[ DISCLAIMER: the following blog entry should be skipped if you are adverse to soccer or ego trips, or both. Or if you’re pregnant. (I’ve no idea why I added that last bit, disclaimers always have that *shrug*) ]

Oh yeah. There’re a some things I left out just now. We lost one of the games because Detong scored an own goal in a comical fashion. It wasn’t really his fault as his pass was supposed to reach James, who was the goalie at that time. It was just that at the moment that James was supposed to trap the ball, his foot got entangled in the folds of the net! Astonishing. Stupid. Hilarious. Even though we lost that game, we all couldn’t stop laughing =D

When we were on the sidelines Detong, James and I were sitting down and chatting about the Good Old Days. We found it hard to believe that it’s been 7 or 8 years since we first kicked ball together. It’s like, wow. And we all agreed that if it wasn’t for soccer, we’d all have lost contact by now. So, thank you, Ball, for bringing the few of us together in a lifetime of friendship. Shit I can’t believe it’s been so many years already.

Like I said before, it’s my dream to get into the NUS team, and James has been really supportive. A week ago he told me I was almost there. Today he said I stood a very good chance of getting in because the NUS coach was also his NJ coach and he would like my style of playing. Wow. I mean, you can’t imagine how encouraging it is lah. The past two months I’ve been working really hard on my game - going for jogs, asking advice from Weilin and James, secret training, evolving my mentality, studying tactics from Winning Eleven and manga – and it is deeply satisfying to see some marked improvement in my own performance as well as receiving some affirmation from someone who has “been there, done that”. James has played at JC level so I trust his judgement.

I’ve never felt fitter in my life. It used to be that if I went up to support the attack then run back to defend a few times, I’d be out of breath quickly. Now I can do it for almost the entire match without needing to catch my breath. It feels amazing I tell you. Weilin used to kb me about giving up when the guy went past me. After some thinking, I made a promise to myself not to let it happen again. It was hard to adjust the first few times, because it’s become a habit, but I’d always end up kicking myself for breaking my own pledge. Now I’ve discovered that actually sometimes even if it’s a lost cause, even if I can’t get there in time to block the shot, there’s still a small chance the guy might be ruffled by the pressure. This feels like how I defended in Sec 1 and 2. Whoa. It’s been so long since I recaptured the form of those yesteryears. I’ve been making more blocks and last ditch tackles. I feel so well balanced when I’m marking a dribble. Everything just feels so… right.

I’ve decided to quit my midfield “aspirations” nonsense and concentrate on being a good centre-back. We should specialize in the things we are good at, right? I may not be the best in the business in individual defending but I have yet to meet anyone who’s better at organizing a defense. That’s the only statement I can boldly make without any fear of dispute when it comes to soccer.

Reality check: let’s not forget that the Arts Fac alone has a whopping 1600 seats. Assuming a male to female ratio of 2:3, and that 10% of the guys want to join soccer, that’s 64 people to compete with in Arts alone. That’s if they even hold open trials.

There’s no way I can be happy at my current level. I have to keep improving.