Story by Grace Sim/Red Sports
The Nee Soon East GS grabs possession over the defence of the Yio Chu Kang GK. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Jurong East Sports Hall, Sunday, September 9, 2012 — Yio Chu Kang CSC were crowned the champions in the inaugural Singapore National Games netball tournament after a convincing 41-19 victory over Nee Soon East Team 1.
From the first whistle, Yio Chu Kang stamped their dominance on court as they successfully converted Nee Soon’s starting centre pass to pull ahead with two consecutive goals. Under immense pressure from Yio Chu Kang’s defence, Nee Soon struggled to settle into the game with early jitters and it took almost four minutes for them to get on the scoreboard. The goal gave Nee Soon a short confidence boost as they broke their opponent’s following centre pass to close in at 3-4 halfway into the quarter.
However, Yio Chu Kang soon proved to be the better team as they capitalized on turnovers and successfully connected well-timed passes to their agile shooters, Goal Shooter Diana Chew and Goal Attack Jocelyn Ng. Both continuously potted their shots with little effort. The first quarter ended with Yio Chu Kang leading 9-4.
The second quarter was a more even contest as Nee Soon matched Yio Chu Kang goal for goal in the initial minutes. Unfortunately, Nee Soon’s shooters started to have trouble finding the net and their 46% shooting accuracy paled in comparison to Yio Chu Kang’s 76%. By half time, the latter has pulled ahead to lead 19-10.
Yio Chu Kang tightened their defence further in the third quarter and Nee Soon once again failed to maintain possession of their own centre passes. Yio Chu Kang Goal Keeper and Captain Jacqueline Long was exceptionally effective at keeping the pressure on her opponents’ shots. Her lanky frame towered over the smaller Nee Soon shooters and she accounted for a number of rebounds. Yio Chu Kang raced away to close the quarter leading 30-14.
Desperate to regroup, Nee Soon made a couple of changes in the line up but failed to cover significant ground. The Yio Chu Kang defenders continued to exploit their height advantage over their counterparts and it was evident that the gap was too big for Nee Soon to handle as Yio Chu Kang closed out the match 41-19 winners.
The absence of a coach visibly affected the Nee Soon team.
Co-captain Stella Tan explained: “We don’t have somebody outside to actually look at the whole game flow so basically it’s the responsibility of the captain who is on court to tell our team mates what they have done wrong to improve the game play.
“They [Yio Chu Kang] are really very fast, we have tried whatever defence that we have tried (before), but they are just too fast. There are too many loopholes and openings that they can actually venture and go for the ball that we ourselves didn’t cover.”
Despite the loss, Tan enjoyed the experience of the Singapore National Games.
She stated: “The fun part is that we are from different clubs coming together to play as a team. We are actually quite proud (to make the finals) because we have never played with one and other before. It’s a totally different playing experience. We come together because we want to play.”
Yio Chu Kang captain, Jacqueline Long, was delighted with the victory. She exclaimed: “(I’m) very happy. This (event) is more glamorous and big scale as compared to the inter-con games.”
Long added: “If not for this competition, I would never have played with some of the players because we are all from different clubs. I really liked the atmosphere. This is a good chance to promote netball to the community. The event is very well organized from our perspective.”
Leave A Comment