hello ladies! (:

here's an abridged version of our team talk the other day. i'll basically summarise the important points that were brought up, for y'all to remember and bring it to our next training and subsequent matches!

fundamentally,many said you lacked confidence and felt like giving up every time we lost the ball. many were afraid of losing the ball too. but like what chan bing said, and i quote, "we're too kan cheong! we should relax lah, brother!" REMEMBER THEY'RE JUST LIKE US. they are afraid too. never try never know! yeah so anyway,here's inspiration from the capt, (cuz i don't have all the time in the world to type out every one's comments now.lol!) in my kind of lingo, so pardon me if it doesn't sound entirely like audrey, i had to scribble damn fast when she spoke!

"forget the friendlies, forget the scorelines. it's a fresh start. what we have here is common ground. every one is as scared. we ain't lousy! we just need confidence. we always enter thinking we've lost. but it's a fair world. anything can happen. there's equal probability. fifty-fifty chance. in life, it's the same. do we take the chance or let go? will it ever come back that easily? we now have a new chance, it's yours to take. it's YOUR choice on court. we HAVE the desire, we know what's going on, but many factors are weighing us down. fifty-fifty chance, take it or leave it! if you tell yourself you can, you can. (...) give your hearts out, play the way you train and train the way you play! don't ever let it be as good as tellin your opponents i'm-letting-you-win-this-game. [and so on and so forth]"

there you have it! we KNOW for sure this race is for us to determine. we are very much in the same boat as the other players! what we fear is mirrored in the very eyes of our opponents. but if we show them we ain't afraid, if we intimidate them, if we put on a pretty damn confident front and step up to this challenge ahead of us, i don't see any way we cannot triumph against all odds! so encourage each other yeah? cuz in the words of jason lyle from "coach carter" [played by channing tatum, if y'all forgot (:] "you said we're a team. one person struggles, we all struggle. one person triumphs, we all triumph." i am awfully confident of you girls! and i want all of you to trust every last stinkin member on this team -- have faith that they WILL pass you nice balls, have faith that they WILL block shots for you, have faith that all rebounds WILL be brilliantly taken, have faith that all shots WILL be on target, have faith that you will not lose the ball, have faith that when you receive the ball, your entire line and team and coach WILL be rooting for you so control it like you've never controlled before! cuz it's only when we start to trust each other, will we begin to show chemistry within our lines and gradually our team. i'm really proud of you girls thus far! (: you've proven time and again that you are capable of performing so DO NOT LOSE STEAM! let's go out there and wreak havoc on court! cuz, uh, impossible is nothing. haha, okay okay i shall stop rambling before it starts to sound like some pastor's sermon. anyways, till our first match (second by sir's standards, lol) train hard and just enter tampines sports hall on the ninth like we have absolutely nothing to lose! have fun girls, let's do this together. N what? NJ! God bless. (:

--tiff.

oh p.s. here's the answer to "What is your deepest fear".

"our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. it is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. your playing small does not serve the world. there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. we are all meant to shine as children do. it's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. and as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." [timo cruz, coach carter]

haha, yes, i did re-watch coach carter today.

cheers.