Personal Milestone

This will be my first ever blog posting, so I figured I would start with something special. Probably one of the very few highlights in KTT.( I guess I have succumbed to peer pressure and finally created my very own blog).Before coming to KTT, I have never touched volleyball.

All of this changed during the fasting month. Normally, i would play football with the Malay guys, but during Ramadhan i had no choice but to play volleyball with all my non- Muslim friends. I have to say, playing volleyball with all of them (mostly tangga 11 residents) ,helped us bond.Anyway..Back to volleyball. The first time I played this game, my hands just couldn't take the impact of the ball. It was red and really painful so I didn’t really enjoy the game at first.The following weeks, i guess all of us got better and we were even playing with the Indian seniors.(we juniors till today have not beaten them).

So, after the Hari Raya holidays, when the Diploma students organised a volleyball competion, Eric had a crazy idea that we all ( relatively still noobs in this sport) created a team. So... we named ourselves Parang Juniors ( after the great and EVIL PAK CIK PARANG).OUR TEAM --->Beh(captain), Eric, me, Selvan , Kelvin, Chua, Shawn, Joel and Prashan.So..

Straight to the action then. Our first game was with some Malay seniors. Our team was quietly confident i guess.Prior to that day, we had thrased those seniors so we all thought it would be easy. Our opponents were first to serve and not long after that, we were trailing 10-0 (there was only one set,the team that reached 21 points won). All of us looked at each other in utter disbelieve. Everyone was making silly mistakes and I guess we were all really nervous. Somehow, we managed to get the serve back at 10-0, but soon lost the point and trailed 13-2. I guess it was all over for us. Surely no way back now. Our opponents soon got quite cocky and were really confident that they would easily win this match.

Can't blame them for thinking that way though, anyone in that position would easily become complacent. This is where the Liverpool comeback spirit came into each and everyone of us that evening. I looked to the side of the court, my goodness; our fans outnumbered our opponent’s fans by 10 to 1 i guess. At least give them something to cheer about ( lol...sounds dramatic). Somehow, our character in the next few points showed and we were definitely not giving up without a fight. At least make them work harder for the victory. We then miraculously caught up to 14-19. Wow!! We do have some chance, Eric and Kelvin were serving well. My serve was not bad either. Beh was great near the net and his setting was awesome. Chua and Selvan found their form at the right time. Suddenly, it was 20-20. YES!!... Our self believe came back. Looking at our opponent’s faces, all of them were just shocked. NEVER EVER LOOK DOWN ON YOUR OPPONENTS!! TAKE THAT!!20 All...so, it was deuce.

I think the first team to reach 23 would win. The seniors got back a point and were leading 21-20. At that point, it was all really tense; all mistakes at that moment would be really costly. We played cautiously. Just letting our opponents make mistakes. Finally, match point. 22-21. WOW!. I can't remember who served. Most probably Eric. When the seniors hit the ball out, we were jumping as if we just won the world cup. I could hear our supporters. Credit to them for not leaving.haha.We didn't shake hands with our opponents that day probably because we were too busy celebrating. I remember Istanbul. The greatest COMEBACK! This would rank close to that.Well, we didn't win the volleyball competition as we lost in the semifinals to Masterbedroom( the Indian seniors team).But, that 1 game, really will be a highlight for most of us in the dull KTT.That’s all for my first post.

I read to much football news and match analysis so pardon me for the very detailed game narration. I don't have pictures at the moment but I will try to take some shots of us playing volleyball. Just for memory's sake. :)