Soccer Clinic with the TFSC kids (20 March 2015)

For this round of Soccer Clinics with the TFSC kids, we booked a different venue from our usual (Safra Tampines). We went to the UberSports futsal venue at East Coast Park! Two other volunteers, Felix Lam and Joshua Tan, from our Youth Ministry had a great time at this session too. So far, i've been with the kids for 4 sessions and it's a real joy to conduct these sessions for them. They probably know my style already; the session usually runs in this order: warm-ups and jogging > dribbling practice > shooting practice (right leg and left leg) > tournament which consists of 7-minute matches > the occasional short talk about good values > photo-taking > lunch.

The good values are always taught on the pitch during training and during the matches if we see any undesirable behaviour being displayed. I also shared with Felix and Joshua to be big brothers to these kids. Encouraging the kids during these sessions is also very important as that builds them up as a person. Teaching of good values is also done off the pitch while we wait for our next match during the tournament or also while we walk to lunch and talk during lunch. The kids were treated to Burger King after 2 hours of soccer. They thoroughly enjoyed it!

It's great when we get to see each other again after 2 months (since it's held during all the major school holidays). Working with Alvin from TFSC to plan these sessions for the kids has been a blessing to me and will continue to be a blessing as I spend more time running around with the kids. When I see familiar faces, it continues to help us form closer bonds. I was really happy to see some of them at the Good Friday Banquet (You're Special Banquet) which we recently planned for many guests. I told them that I'll see them at the next soccer clinic session in June.

CRC 2015 Match Report #3: #PentecostDoves vs #Aldersgate (19th April)

The first of 2 rescheduled CRC games occurred on Sunday, bringing the team down to St Gabriel's Secondary. As S&S has now been enforced to start on time, teams are encouraged to reach early to prepare themselves. No more delaying was allowed so as to wait for some late comers to arrive, or home team could face potential demerit points accumulation. Aldersgate led the S&S session with a short guitar worship, followed by David sharing the joy our God has in life, especially with Easter passing by not too long ago.

Couple of tweaks to the typical PMC back 4 in the line-up as suspension and unavailability meant makeshift wingbacks, as both central defensive players Sheldon and Jem Sin deputising in RB and LB respectively.

PMC Lineup:

David

Shel - Martin- Dan Chen - Jem Sin

Matthew - Malcolm - KeeMin - JZ - Rus

Jacob

Referee for this match was Steven (got his name from CRC google drive), never mind if you do not know his name, but all will recognise him as the referee with his "own opinion of how the game should be". After the coin toss between the captains, both team changed sides and AMC kick-off. As PMC was settling down into our positions on the other half, and David was getting to his position, though already in the penalty box, Steven blew for the game to begin. AMC had a quick look and saw David off his line, launch a kickoff shot straight towards goal, catching David by surprise. PMC was shell-shocked. In his defence, Steven explained that he is not obligated to check if any goalkeepers are ready, so long as both teams are in their halves and the goalkeepers are in the own penalty box. PMC hence restarted the game at the 1st minute a goal handicapped. 

At the restart, AMC came strongly at PMC, primarily down both flanks. A strong left side of Rus and Jem managed to thwart any attack down PMC's left, but AMC soon discover the right channel of Matt and Shel to be lacking in strength and speed. In the opening 15 minutes, PMC found a lot of battle in the middle and in particular, much of the action was skewed to the right side. Tournament top-scorer AMC Weixiong exploited fully the space he manage to carve out easily to execute a very well taken left-footed shot from the right channel, leaving David once again grasping for thin air at the powerful shot. PMC battle hard upfront, with Jacob, JZ and Rus hurrying AMC's backline to committing mistakes. Unfortunately, AMC defence held up well, to limit PMC's attack to afew scuff shots. With AMC seeming to start to dominate the middle of the pitch, Rus begin to drift into the middle more and JZ had to drop deeper to give AMC strong midfield a tougher fight. Unfortunately for PMC, the battle in the pitch was made harder by many of the referee's "own" reading of the game. Jacob was first into the referee's book for a fair but late tackle. AMC got their 3rd when some neat play from the right had the ball in the net again, with Weixiong involved heavily in the buildup. PMC managed to earn a penalty late in the first half after a foul on Rus and up stepped Rus to take the spotkick. His resulting placement to the right was too accurate that the post had a resounding loud applause when hit by it.

HT: AMC 3 - PMC 0.

HT changes: Wei Jie for Sheldon at rightback and Weelong replaced Jacob to play behind Zhong, pushing Zhong to the front.

PMC started the half strongly, neutralising AMC for the opening 2nd half. Weixiong switching over to the left had Jem keeping a strong eye on him for much of the opening 2nd half. No goals in the next 15 minutes with both teams limited to some potshots at each other. Matthew was next to make way for Chinkai on the right as PMC pushed forward now with nothing to lose and Kevin came for Martin, pushing Jem centrally to partner Dan. Some good combination between Chinkai, Weelong and JZ earned PMC a freekick as weelong's quick feet dazzled some late challenges. The resulting freekick into the box saw some scramble and Kevin managed to poke the ball away before a kungfu high kick from AMC defender on Kevin was surprisingly spotted by the referee and out came his whistle to point to the spot. Rus stepped up again, this time hard and low to the keepers left. Dan was subsequently changed for Joel, pushing WJ and Jem as the new centerhalf partners. AMC regained the 3 goal advantage when a loose ball was not cleared and managed to fall to the path of AMC incoming CM to put it past David. PMC had another chance to reduce the deficit when a neat ball through the middle found JZ with space all to himself, but AMC goalkeeper somehow manage to produce some form of Dudek's aura to cause the ball to bounce a little just as JZ was about to hit it, sending the resulting kick up above the bar. An injury towards the end of the game to AMC CM saw PMC giving the ball to AMC, though still in possession. AMC launched the ball back for PMC, but yet continue to press for the ball caused some confusion as to whether the ball was to be returned to PMC for sportsmenship. The ball went out and Jem took the subsequent throw back to David who launched it up the field. Unfortunately, the ball reached Weixiong who quickly played it neatly between Jem and Kevin before Jem could get back into position and the AMC striker duly claim the 5th.

FT: AMC 5 - PMC 1.

CRC 2015 Match Report #2: #PentecostDoves vs #AMKBethesda (12th April)

It took a whole month between PMC's last CRC fixture and this one due to 2 postponed matches in-between. The break seemed to have done PMC good as there was overwhelming response towards this match, requiring some head/heart-ache to select the 18 players for the match day team. There was also some apprehension on match day itself when sunny skies in the east turned to lightning/thunder when we arrived at Ang Mo Kio Secondary School. The weather still looked threatening at the start of S&S. Kevin shared from Psalm 39:4-6, reminding all players about the brevity of life. For those who did not yet know Jesus, Kevin encouraged them to explore the eternal life that Jesus offers and for those who already were Christians, the message was to treasure life and be faithful to Jesus Christ. After S&S, the referee immediately called play to start and despite the threatening weather initially, the skies cleared for beautiful conditions.

The early passages of play were dominated by AMKBC, with PMC pinned back in their own half. It was clear that AMKBC was going to use its speedy wingers to break down the PMC defence and on more than one occasion, they found their way down the flanks, but their crosses and passes were well-repelled by the PMC back four. David's handling in goal was also impeccable, leaving AMKBC without any clear-cut chances despite their majority share of possession. It was thus against the run of play that PMC took the lead. With Jacob pressing AMKBC's LB, his wayward pass across the box was met first time by Jingzhong, firing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net, leading to mass celebrations by PMC's players, who knew that they did not deserve the early goal. AMKBC continued with the lion's share of possession from there, attempting to tiki-taka their way and using some free kicks to break-through, but to no avail. It took another quick break by PMC that led to its second goal, this time with 50-50 credit to both sides. An early ball to Malcolm saw him release Jacob with a nice through ball, which was completely missed by the AMKBC GK, allowing Jacob to pass the ball into an empty net. 2-0 up was far more than PMC could have asked for in this first half, and this lead was preserved with good defensive work by the back four as well as the DMs and Malcolm, leaving the wingers and Jacob to pressure the AMKBC back line and hit on the break.

With AMKBC feeling that they were unfortunate to be behind after the first half, it was not surprising that they started the second half with great intent to pull a goal back. A few substitutes were brought on to fulfil this. Similarly, PMC also made a change with Ernest replacing Daniel at RB. Having already settled into its shape and discipline, the second half was a lot more even in its initial stages. What was better was PMC taking a 3-0 lead, thanks to Malcolm's first time attempt on goal from long-range which caught out the AMKBC GK. At this point, AMKBC had nothing left to lose and unleashed more players forwards in order to claw their way back into the match. This day did, firstly with a shot from wide right which David could only parry, allowing the onrushing forward to push the ball into an unguarded net. This started wave after wave of AMKBC attack on the PMC goal, which the PMC players did well to repel. However, when a free kick was given up just outside the PMC box, AMKBC took full advantage to score with a wonderful direct shot, setting up a frenzied final 5 minutes of play. It took all 11 PMC players to pull together to stand firm and hold out for their first victory of CRC2015. It was also heart-warming that after the final whistle, Martin sportingly piggy-backed an injured AMKBC player off the field, earning him rave applause online, especially from his mum!

Soccer Fellowship Report (5th April)

Soccer Fellowship returned for the first time in 2015 with a massive turn out of 27 players at Ang Mo Kio Secondary School, a beautiful field. The weather was threatening from the morning, but God's faithfulness shone through like the bright sky that appeared above Ang Mo Kio Secondary just as Soccer Fellowship was about to begin. There were many new faces, most notably friends of David Lim, as well as Ted from PMC. In line with it being Easter Sunday, Kevin started the session with a devotion on the life of Jesus, and how he lived, died and was resurrected to save us from our sins, and offer an everlasting life.

Following devotion, the teams split into the DARK and LIGHT team, playing 11-a-side with rolling subs. The LIGHT team started off the match the quicker of the 2 sides and put themselves in the lead early on, with Jacob playing Jingzhong into space, who finished calmly past Maurice in goal. DARK responded quickly, with some pressure on LIGHT and the returning Damien finishing off sweetly with a left foot shot that went into goal off the bar. David in the LIGHT goal had no chance. From there, play was mostly even in the first half and it took a wonderful header from Wee Long to put DARK 2-1 up at halftime.

The second half looked to be competitive until about the halfway mark when DARK ran away with the match, with goals from Yi Jun (3) and Joel (2). LIGHT tried their best to look for goals, but play often broke down in the final third. Although LIGHT did pull one back late in the match, it was not enough to make a significant comeback. For their clinical finishing and play in the final third, DARK deserved their 7-2 victory on Easter Sunday.