RAIN UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB

Thursday, September 28, 2006

[Maintaining Training Standards]

While I applaud the friends who had come by to our weekly Saturday soccer sessions with vast improvements on our overall friendly approached towards the game, in mitigating time loss for those who may not be able to turn up punctually and with the overwhelming responses that we have had each week, I will proceed to regulate our warm-ups punctually without waiting for the rest, follow-up with playing the 11 a-side immediately.

The intentions is to give the consistent regular team players more playing time to play together as a team to inculcate better teamwork and technical discipline. We would thus discuss and rectify the areas of weaknesses to work on after each match. This I hope can help us to inject more strengths into building the team as well as to be ready prepare for friendly matches.

As for the younger kids, I may organise an earlier time slot for them to train as well. These would also give the boys a fair bit of time to play football among their own age-group and to train well in preparations for their tournaments. The junior boys have led good exemplary with their good discipline and teamwork since they started. They have been cultivated to understand the importance of doing good warm-ups before play and have shown good abilities in exercising their own initiative to conduct their own warm-up as a team. This have brought them far in 2 tournaments that they have participated in and I am positive that they can only get better.

The junior boys have been playing together as a team with no "star" status in them. They have been a very discipline lot. They are aware of discipline issues like vulgarities, rough tackles, sitting in the middle of field, racism, good gamesmanship, being respectful, etc...........and they are only under 10 years of age. They have never once been heard blaming fellow players when they are losing. It has been a joy and I am thankful to their supportive parents who understands what football and its education is all about.

Having gone through good lessons learnt from the Old Boys' Association match, the Rain United players who had played in that game had shown good fighting spirits. What we found lacking were the team co-ordinations, fitness, cohesion and technical discipline (not playing according to instructions). I hope to give the OBA team a better match in November.

The same team of players will remain as long as they tell themselves that they would want to and are eager to prove they can play and train as a team. Likewise, new players will be blend in if they are seen to exercise the same interest. There are no guarantee slots. Rain United hope to have a good mixed balance of both youths and veterans for the matches that will be arranged.

Nevertheless, last Saturday, it was nice to welcome Max back from his overseas holidays and Shaun, who had gone on 3 months absence. Both players appeared to have lost a bit of their football touch but I was glad that they were here for being themselves. During the next couple of weeks, I will put the set of consistent players in one team and will go through trials and errors to put together the first team for the forthcoming friendlies. Randy, who had had the privileged of man-marked the inspiration Leong Kok Fann in the OBA game again has to prove his worth in his fitness and speed. He was being mesmerized by Kok Fann's football abilities throughout that game. In my opinion, I hope Randy would take it as an honour and not horror to learn from it. I have also invited Mr Chua (Randy's dad) to come by and give the son the "push".

To sum it up, it was also nice that I have some veterans who had came forward with serious views and suggestions to discuss how we can take the team one step forward with the right players and commitments to stipulate Rain United. Apart from their busy work schedules, they have made sacrafices to arrange meetings. I certainly hope we can continue to promote more goodwill through integrated voices.

Thursday, September 28, 2006 Go For The GOAL!!!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

[ Good Examples To Learn ]

We gathered together and headed to the Bukit Timah Pitch for our friendly with the Old Boy's Association on 10th September. It was pouring heavily but nevertheless the game went on after 15 minutes delayed. Despite the rain, the kids, parents and some injured players came by to join in the fun. While on the way, I had told Ricky that we would be consider lucky if we do not lose by more than 5 goals and would be more than glad if we can score one. As expected, we lost by 5-1. The half-time score was 4-1. The game was played with the highest level of good spirit. We had more than one lessons to learn from the game.

Chris contacted me in the night and had thanked me for the game. I thanked him for sparing us with a heavy defeat. The Old Boy's had played their back-line with a combine aged of more than 200 years old who were not their regular back four. Instead, they had fielded their defenders as midfields and striker. Evidently, it shows for the number of misses it shows in their off target shooting. Nelson saves us from a heavy defeat too. They would have easily converted at least a dozen had it not been for their poor finishing. Most of the players were in their late forties and had only a NFA player in a young boy at 16 who was working the ball in the middle. I had told Chris that we had more than one lessons learnt today. He had told his team not to underestimate us. They had set their own standards with their discipline and dedications. The players were ready to take on any positions and play their best. I told Chris that it was probably because of their good discipline that they have gained recognitions and respects regionally through their self-respect.

Chris commented that Rain United has the foundation that can play decent football. He had came by to see us in training and knowing that I am doing a re-structuring, we lacked match fitness, team coordination and match play. Chris also applauded the team's discipline. There were special mentioned on our goalkeeper Nelson, Professor Yu and Ricky. He was also impressed with Dr DongRui for his tireless display. He gave credit to the team's fighting spirit though we were outclassed. Chris knew we could run. They had played a short passing game and had kept possession of the ball with 2 players supporting the player with the ball each time he holds it.

Chris has invited us for a re-match with his firsts 11 which is to be held at the SJI field when maintainance is done. I told him to give me more time. I had noted our mistakes and told Chris to allow us to work on it. I have aligned 3 friendlies before taking on the Old Boy's Association again. Chris has been very encouraging. He knew what had went wronged to us previously. Our youth gave their best effort and I will blend the team with mixture of youths and veterans for the forthcoming matches if team training, team discipline and teamwork permits. I applauded Randy for being truthful about his game after the match. He admitted that he was not fit enough and had been nervous throughout the game. Kok Fann was punishing Randy with his flank play when he saw the weakness. There are so much that we need to work on. It was also pleasant to see Anand coming by to show the team's support despite being injured.

We adjourned to the nearby coffee shop for refreshments before heading home. It was nice to see the teammates together. Anand's final parting words were encouraging too. "Let us get together to train and play as a team". "Nothing is impossible, though we might lose by bigger margins to opponents" for now. Never give up! Let's play the game with the right attitude! It's not all about winning or losing games.

The friendlies that have been scheduled are as follows:-
Rain United VS Church of St Anthony's (October)
Rain United VS Campaign Football Club (To be announced)
Rain United VS Limbang Football Club (To be announced)
Rain United VS Old Boy's Association (November)

In the meantime, we will be gathering for a friendly matches against the Woodlands Soccer Boys this coming Sunday 17th September. I will be sending about 15-16 boys to combine with Chris' players to play in the U10 -U13 matches. The junior boys' are training and playing together to be ready for November's "Friendship Cup" to be held in Singapore and December's "Empress Cup" to be held in Malacca.
respectively.

Thank you guys for giving me your support and fighting spirit. We needed it as a team. Cheers !

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 Go For The GOAL!!!

Thursday, September 07, 2006

[ Discipline Matters II ]

I received a thank you call for the suggestions that I made in regards to players on/off field behavior. My friend, Lee with his company that runs football organisation for Nationwide League, which is supported by the Football Association of Singapore, has to mitigate risk on the choice of teams and players for participations in his company's organisational work. It will reflect on his business. I was very glad when he decides to carefully evaluate players who works on importance of ethics and discipline before approving any players for participation in his league.

Football is a team game. Any player who brags about the number of goals he has scored reflects on themselves. They have forgotten that it was the team and the team mates that has contributed. So branding themselves so loud speaks volume of their character. Lee told me that the thug has not been welcomed for the last 3 months and his name has been removed. All the participating teams has also been notified on careful selection of players before approval.

On the contrary, I also shared some of my views with him. I told him that I do not tolerate vulgarities in my team. It exercise disrespect to the young and elderly. I would rather not take risks. It certainly carries weight and Lee concurs with my views. I told Lee that I have also heard racists remarks on the field previously but I was tolerant. So the only thing I could politely say was to continue with my own football sessions without these players. I do not want to shock people with so many uncall for incidents.

I have parents who bring their children along, I have boys who are trying to have fun playing football, I have friends who are in their own career disciplines. We looked up to one another to inculcate healthy sports. We have our own chats, we want the kids to cultivate good habits, I have the responsibilities to ensure compliance. Hence, the line must be drawn.

Thursday, September 07, 2006 Go For The GOAL!!!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

[ Discipline Matters ]

I chatted with an old friend who is running an amateur soccer league islandwide and we were on the issue of screening of players before allowing any recruitment when our conversations drags.

Through our conversations, we came across a disgraced wannabe whom I had previously made a police report to who had posted himself as a striker in his advertising column for "teams looking for players" where the wannabe had wanted to play for other teams and organisation. The wannabe claims to have played for schools and has scored 4 goals in 5 starts.

I told this good friend of mine about this brat and has recommended that he take a good look at the rain united blog. We had a good laugh about it. I have also suggested that he should keep himself posted on the blog as I have chosen an auspicious day on or before 11th November to resolve some issues.

A good name will always last forever.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006 Go For The GOAL!!!

Monday, September 04, 2006

[ Diadora Cup ]

The boys gathered at 7 am and we headed to the police academy where we put up a team for the U10 boys Diadora Cup Tournament which was organised by Home United FC.

The boys arrived happily and were put into some warmed-up before going through routine checks on their gears and attire. It was the second tournament for the boys for the second consecutive week. Some had only played together for the second week. Much was not expected from them, as we wanted to give them exposures. This tournament features teams of a much higher standard compared to the previous week. The represented teams came with coaches like Fandi Ahmad, David Lee, Amin Nasir, etc who were representing their junior teams from Home United, Tampines, and some of the other reputable clubs. There were altogether 12 teams participating in the tournament with the top 2 teams from the each group qualifying for the semi-finals. The teams has to play 5 matches each to determine their positions. We were placed in the tougher group of the two with the favourites. The boys were also overawed by the opponents strengths and their coaches reputation. We were the team of unknowns.

Before our match, we took the boys for a briefing. There was nothing for us to lose but plenty to gain. We studied the oppositions play and put up different players for different plans. The boys were reminded to follow clear instructions, play with the right discipline and the right game plan. I wanted the boys to take each game at a time and not to be bothered with names.

They played their first game against the Eurasian Association team. The boys, being 9 years old of age and 1 year younger than most of the other team players played their hearts out. I had reminded them on the previous week tournament where they were knocked out of the semis but a solitary goal aggrgate after all the teams had drew level on points with 1 won, 1 drew and 1 lost. I told them them that goals and defending counts. They created an amazing 5-0 win which was the tournament record. The boys were overwhelmed and started to believed in themselves.
After each game, I would take the boys aside and start to brief them on their strengths and weaknesses. They were reminded to stay focused and not complacent. This was done to put their discipline to good use. The boys were very encouraged. In the meantime, we studied the opposition's play and would deployed our strategic play. The boys surprisingly ended as champions of their group with 3 wins and 2 draws. A total of 10 goals were scored and there were non conceded. The other team coaches soon took noticed of our achievements and soon begun to see us as the team to watch. Two of the boys were also being taken noticed of by a panel of FAS talent scouts. It was an unexpected results for us but credit were given to the boys who took on instructions and their discipline well.

In the semi finals, they were dominating the entire match again. The boys were jaded as they have played 5 matches since 9am till 2pm before the match. They couldn't score and eventually were forced into the penalty shoot out. They lost 2-1. I felt so sorry for them. The boys cried but they had given their all. Tampines were defending for most of the match and were seem targetting for the penalty kicks, which they successfully did. I couldn't lift the boys morale during the 3rd placing play off. Hence, we decided to field a reserved side so that everyone gain exposures. We lost the game to 17 connection (Fandi Ahmad's team) by 2 goals to nil.

There was no disgraced for the boys. In fact, the boys did gained recognition as one of the outsiders who have won the hearts of the thousands of fans. They played beautiful football and were attacking and defending as a team. They are only 9 year olds. They won themselves a trophy each and were rewarded with another participation in another tournament to be held in November. The parents, Chris and I shared the same view as a strong believer of youth development football with a strong sense of discipline controls. I had explained to the parents not to be offended with my strict controls and they were very supportive. It was the boys' good attitude and listening power that brought success to them. The parents were proud of their kids. The kids came up to me and asked for more. The parents readily support it as well. I have promised them that we will organise more tournaments for them if they keep themselves well.

We will also be arranging for the boys to travel to Malacca to take part in the Malaysian Inter State tournament to be held in December over 2 days. I am also hoping for friendly matches for the traveling adults and youths. In the meantime, the boys will continue with their training so that they can blend better as a team and get to know one another better. Congratulations to Captain Lionel and all your team mates. Hip hip hooray! You boys have done us proud! Keep it up! Thank you parents for all your valuable understanding and support.

Monday, September 04, 2006 Go For The GOAL!!!