for the teachers' team considering how new a staff I am (not even a permanent staff at that). Started off playing in midfield with Ganesh for the first game before I requested to drop back to my favoured right back position for the remaining 2 games. Good news was that we won our first 3 games with the final 2 matches of the group stages to be played next Friday at 2.30pm.
Thanks to Janice for helping us to order 'holland' jerseys which we worn for the tournament and gave us a sense of identity. First game was a tight and cagey affair because we were still finding our feet and because we haven't played field soccer before as a team, the chemistry as well. Despite being an-attack minded player, seeing that we already have a decent striker pair upfront, there's no need for to push up so often. My secondary school friends would know that I started off as a right-back and my roots will never forgotten. It allows me to not only read the game from the back but also join in the attack.
The only bad news for the day beside getting myself all muddy? The blades of my nike boots came off in the last 15 mins of the last time. I had to carry on with the game by simply peeling off the soles and playing without any friction. With slippery conditions thanks to the rain and light drizzle, I'm glad that I was still able to stay on my feet. It just goes to prove that nike boots are honestly not as durable as my favourite adidas and it's something that I'll consider as I search for a new pair tomorrow. However, I've subjected these nike boots to tough artifical turf at fico and turf city so it could be a contributing factor as well.
Some food for thought for the tournament? My students are surprised to see me back and they kept on asking me this question "I thought you say you are going back to study and not going back? How can you lie?'" They meant it as a joke but it just goes to show how much weight our words as teachers carry. Besides that, I mentioned a few words of 'shit' when I missed some simple chances and the students said I should be yellow-carded for that! Looks like I do need to reflect and act like a role model before I expect my students to do likewise.
Lastly, having referee a match between 203 and 1B (two classes I've taught), I noticed that the students tend to give up easily whenever they conceed the first goal. It's as if they have thrown in the towel and seemed contended to reduce the deficit. Credit to to them, it's not really a fair game if they're playing against older students or against us teachers. Especially in 1B's case, I told the class they have good players but they just lacked the teamwork and fighting spirit. When things go wrong, the first thing they do is to point fingers at each other.
There's so much more I've got to learn from these students and why we often to have ensure a high chance of succes during my PE lessons.
