Interview by Les Tan/Red Sports
Calvin Chia, a point guard of the Hwa Chong Institution basketball team, is one of three players selected for the adidas Nations basketball camp in Shanghai from May 18 to 24. He will train with some of the best basketball talent in Asia and get to meet coaches and players from the American National Basketball Association. Red Sports caught up with him to find out more about him.
Red Sports: Tell me about yourself.
Calvin: I hate losing. Since I started playing competitively at the age of 10 by representing Chua Chu Kang Primary, I have been bringing the same attitude to every game. It makes me work harder too. Playing the point also makes me more aware of the game and the roles of every player.
How do you feel about being selected for the camp?
I am extremely honoured and excited to be able to go for the camp. It will be a real eye-opener for me as I match up with the best in Asia. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I had to grab with both hands.
Did you expect to be chosen?
No. I thought that the focus would be on players that scored the most. Being a point guard, i was just intent on passing the ball well and helping the national u-18 team win the game.
How do you find the national U18 team?
We are well-drilled and clear about the individual roles that we play in this team. All credit to our coach Mr Neo who moulded us into the team that we are. In addition, our team performed credibly in the recently-concluded South East Asia Basketball Association (SEABA) championship.
How did you find the selection match between the national U18 team and adidas team?
It was a very competitive match with players wanting to prove a point. The adidas team put up a stiff resistance till the end and in all, it was a great match for fans and neutrals.
How are you preparing for the trip?
I have not done any special preparations. Trainings continue as usual and I still shoot my quota of balls per week. I believe that the preparations for A Division and SEABA are suitable for the adidas camp. Maybe the only preparation I would do is the mental aspect, to adapt to the standard of the camp.
What are your aspirations for the trip?
I will like to learn from Asia’s best and compete with them at the highest level, thereby disproving the theory that the size of Singaporeans is a barrier to sporting success. I am looking forward to becoming a better all-round player when I return.
How are you coping with your schoolwork?
I missed quite a few lessons due to A Division and SEABA. Now I will miss a whole week of school due to this camp and the Block Test is just around the corner. Fortunately, my teachers have been very supportive and I am trying to catch up on lessons during the weekends by self-studying. I think I am still coping quite well.
Any advice for aspiring young players?
Work hard, have confidence.
im not speaking in terms of bball here, since i dont know much about that.
‘ve known calvin since quite a long time ago, and the truth is he IS getting more and more full of himself.
though it’s of course backed by his improvement in his bball skills. that, i must agree. and im really proud of him for whatever he’s achieved until today.
he’s probably so confident (and too much of it) because he’s never really been beaten before, as in, not in basketball terms. his bball career has been too smooth-sailing, and maybe TOO well for him.
sometimes it’s necessay to lower your head, be humble, and learn, calvin.
you’re losing alot of people around you, people who’re your friends and who love you, whether you realised or not.
in any case, still very proud of you(:
agreed, danny, TRUTH that potshot at calvin’s looks was just low.
He’s not bad looking himself anyway.
TRUTH,
I don’t think there’s a need for you to take a shot at Calvin with regards to looks, which is irrelevant to whatever everyone’s talking about here.
Process = developing players, game experience etc.
But I guess you can get away with saying what you want behind your online facade.
Greg, thx for being so objective and standing up for Calvin, who I think is really misunderstood by people who don’t know him and mistake his confidence for arrogance. Calvin doesn’t strut around or even imply that he thinks he’s superior or anything.
And there’s nothing wrong with Calvin trying to be like Michael Wong, MW is everyone’s idol after all ^^ Him wanting to learn from him is totally different from acting like he IS as good as MW.
Hey TRUTH? I write without regards to basketball issues and with respect to your opinions regarding Calvin.
Calvin is player who vys away from scoring and goes for good passes and tries his best to play as a team player. I believe little people would have fierce opposition to that statement. His games this season have not been high-scoring, and he scored around 4 pts for the Asian U-18 trial(please correct me if i’m wrong), yet he got selected. In relation to Michael Wong, who appears to always have high-scoring games( he broke HC record of scoring 13 three-pointers) , I do believe their playing style is quite far apart. Also, Its his confidence that makes Calvin appear arrogant, and he is not trying to be like Michael Wong. Michael Wong may just a label which you slap onto Calvin because Calvin’s gotten all the media attention.
So next time, TRUTH, give constructive criticsm which would help Calvin like Josh’s post, rather than flaming him without proper ettiqute. And do state your name next time if you believe you have the capacity to criticize people, its just manners.
Cheers~
To those who say that Malaysia trains a lot harder then Singapore, and that their setup and system is more advanced an better – i agree , But can i tell you something – this has been the case for the last ten to 15 years – the truth is SINGAPORE in any age group(be it U15,U18,U21 and National) has never ever lost to MALAYSIA by this amt of points so pls do not justify the fact that malaysia is really good
this is w/o a doubt an very humiliating to lose to our arch rival malaysia by so many points. 2 things players sacked either change or coach must be changed..
anyway danny since you talking about process- WHAT PROCESS?
you really think the process is right?
training twice a week for a NATIONAL U18 team
thing is malaysia and singapore rivalry go a long way in all sports but in basketball
CAT HIGH bring the best malaysians give them great education here and make them better players on top send malasians to the ADDIDAS camp meant for young singaporeans so that they can see what intl basketball is like – so who are we helping i wonder?
As for Calvin – he really behave as if he is Mike Wong , sorry leh you are no where as close to him in terms of skill humility and even looks
so dun think you are the next MW cos you are at this moment div 4 material if MW is premier league material
so please if you can learn from him as you have only a few more months in HCI – please learn as much as you can ……
we did our best and achieved most of our goals for our games. results matter to you’ll in this world, as most things do, but for us, the process mattered more. 🙂
they were not trying… as in they were not playing to the best of their potential…anyway i realli understand dat e spore team do nt have enuff training cos our country realli doesn seem to have much focus on bball compared to other sports such as soccer which is improving alot
i think we may not have lost so badly if we had trained more. its a pity that the u18 trains only twice a week.
Indeed we’ve lost as we were not well-prepared enough mentally, physically or technically, but we set realistic goals and gave our best through the whole tournament . We did achieve most of the goals, and i think we really did reasonably well.
Cheers =D
michael wong is a different story
i think your malaysian friends communicated wrongly to you is it?
the msia u18 team was really good, and its just too bad that singapore education allows our national players to train so few times a week while the msia papers say the national u18 players trained 11 times a week for 6 months for the SEABA competition.
anyway, all the best to calvin for his Bukit Timah Derby tomorrow against NJC.
I LOVE YOU CALVIN BARNEY!
i agree with josh about the jumpshot though, to date i haven’t seen calvin nail one. his fancy layups are really something though.
Well what do you expect him to say in an interview, “we played shitty”? In any case just because they lost doesn’t mean they didn’t perform well, maybe they just are weaker. Let’s remember that teams abroad usually train a lot more than the singapore teams do.
i agree wif josh…totally owned in SEABA…and i heard from my frens in m’sia dat the m’sia team were not even trying
Seriuosly no disrespct to calvin – he has been playing aound the best – did not see him winning anything when he was at RV- and no was was he as good as mike wong when mike was in HCJC – in order for you to improve you got to work on your JUMP SHOT my fren – cos you and i know you dun have one – Intl players will easily fig out that you are some one that keeps on driving right and they will soon force you do drive left – then what will you do ?
you do have great potential – no doubt but you come across as very arrogant and that will bring you down when your team needs you most – by the way you guys performed really badly in the SEABA championship by losing to malaysia by 60+ points – no other u 18 team has ever had that kind of result so i dun understand how you can say that it was a good performance
Calvin mascherano! hahahaha you know who i am i bet! 🙂
HAHAHAHA damn proud of you calvin chia
captum calvin ironman outing now
love you calvin