A Lion's Heart

by Phin Lee Yi Tian

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With no clue of what to expect about Kazakhstan, the entire squad prepared for the worst after hearing all stories from seniors who had braved the 30 hour trip to Taraz in 2008. Acting like ‘doomsday preppers’, the team lugged a huge stash of canned Tuna, cereals and muesli bars. What’s more, individuals packed in their own comfort food to go along. Just to name a few outstanding ones: pork floss, ‘Ikan bilis’, fresh chilli padi, canned curry chicken, etc. Life as it is, is packed with warm surprises.

To our astonishment and pure joy, we were welcomed warmly by the Almaty Resort, which would be our home in Kazakhstan for the next seven days. I should inform you that the resort overlooks the hilly mountains, sea of green trees, the air is fresh and crisp and when night falls you have a blanket of stars. Adding on, the facilities include an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, playground with trampoline, gym, free Wi-Fi at the lobby and Internet access in the rooms with Lan-cables. Every meal comes with dishes of appetizers, usually salads with cucumber, tomato, beetroot, peppers, and an extensive amount of the herb, dill (no complaints really, cause it promotes healing of skin and prevent infections). Need I say more about how awesome Kazakhstan has been treating us?

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Now I'm Stronger Than Yesterday

by Victoria McColl

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Seriously competing for a spot at the Rugby World Cup was not something that I had planned to do in the first few months of returning back to Singapore from Canada. Never would I have imagined myself training, playing and travelling with a team of highly dedicated, motivated, and fun-loving Singaporean women to compete at the highest level that Singapore Women's Rugby has ever been at - Division 1.

The experience of being in Kazakhstan with the team was phenomenal. When I was picked to go to Kazakhstan with the national team, I was excited and nervous at the same time. As a rookie on the team, I was excited to be a part of this team of amazing girls and also worried that I would not be able to play at the standard that some of my seniors were playing at. Training with the team in Singapore showed me how dedicated my teammates were to putting in the effort and work on and off the field to ensure that we would be at our best when we faced our competition in Kazakhstan. What inspired me most was the strong belief that our coach, Danny Tauroa, and seniors had for our team to make a big impact in Kazakhstan – to not come home empty handed. Eventually, my confidence in myself was built up because I knew that I had a team that supported me and that we were aiming towards the same goal.

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We're in this TOGETHER

by Tan Hui Juan

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Last Thursday, 16 of us checked into ITE East College for a 4-day-3-night camp. The facilities were excellent and the dormitory was comfortable to our liking. The field and swimming pool were just a stone throw’s distance away. Each room was four-bedded, (different from the normal hotel stay that has only two to a room) which allowed more interaction to take place, making it seems like a huge family staying together in an apartment. We spent heaps of time together, which contributed to our team bonding. Logistics and administration were well taken care of. There was nothing on our minds but to focus on playing good rugby. The television was barely switched on and we practically did “eat, sleep, drink” R.U.G.B.Y over the last weekend.

Day 1: We did a light training in the morning followed by lunch. Training review was done before we headed for the afternoon training. At night, we had team meeting and goal setting for the first ever Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) Women’s International 7s competition.

Day 2: We saw ourselves being top of the pool after defeating Indonesia and Malaysia with a convincing win. Back to our camp, we did game reviews and played some team bonding games. Now I know who does not eat bananas, loves to drink bandung, never fails to use Listerine to rinse her mouth, obsessed with cupcakes, self-proclaim princess who does facial, manicures, pedicures… And not forgetting that some of us have really bad memory and lousy acting skills =P.

Day 3: Our main objective was to win the semi-finals match against Hong Kong which would eventually bring us straight to the finals. The most recent tournament against them was at 2010 Jonah Jones’s final; we drew with them in full time but lost to them during extra time. On the 6th November 2010, Singapore Women’s Rugby team re-wrote history! The semi-final match was indeed a close fight and it was a draw at the final whistle. The exact scenario at Jonah Jones; the Singapore team kicked-off to Hong Kong at extra time. 

However, for this game it was the Singapore team that prevailed. The last and final whistle was blown and all our players ran onto the field to celebrate our win. Yes, it was the moment of joy and tears after such a long time… (Opps, I shall not disclose who but someone was caught in tears ^.^)

The team was in high-spirits and was looking forward to a very much anticipated final match against Japan. After an intense and exhilarating game, Japan won with a score of 14-0. Even though we lost, I can proudly say that each and every one of us gave our all and fought till the very last second. To me, it was a truly a great feeling to be able to play on our home ground with our supporters cheering us on. I’m indeed honored to have such opportunity.

With respect to the recent international competitions such as Jonah Jones 7s, Borneo 7s, SCC 7s, the team is definitely gearing up if not peaking at this stage. I can feel that the team’s confidence and morale is superb.

With just less than a week’s time before we fly up to Guangzhou for the Asian Games 2010, I would like to thank all the people whom have provided continuous support towards women’s rugby.

To the team: I know it is going to be a tough period for all the students with exams and working adults rushing down for training after work. Remember that we are in this together! Let’s go out there, prove our worth and show them what we Singaporeans are capable of. Let’s finish this 7s season with a BANG!!

B.E.L.I.E.V.E.

RarrrrRaaarrr… …

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Rookie Revelations

by Christabelle Lim

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Hello to you. Let me introduce myself. I am Christabelle, rookie to the NW7s team (with a horrifying rookie performance i overheard), trying to revive this dormant column with my explosive wit and witty humour. Expect no technical rugby stuff because i believe (rarrr) with all our skill reviews and wallies up in Borneo the last thing you'd want to read on a player's column would be technical skills.

12 of us (missing some of our beloved senior players) went up to Kota Kinabalu from 28th oct to 1st nov for the Asia Pacific Women's 7s, for three days of games against teams from Asia and Oceania (yes freaking big Islanders). We knew we had a mission to accomplish, and big meats to hit.

Reaching the stadium grounds, I could see where this was leading up to, our moment on the field on game day, but first we had a training to conquer in the squeeze-water-out-of-clothes rain. The dampening rain did nothing to our spirits, as we were all focused in training, but one important point i learnt was that intensity of training must be worked from within, and not only when we are pushed to do so.

I always liked rollercoasters, but such things are no good when it comes to games. We were rollercoastering our way through the first day of the tournament, earning us many 'talks of the day', and we all needed a good talking-to at night. Just like qigong, what we needed to do next was to channel all our energies and communication towards a same platform, at the same time/level/intensity and that was a major learning point number 2 for the team.

Now as a rookie, is it not so much the skill and experience that you have to match up to because you continually improve on it, but rather your mental capabilities. People always say senior players are 'hardened' by experiences, but I think that does not mean if you are a junior player you are allowed to be 'soft'; you just have to be as mentally strong as any other player, because i believe (rarr) a team IS as strong as its weaker player.

Coming out of a not-so-good day at the tournament was a test of the mental prowess of the team and it was time to show the grit and character of the team on day 2. I think we did pretty well and there were more ups than downs to our games, more sparks than wallies. If there were any punters at women's rugby games, i am sure they'd have hated us.

To the plate final it was and after all the awesome defending and defences we lay siege on, after 14 mins of poor visibility due to the rain and shifting contact lenses, in the words of the Cook Island captain: only one team can come away victorious (okay roughly the idea), and so we went away with a hint of sadness but heads held high and desire higher.

Looking back at the tournament and our games, 14 minutes is really not a lot, the queue from koi takes way longer. Yet we put our hearts and bodies on the line, stamp our arrival as a team and live out our dreams in those 14 mins. And i believe we can and will keep fighting for those 14 minutes till we get to fight for 20 minutes of our lives.

I was reading my journal for inspiration (not much) and day 3 wrote "I can't write too much cos i'm drunk!" (no i wasn't but anyhow,) to my dear teammates: I CANNOT DRINK thankyouverymuch.

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