“Guang Hao taught all of us about resilience.” – An interview with the St Andrew’s Junior College footballers (Part 5)

Interview by Les Tan

SAJC football team

The SAJC football team (from left to right): (back row)… (front row)… (please help me out with names in the comments section. thanks) (Photo courtesy of the SAJC football team)

Earlier this year, the St. Andrew’s Junior College football team went unbeaten all the way to the semi-final of the A Division Football Championships before they lost to Meridian Junior College in a penalty shootout.

Remarkably, the SAJC team only had three players with B Division experience, yet they showed an ability to play intelligent, beautiful, passing football which warmed the heart of neutral fans.

In 2006, SAJC made it to the semi-finals and lost 0-2 to Victoria Junior College. In 2007, SAJC made it to the semi-finals again, this time meeting MJC. A 0-0 stalemate at the end of regulation time brought on the dreaded penalty kicks and MJC prevailed 4-3.

SAJC had their hearts broken again this year in 2008 when, after outplaying MJC to lead 2-0 in the semi-final, MJC came back to equalise and force extra-time. MJC’s equalising goal was a controversial penalty two minutes from the end of regulation time.

The game then went into penalty kicks with no further goals in extra-time and MJC prevailed 2-1 in penalties for a 4-3 overall win.

The SAJC squad is the only team that went through the preliminary rounds unbeaten in the 2008 A Division Championship season. The only game they lost over 90 minutes was the 0-1 defeat to Anglo-Chinese Junior College in the 3rd/4th placing game.

The SAJC team shows that Singapore does have football talent but most of them don’t go on to play for Singapore in age-group or the full national team. This team has shown a brand of football that would stir hearts and ignite passion, such is their raw but obvious talents. If they played for Singapore, there would be long lines for tickets to watch them.

Red Sports caught up with coach and teacher-in-charge Roland Lee.

SAJC football team

Augustus Set (second from left), or “Gus”, scored the first goal in the semi-final against MJC with a header off a well-worked corner set piece. He showed his ability to take on players and direct play for his team. (Photo Â© Les Tan/Red Sports)

Red Sports: Augustus Set showed some outstanding skill. Where did you guys find Augustus Set?

Roland Lee: Augustus Set is a returning Singaporean. His family moved to Texas due to work commitments when Augustus was in primary school. In late 2006, the family returned to Singapore and Augustus sat for the MOE SPERS Exams (Entrance Exams) and passed it and came to SAJC, which he listed as his first-choice school. His entire family is staunch Christians, hence, their first choice is for a mission college.??

RS: You guys play beautiful football. Is that the philosophy of the SAJC team? To play a passing game on the ground?

RL: We did a SWOT Analysis (Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat) of our team and playing the ball on the ground was the only way we should play because our players are all so small-sized. There is no way we could have played the long-ball system which suit different teams. All teams do try to play to their strengths.

RS: What was the highlight of the season for you?

RL: Highlight of the season for me was to see Guang Hao take to the field in the last group match against RJC. He is the best goalkeeper I have ever had and despite that he continues to work so hard to improve his game. It was such a cruel blow when he ruptured his ACL in a friendly match against the MOE team on Feb 9th.

Having a 100% tear of the ACL 6 weeks before the tournament surely would mean the end of the tournament for him. Everyone was consoling him but his attitude was just different. He did his own internet research and learned of isolated precedence where one could still play with proper strapping and sufficient building up of his thigh muscles.

While everyone was trying to console Guang Hao, he merely told everyone not to console him because he was still going to play in the A Division.??Amazingly, after a month, both the Changi General Hospital surgeon and physio suggested he has improved enough and stood a chance to play. Just before the tournament, the St. Andrew's Village physio gave him extensive tests and cleared him to play, and he was absolutely overjoyed.

Horror of all horrors when in the last training before the match he was supposed to start, his knee gave way again, and everyone feared the worse. Still, he would not give up and continued to work on rehabilitation and yet he suffered one more setback where the knee gave way. However, Guang Hao just would not give up and he was finally fielded on May 9th against RJC and he kept a clean sheet while playing with a ruptured ACL. Everyone just moved to tears watching him take to the field. Many of his school-mates also came especially just to support him and he did everyone proud.

After coming through the RJC match, he was fielded in the Semi-Final and I think everyone saw his caliber. The one-handed full-stretch save from Mahdi's close-range volley is one of the best saves I have seen in the A Division.

I think Guang Hao taught all of us in SAJC Soccer, and taught me especially, about resilience. No matter what hard knocks one faces, no matter what adversity is thrown at us, never give up, keep believing and keep working hard, and the rewards may just come.??Really, for me, seeing Guang Hao take to the field is the highlight of this season.

?Working with these players is not just a privilege, it is an honour. I am so blessed to have a group of players who are so passionate and driven, who care so much for the school and for each other. Many of them are newcomers to the game but they pick it up so fast because everybody is always helping each other on and off the field. This is collaborative learning.

I don't really consider myself as the coach, I am just their facilitator. They are also amongst the nicest people I have known.??I think their maturity is also shown in the way they handled the semi-final defeat. They were absolutely devastated in not being able to bring the school to the final, which is what they dreamed of day and night.

Despite their disappointment at conceding the equaliser with only 4 minutes remaining, and losing the semi-final on penalties for the second year running, they were still able to quickly compose themselves and congratulate the Meridian players. ?In my opinion, perhaps these students have gained more than they lost.