wednesday marked the end of an important chapter of my life, it ended when sajc table tennis was lost to hwa chong institution by a score of 1-4, it signals the end of my table tennis career, a short but fulfilling one ba i suspose...

its was not our year, bcos we didnt even qualify for the second round, which we usually will, largely because of our draw...we ended up in the same group as HCI and NJC, both were tt powerhouses, and to qualify for the next round, we had to beat one of them, of cos which, didnt happen. I could feel the pain in my teammates due to this great setback, but we cannot change what has past, now is the time to accept fate and regroup, reflect and recollect. i'm quite certain next yr will be better. looking on the bright side, our girls team are still in the competition, and they do possess the ability to fight into the top4, so we guys should give them our fullest support en route to the future competition, it's not over for sajc yet.

on a more personal level, im very glad to finally have a chance to play for the team this year, after a forgettable one-match season last yr, i just feel lucky to be able to be actively involved in the matches this yr, even though im quite disappointed with my performances. even though i won my match against TPJC, i lose my most anticipated match against NJC, and finally lost again to HCI, im not sure if i could've won either NJC or HCI, but i am sure i could've put on a much better fight. my skills have deproved since i came back from china, and both my skills and mentality have not been matured enough, there's still a long way i have to go for table tennis. i just want to apologise to my team, u guys trusted me, but i failed u guys, and i failed myself too.

on a lighter note, i feel very blessed to have ended my career with a worthy opponent and friend, my secondary school XiangSheng partner Ma Long. one day b4 the match i was already telling royston that i hope to meet malong, it will be the best match ever, and to my pleasure, he was playing against me for the last singles. our moral was super high when yingjie won the first match, which placed us 1-0 atop HCI, but after close losts by our second doubles and second singles, i think it really dampened our moral, but i still couldnt contain the excitement to play with malong, the best player in HCI and one of my best PRC friend. As i wished, both of us did not gave each other any leeway, we played the best our mental and skills could bring us, but i was still the more immature player, even though i finally lost 3-0, im still very happy to compete with him fairly and been able to give him some pressure. after the match, malong whispered to me while we shook hands, "你已经进步很多了!" and that is all i ever wanted to hear, really...an achnoknowledge from a respectable friend of mine, win and lose didnt seem important anymore at that moment. i've really totally enjoyed the game, and the season. thank you satt for giving me this chance, im really grateful.

for the team, i just hope that the guys do not let our low morale affect the girls, and we should continue to encourage and support them for the remaining competition. just my own opinions, i feel we also should not blame our failure this yr entirely to fate, there were factors which we could control, but we didn't handle them properly. to me, i believe that there's a difference between a person in-charge and a leader. a person in-charge will administer the team's business, decide training timings, inform players about trainings and execute basic team activities like PTs. but a leader of a team have a vision for the future, he has a set of plan ready to be executed to push the team to greater heights, he has to be able to inspire the players' attitude towards training, their discipline, mentality and ultimately bond the team with a common goal in mind, and lastly he has to be rational and daring to stand up for the team and make the player's voices heard by higher authority. from my observation, satt has people-in-charge, but theres a lack of people with leadership qualities i mentioned above, and that is a major factor why we suffered such a big lost this yr. at least on the surface, our team's discipline is loose, we give up easily, we lack the determination, maybe not everyone is like that, but as a team, when one teammate is slack, the whole team is slack, i believe all for one and one for all.

yingjie or any of my teammates, i dunno if you will be reading this, but i hope you guys do not get angry by my opinions of the team, i am just voicing out what i truly feels, there has been so many problems in the team which i've seen in these 2 years, but i am in no position to do anything about it, it's troubling to me, but soon i will be leaving the school and the team, all i wish is for the team to soar even higher. to yingjie, if you feel that you can take up the post as captain next yr, which i think you can, i really hope u can evaluate my opinion and make the team better, do not be the person in-charge, but be a leader who people look up to. i have not been in any teams b4, satt is my first team, i dunno how is things done back in marist or peiqun, but i dont believe that anything can be accomplished without serious hardwork and determination, our team really needs to instill more discipline and systematic training approaches, and that requires a firm and serious leader, and this culture needs time to cultivate. we will not get good players like you or pakata every year, how do we stay atop? i think team nyjc 2007 was a good example and role model for us, their discipline, their systematic approach, their player's mentality, allowed them to succeed. all in all, i hope you guys continue to chose your leaders intelligently and keep up with the right mentality, of cos it'll be important that coaches continue to push the players even further.

i can see the fire in the eyes of every player in satt when we are in the midst of a game, why cant we use the same passion and determination on our everyday life?

satt is my first table tennis team, and im really glad to be able to be part of it, even if i had to sit on the bench this entire 2 years, i will still find it worthwhile, to be able to know so many friends with similar passion, and to be exposed to many new things, im more than glad to have spent 2 years of my life with satt, thank you guys!

there's still many things i need to learn, both in life and in table tennis. even though my table tennis career has ended, but im sure it will be restarted soon, and rest assured that i will not stop training and improving myself, i will make sure by the next time i play with you guys again, you will be able to see my improvement, and i hope to see satt improving in the near future. for now its time to seal my racket and pick up my pen and paper, there's another thing which i need to prove my worth in.

there's many things worth anticipating in the coming weeks, especially DT's concert which i cant wait already. following the end of my season, CCA is also almost over for me, these 2 weeks has been very tired and shagged, i'll take this coming weekend of rest myself and prepare myself for the weeks to come.

all the best everyone! esp to satt girls, you all have my support always=)