Story and photos by REDintern Nyan Fu Keong aka “FuKiE”.
Toa Payoh Sports Hall, Saturday, July 12, 2008 – River Valley High School beat Yuan Ching Secondary 58-18 to capture the Under-17 Energizer Netball League crown last month.
For the netballers of River Valley High and Yuan Ching, it was case of déjàvu as both teams had faced off against each other before but this time, the battleground was Toa Payoh Sports Hall with the winners’ crown at stake. With supporters from both sides cheering on their respective teams, Yuan Ching were determined to avoid a repeat of their loss to River Valley in the earlier game.
A minute into the game, the Yuan Ching GS, Ong Su Ming, scored the first two points effortlessly. River Valley retaliated with two goals but soon found themselves shut out by Yuan Ching, with their GS Su Ming particularly aggressive and accurate in her shooting to boost her team’s morale.
Perhaps due to the pressure of the occasion, the River Valley shooters were missing their mark. It was not until halfway through the game that River Valley managed to pull up their socks to turn the tide of the game. They became more aggressive, coupled with tactical running to disorientate their opponents while finding open spots to receive passes. This spelt trouble for Yuan Ching as they were unable to keep up and block their opponents. By the end of the 1st quarter, River Valley led 13-7.
River Valley started the 2nd quarter with solid passes and good tactics, enabling them to score the first point of the quarter to make it 14-7. At 9 minutes and 20 seconds, it looked bleak for Yuan Ching as they only scored a meagre two points while River Valley added seven more points. River Valley used low passes to deceive Yuan Ching numerous times and that allowed them to extend their lead to 17 points at 28-11 by the half-time break.
River Valley started the 3rd quarter where they left off, scoring three more points within a few minutes. More mistakes by Yuan Ching provided more penalties to River Valley which were promptly converted into goals. With minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Yuan Ching attacked successfully to score three more points but it was not enough to put a significant dent in the River Valley lead. By the end of the third, River Valley led 42-14.
Struggling with fitness and defensively frail, the Yuan Ching resistance faded in the fourth and they failed to prevent history from repeating itself as River Valley added another 16 points to walk off 58-18 winners to be crowned champions of the U-17 Energizer Netball League.
hey fukie, why so many photos mia?