SA's Big Day

Hey children, think it'd be of great help to Shi An if we RSVP our attendance for his wedding day here. So here goes:

ATTENDING

1. Zhiwei
2. Kerong
3. Junqiang + Angie
4. Alex
5. Reubs(P.S even though im hosting i also want a seat!)
6. Jialiang aka JLO
7. Jackson
8. Hogan
9. Kelvin
10. Benjamin
11. Leslie + Eileen
12. Marcus
13. Weirong
14. KS + Amy
15. Sherman + Alicia
16. Seng

Total attendees to date: 20 (16 team members and 4 WAGs)

NOT ATTENDING*
1.

*Please indicate offical reason for absence.
See: Wedding Invite link

I'm Getting Married

Please confirm with me your attendance and whether you're bringing anyone. Thanks!!!

Players Leave-schedule (updated)

(names generally sorted chronologically according to date of leave/return)

• Rueben and Marcus : 31st May to 13 June Evening
  
• KR : 8th to 13th June
  
• Shi An : 4th June to 17th June
  
• Hogan : 11-14th and 16-21st June
  
• Sherman : 18th - 25th
  
• KS : 20th to 25th June + not able to make it for Sunday afternoon games from (8 June to 13 July 2-5pm)

all others who are out of action pls update here so it'll be easier to plan for matches

Commitment

Hi all,

let me share my two cents for this matter.

First of all, I understand that I have not been joining you guys for the matches on Sunday due to my work commitments. I am truly sorry about it and hope you guys understand.

Secondly, I may appear to be joking all the time and may appear not serious most of the time I might say. It is not to make light of the whole situation, but rather, I believe that the atmosphere plays a part as well. If we are happy, we will be enjoying right?

We have not been playing together for too long on the pitch despite us having played together for some years already. However, I would like to say that sometimes, it is not winning that matters. Yes, to win is an added bonus but I feel that enjoying and playing to our potential is another matter. It sure feels good to win but what do we get from winning? Nothing right? Perhaps we feel too pressurized to win and that is why we try to over-do things sometimes. It is good to have desire to win but let us work together as a team and improve together.

I agree with what Jun Qiang has written. We need to have a unified direction. I would prefer us to play well and lose rather than to play like school kids and come out with a win. If we could think about it this way. It is easier for people to see your strengths and weaknesses than yourself. No one likes to hear negative aspects about themselves but I feel we need to be professional about this. I have been criticized before, Jun Qiang has told me off before, KS has given me advice, even Weirong too. But never once I took it personally. I do not have to agree with what they say, but keeping an open mind and having some food for thought would not hurt a bit.

What I really want to say is, understand why others are giving you advice and why several issues are brought up for discussion. If you choose to take it personally, it would not benefit everyone. No one would want to target anyone. We are a team, so lets hear each other's voices and more forward. This is what commitment is about. We commit to the same cause and we commit to improving together.

Given the time constraints and work commitments, I can understand if our meet-up sessions are short or we do not have the energy to last the full match. This would no doubt affect our fitness. However, if we make the effort, we can do it. I am doing my own running every Tues and Thurs. I understand my own limitations. I cannot run 10km like Jun Qiang at one go. But what I am doing is 3km every running session, working on my breathing and acceleration. The idea is not to be super fit but rather, being in shape. I do not think our team would mind if we can give a good 25 mins in a match as compared to a lacklustre 90 mins of ball-watching and non-involvement.

It all boils down to being committed. I am happy with this team because we do not take criticisms negatively. However, our understanding as a team needs some working on. As of right now, everyone is doing their own thing on the pitch. While I agree that training sessions would benefit greatly, there is a need to keep in mind the attendance. I propose to having our tactics written on this blog, with illustrations. We can scan a copy of our tactics so everyone could see them even if we miss the training sessions. If we can picture what our specific role is, I think it will be easier to execute. Of course it takes time to draw out and coordinate, but this is one avenue we could explore.

We are still not tactically-sound. We cannot depend on having a manager to draw out plays or plan training sessions for us. So I think it would be good if we could sit down and analyse what each person's strengths and weaknesses are and we plan our tactics accordingly. We could have several simulations where we could adopt for various matches and to adapt during matches when things are not working out.

Decision-making is another key area which I feel needs to be addressed. Everyone makes mistakes. But what is important is to learn from it. We may make a bad pass, over-dribble or miss a clearance. I think it is ok as long if we learn from it and not repeat the same mistake. We should improve our decision-making by understanding each and everyone's role. I am not saying the same persons will get to shoot all the time or who must stay in our half all the time. But rather, knowing what the situation demands for it. KS goes up once in a while for corners and free kicks or even counter attacks. It is easy to be caught up in the situation and everyone charges forward wanting to score. But we cannot have 11 players in our opponent's half right? If KS goes up then someone must cover him and be prepared to reat in the even of a swift counter attack. We must be ready to chase, slow down the opposition or even foul when necessary.

Therefore our tactics are important. We could plan like having 6 men going up, positioning in specific areas during attacks and who will stay back during corners. Of course there can be times where roles are changed as long there is communication between the parties. We know that we can play soccer, individually that is. It will be a great achievement if we could gel as one. And to do that, we need to have the commitment of every player. So perhaps another session of meeting up and discussing setplays and tactics would benefit us more instead of our pre-match talk 30 seconds before kick-off.

Pardon this long post, I was unaware that you guys met so I am voicing out some thoughts which I have. By the way, I am in the midst of changing my work schedule so I can join the matches on Sunday. But this would also mean my Saturdays will be burnt as I have to work either Saturday or Sunday. So I would not be able to join the Saturday sessions from May onwards.

Hope no one is offended by my thoughts. Not targetting at anyone, just something general. I am committed to this team and I will continue to do my best. Anyway, I look forward to the next match! Cheers!

Regards,

Sherman

Directions

The visions of the team are shared by everyone who voiced out on the Sunday night team dinner/ meeting.

They can be summarised by 3 keys words : Win, Enjoy and Team


Nobody in the team likes losing. Everyone wants to feel like a winner. Even as semi-pro, even as a recreational player. The team is losing its unified goals and directions, losing focus and forgetting how to win.

We attributed the key to winning under 2 aspects : 1.Physical 2. Psychological

Physical:

1. Fitness - Do we play to keep fit or keep fit to play? My advice is.. if you keep yourself fit, you will find it easier to play. You can think better, react faster, stay longer and most imptly focus on how to play at an optimal level. Work commitments, school commitments, Spouse commitments. These are just excuses and you know it better than anyone else. I am not asking for everyone to be incredible fit, but it takes more than lasting a game by walking through, its abt being able to run with the ball and able to still react without being "Shacked, cannot think"

2. Training - Being a recreational team makes it more difficult to conduct proper training. Equipment wise we are still doing fine, but its the facilities (field) and time commitments that are problematic. Since we are not professionals, I don't pay u to attend trainings and games and we have our full time work, lets be realistic.

Suggestions being brought up include : 1. Meeting earlier before games for simple team warm up and trainings 2. Meeting on sat to play training match within our own team.

Areas we have to work on :

-Tactics : We can arrive 15 mins earlier before warm ups for changing of gears and for tactics briefing with the aid of a sketch board.

-Shooting : Proper shooting exercise can be done during warm ups ( not dead ball shooting)

-Set Pieces : Corner kicks and free kicks drill ( who, where and how to move and to familise with the taker's range) can also be done during warming up

-Off the ball movements (how to make off the ball running to draw defenders, to creat space for team mates to shoot or pass) Certain small details can be gone through and for individual to keep in mind the match.

-Crosses : Same as the set pieces drill, we have systematic crossing exercise (i.e 1-2 crosses, high/low sharp crosses)

-Passing : Long, short passing , 1 or 2 touches between 3 to 5 guys

-Close Control : can be honed with the passing drill

The whole of warming up can be done in 25 mins. - 5 mins for stretch and light jogs, 15 mins to do a combi of shooting, crossing, set pieces 5 mins for passing exercise.

we can re arrange the sequences for the warming up drills but tactics briefing is a must from now on since alot of us are lost about our game plan during the match.
So i suggest we arrive 30 to 45 mins earlier before the proper kick off.

To encourage everyone to keep on time: we will devise a pts awarding system for all time keepers
Failure to do so will result in a fine.


For the awarding system, I suggest a pt allocation system where a scorer gets 5 pts, an assist 5 pts, a clean sheet will have 5 pts for the Gk and defenders.

A foul throw will have 1 pt deducted, a yellow 2 pts and a red 5 pts off. Late comers will be fined and have 3 pts deducted.

We can work on this system and your suggestions are more than welcome but pls try to be constructive and more concrete with your ideas.( Try to jot them down so that i can organise it)

We can come up with monthly winners and annual winners and prizes such as a trophy, a voucher or even a football jersey can be awarded thru the contributions of a team fund.

Psychological-

To be able to win, mentality we must be prepared.

Even if we play unknown opponents every week, we must approach each game with our full concentration. Like I said, we only get to be footballers once every week, so we must be professional.

Full concentration meaning - to be constantly aware of the team's tactics, to be aware of team mates movement. A small slip can lead to conceding of a goal or a extra sprint or movement can result in a goal for us. So we must not switch off and let our minds wander.

Trust - This is a big word. But I am sure everyone understands its importance in any group, team or organisation. What we want is to be able to express ourselves , our skills without being reprimanded heavily if we screw it up. To be able to achieve that, I suggest the screwing party and the receiving party keep these few pts in mind :

1. Responsibility -

Picture this, you chase after the opponent long and hard and finally put in a smart tackle or timely interception in our own half. you move the ball quickly and made a beautiful long range pass to an unmarked teamate who can a quick pass to the strikers and counter hit the opponent. This team mate decide to take on the defence himself and being heavily hounded by 2 -3 defenders, loses the ball and from which the opposition counter us and scold.

You: feel Angry, wasted, disappointed and wary of passing the ball to that team mate in the future.

Your team mate: Disappointed with himself, feel blamed and unhappy with losing the ball.

My pt is simple. Nobody does anything stupid on purpose to make our team lose. I didn't try to mis control the ball or mis pass the ball to let our team lose.

What we can do in this situation is :

Trust and be responsible

Trust- learn to understand everyone has their own strength and weakness. I can't shoot but i can run at the defence. But if i am in a better position, you should at least let me try to take aim, who knows out of the 10 times, I can get it hard and strong shot in.

But keep in mind, trusting doesn't mean you don't support your team mates. When he is holding the ball, make spaces for him so that he can pass to you if need be, watch his back and be prepared to fill in his position until he moves back.

Most importantly, learn to understand the difficulties of your team mate and trust his intention. Instead of sniggering, despising him, learn to accept and try to cover his weakness for him. For he will do the same for you.

Responsible - Learn to accept that sometimes we can't improve on our weakness overnight. It takes time. If you are the one witnessing your teammate losing the ball away, you wun feel too happy about it as well. Therefore, learn to accept responsibilities. If you want to shoot, dribble.. be very sure not to screw it up. But if you screw it up, try to understand where the frustration of your team mates are coming from. If you get a negative response, be responsible, accept it, move forward and try to win the ball back or make better decisions next time. DO not be afraid to play confidently but remember we are a TEAM and we are responsible for another.

Keep this in mind, its part of the emotions in the game. At the end of the day, after the match, We are not only team mates., we are still FRIENDS.


Change of positions and substitutions

There was a mention of the desired change or adding of positions to many players. We can make experiments but not at a over haul extent. Making some changes and try outs during certain games or during training matches within ourselves can definitely be done.
Regarding the substitutions issue, I am sorry but in every game there are bound to be some stronger and weaker players. But it doesn't mean it stays the same everytime. Nor it means the so called weaker players cannot get to play or start. It all depends on the tactics, the turn out. Like I said before, no one is indispensible.


Therefore I urge everyone to try to understand and be patient. For now, the main aim of the team is to improve and move forward together.

Yours Truly,

Junqiang

A center back perspective and rant on the last match

well, forgive me for ranting, but there are certain issues that i think need raising, which all of us should take note of regarding the previous match...

overall, i think we did quite well, not conceding any goals... i was guilty of a couple of bloopers; think the backpass in the first half was bad, but jackson managed to redeem me.

At the end of the pitch, i think that we can't push all the blame towards the strikers for not scoring, some might argue that they are not clinical enough. But i would rather think that there is a problem with the team as well, when we are attacking. Defensively i think we learnt a lot since we first started off, but in terms of attacking as a unit we still have much to learn. When we attack, i realized we tend to just pass the ball forward and then stay in our original positions. This applies to all of us, me included. The reason why we need to move off the ball, is to provide more space for the ball, more options for the man on the ball. Soccer is not about the man on the ball, it's about the men off the ball. As a result, our strike unit, and our midfield unit and our defense units are just that units, not a team. Maybe what we should think about is not pushing the ball forward all the time, but rather moving off the ball and stroking the ball around, involving the defence and midfield and strikers in attacking.

The other rant that i have is about the time that we need to arrive for matches. I do understand that some of us do stay a distance away, and that some of our matches are early in the morning at 9am. but it gets kind of frustrating when i make an effort to arrive on time every match, only to see people turning up late, people need morning calls at 8am or 10am, and who can't be responsible enough to ask for morning calls. The last match was especially bad. We were supposed to be there at 1030 and when the referee blowed the whistle at 11am, we still didn't have enuff. I do know that we are a casual soccer team, sunday warriors if u like, group of friends who play recreationary, but there's a reason why we need to arrive early: to practise our set pieces, crosses, running off the ball and warming up, which I reckon we all dearly need. Not to say that we must always reach half an hour earlier, but trying to is better than not. What really pisses me off is the attitude that some of us have been showing towards punctuality which is quite bad.

Forgive me for ranting, but i think the team needs to talk this through a bit. As u all say, regardless of what happens we are a team, but if this is the attitude that some of us want to bring to the team, then are we still a team or just a bunch of rag-tag misfits?

On Foreign Imports

Hi children, first of all, good job thrashing my friends 6-3, heard that the team played pretty well. Anyway my vote for player of the year would be KS wheras the biggest blunder surely has to go to Reubs one way or another. We might want to have one more "most number of foul throws". I'm sure everyone knows who is most deserving of that honor hahaha..

Anyway the purpose of this post is to comment on the issue of guest players. It seems like there are imported players featuring in the starting eleven while our own players are sitting out on the bench. If our players are sitting out as a 'punishment' (whether for being late, for missing training, etc.), I think that's fine. But if the reason for playing an imported player in the starting eleven is simply because he appears to be a better player somehow, then I think something is very wrong here. We started out knowing the various strengths and weaknesses of each of our players. There is no reason why anyone should be penalised for their weaknesses now. If anytime a 'better' player appears for 1 or 2 weeks, then we throw our own player out, we might as well not have a team.

Imported players should only be called up in the event we don't have enough core players to fill up a decently-numbered team. And imported players should be turned away even if our own player commits his availablity only one day prior to the match. I see no problem with telling your imported friend you have to play him out because your own keeper decided that he can play at the last minute.

My point is, we are not professionals. We play for leisure, and obviously its more fun when everyone feels belonged to the team. Some say that the team spirit seems to be waning - if any one of the nineteen names listed on the right panel of this blog gets dropped simply because an impressive outsider comes along, what team spirit is there to speak of?

PS: Just some thoughts to share, feel free to drop me for inciting unrest within the 'team'. Haven't been turning up for the past few weeks, so I may be wrong about some 'observations'. Anyway, just a gentle reminder to all - don't let fancy new players distract you from the fact that we still have a core of players zealously waiting to sweat it out for the team week in week out.

Team Crest

Hi Guys,

I came up with a design for our team. I know it's a little rip off but.... Maybe we can improve on it. Any ideas?

Cheers,
SA