VOLLEYBALL
North Zone ‘C’ Division Boys Final
Xinmin Sec vs Yishun Town Sec
Thursday, 15 February 2007, Yio Chu Kang Sports Hall
Text by Coach Dick Yip. Pictures by Leslie Tan.
Xinmin Sec’s blocker Dwayne Ng in action against Yishun Town Sec in the North Zone Final. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Xinmin Secondary continued their dominance of the North Zone volleyball scene when they defeated Yishun Town Secondary 25-13, 25-17 to win the ‘C’ Division zone title. Xinmin Sec have appeared in every North Zone ‘C’ Division final since 1995, winning every final except in ’96. This makes it a 13-year streak the school is immensely proud of.
Backed by a large, noisy and enthusiastic crowd of fellow Xinmin schoolmates, the ‘C’ boys wasted no time in stamping their authority on the court. They took an early lead largely through the better all-round skills of their players. With more accurate serving, coupled with sharper attacks and sound defence, they attacked relentlessly to prevent their rivals from settling down. Not surprisingly, Xinmin wrapped up the first set 25-13 quickly and efficiently.
In the 2nd set, the Xinmin boys maintained the same tempo using similar tactics. However, Yishun Town Sec fought back doggedly while finding defensive gaps in Xinmin’s defence to keep the score close.
With the score in Xinmin’s favour at 18-13, Xinmin’s no.18, Sean Tan hit a powerful spike which was somehow saved by Yishun Town’s libero, no. 4 Esmond, which boosted his team. Yishun Town went on to get a psychologically important point to bring the score to 18-14.
Yishun Town’s no. 9 Isaac executes a spike against Xinmin Sec. (Photo © Les Tan/Red Sports)
Sensing that momentum was swinging against them, the experienced Xinmin bench called a timeout to prevent the game from going into an unwanted, nervy rubber set. That timely timeout changed the resulting play. Suddenly, the Xinmin players were transformed. They served better, defended well and scored freely with well placed spikes to finish off the set at 25-17 and wrap up the North Zone ‘C’ Boys title for their school.
The spirited Yishun Town Sec boys also qualify for the National Schools Volleyball Championships by finishing 2nd and will live to fight another day. Punggol Sec and Ang Mo Kio Sec came in 3rd and 4th respectively in this division to also qualify for the Nationals.
In the Girls’ ‘C’ Division, Presbyterian High came in 1st in the zone, followed by Chung Cheng High (Yishun), Xinmin Sec and Sembawang Sec. All 4 schools qualify for the Nationals.
Xinmin Secondary ‘C’ Division team members are:
#4-Derek Shia
#5-Samuel Teo
#8-Andy Koh (Captain)
#9-Gilbert Toh
#10-Norhaiza
#11-Dwayne Ng
#13-Deepak Rai
YTS #4 – esmond
YTS #9 – issac
hope you dont mind for this super late one.
YTS #4 – esmond
YTS #9 – issac
[…] You can read the story of their victory by clicking here. […]
Dear unknown,
Thanks for the comments,,,,gives me a chance to help you and others understand a few things. One purpose of our site is to generate more interest and publicity in the school sports scene.To do that well, we need to have captivating photos and an equally captivating article. The way we write, the words we use, the highlights we have chosen are part and parcel of that bigger purpose.
It is not a judgement by the high court nor are we conducting a post-mortem here. I’m certain your teachers and coaches will have a proper post match post-mortem with all team members, where, whether you have won or lost, good play will be praised, major mistakes pointed out, and those with poor attitude or disipline warned or punished.
But that is not our area.
Remember, we are like a news service. We serve the larger world out there. We cannot write just to serve the individual opinions of different individuals in a team !
Can you imagine every report ending like this: A beat B 3-0, C beat D 2-1,…….etc
And no other details because We at Redsports are afraid that if we highlight some good play ( you will say unfair), we highlight bad play ( unfair ) and if we put all 12 names of players down and say all are excellent as you hinted
(You will say very good, that’s fair )..
To sum up, the points you brought up are meant for your team’s private post mortem and should not be voiced out in open forum here.
It has nothing to do with how we should write.
Hi unknown.
Yes, that is true. In writing match reports, we sometimes have to decide what key moments stand out in our minds. It’s not our intention to say that some players are more important than others. Teamwork is key in doing well in volleyball and so your team has proven by winning the North Zone ‘C’ Division title.
Thanks for letting us know how you feel.
I don’t think its fair just to credit the three players, I mean everyone on the court did well. A team is a team and I think everyone in the team deserves to be praised, at least. I just felt it isn’t right to write the match report this way. Well, thats my opinion.
The Red Sports team of Les and the Coach would like to thanks the Xinmin C boys for their cooperation in providing additional information to make the report as full as possible. 🙂
Hey les!!
I send a email to you already!!
btw, Xinmin C boys!!!Go all the way and win the nationals!!!We can do it!!If we believe we can do it, den we confirm will win!!We must be positive!!!
Hi Andy,
Yes, just email it to me. Thanks.
Les
hi, I am the captain for Xinmin C boys.Do u need the team list now?I can give u now.
Hi Malcolm !
For someone so young, YOU truly amaze me with your candour, strong spirit and most of all, your foresight ! It is also our fervent hope that, not only the NSAs but anyone who cares about Singapore sports ,regularly visit our site to see, read, engage and understand the vast amount of talent in the schools, and their desires, hopes and dreams for the future.
We’ll do our best for you and for the future of S’pore sports.
Thanks for the compliments too.
Coach Dick Yip
i will provide u with the team list tonight.thanks
well.keep up the good work.i think with this website,the standard of our national team for every sports will rise due to the encouraging words of ur website.i am the setter and vice captain.thanks to my set,sean and dwayne and spike well,which leads to our victory!(:thanks!(:
Hello
I am from xinmin, no. 8. Do u want my team team list?I can provide u if u want. So the whole Xinmin C boys team can share the glory, instead of pointing out peoples.Anyway, the whole main 6 players had done well in winning the Champion of North Zone.I hope there will be more pictures posted into the blog.
((=
This is a message for both Yishun Town and Xinmin Sec:
If you provide me your team list, I’ll put it up as part of this match report so that it will be captured forever.
🙂
Hi Malcolm,
Thanks for your encouraging post. This site is set up for school athletes and we hope to keep doing this as long as we can. Your support for this site will be important 😉
Are you the vice-captain?
Congratulations on winning the title.
les
editor and photographer
The technical comments come courtesy of Coach Dick Yip, who has decades of experience as a PE specialist. So he knows what he’s talking about. I just take pictures 🙂
thanks for having good comments about our volleyball skills and stuffs.we will continue to work hard and striving for champions in the nationals!thanks for being there to taking pics and then post about our good skills.we appreciate that!
Based on what I’ve seen, the standard of volleyball played at the zone FINALS is pretty high. Xinmin’s domination at the B and C level,over the last decade ,remains an inviting, exciting
challenge for all volleyball playing schools.
CONGRATULATIONS……..Xinmin Sec !
Coach Dick Yip