After the YouthWave tournament, the FRONTLINERS  participated in the  Penang Open Challenge  floorball  tournament.  In my opinion this is a  5-star competition level.  The tournament was a round robin, and then the semis and finals format. Frontliners finished last amongst all the 7 teams. Drawing 2 games and losing the rest of the games. That was expected.

It was a good experience for all of us. I learned a lot during this tournament. We are now able to see what we are lacking. Most importantly, I got to know the strength of my players. And of course on the individual level, I got to know myself better as a player.

Footballers playing Floorball.

Now its all about what we need to do next. Frontliners have a lot of talented athletes. We are arguably one of the most athletic teams around. We have lots of warriors in our ranks. The problem is, they are not able to convert those qualities into meaningful value when it comes to floorball. Imagine a bunch of FOOTBALLERS playing FLOORBALL. Sure, we can run, jump, tackle and fly. But that is as far as we can go. That is the next challenge. To convert footballers into floorballers. This will take some time. I know that we are working with good material. Its only a matter of time.

Star Player of the tournament.

The tournament got the best of one my players, San Jeevan. I love this boy. Diligent, persistent and teachable. He couldn’t train with us for a month due to his family obligations. But he was faithfully training at home, only with a stick and a ball(which he broke due to his vigorous personal training). His hard work paid off during this tournament. His ball control was first class. Determined yet calm. Gentle yet hard. He is the most reliable defender we have in the team.

Credits to the Coach.

I feel bad to our Player-Coach, Kuan Yang for sacrificing his talents for the team. I know that if he had played for a better team, he would have performed way much better. He only scored one goal in the tournament. If someone was able to feed him the ball, Im sure he’ll be in seventh heaven as a forward. I want to give him the credit for building up this new team. I really appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

Fire !!!

I realized that most of my players carry the same element like me, FIRE. We get fired up real fast. These boys are hungry. They are competitive. We lost every game, yet one thing we do, we fight back. I believe that our desire to win is very high. Frontliners never give up. Even when we are losing. Even when we aren’t good, we fight till the end. For that, Im proud of my boys.

The only problem with this fighting spirit is… we FIGHT… literally.  Some of my players almost got into a gang-fight. Thank God everything was under control. I apologize for our misbehavior. We’ve gotta learn to have more sportsmanship. I know that some of them are young. Its our duty as leaders to educate them to be ethical sportsman. Even I myself have to learn…

My floorball career.

As for me, I got back what ive lost… the EYES OF THE TIGER. I lost it ever since Penang league. I lost my mind, knocking a player off the court intentionally. I fully regretted that foolish act. Ever since then I became extremely tame or overly soft like TAUHU. This tournament got me back to what I used to be. Only difference is, i dun lose my mind like before. The trick is to be tough yet not losing your mind. To be focus only on the current task, that is to play floorball.  It can be a hard balance, but its achievable. This tournament alone i knocked at least 4 people on the ground legally, while standing firm during the tussle for the ball. I dun think Im overly tough. But i guess, when we are playing in a 5 star tournament, we need to be tough.

I would not apologize for being rough. I played within the rules. I didn’t get any 2 minutes penalty. If the other players are like TAUHU… tats just too bad. You just have to toughen yourself. Im only 180cm tall with 59kg. That means im superbly underweight. With longer body than legs ratio, my center of gravity is higher, making me the more unstable candidate. If anyone should fall down, that should be me. I think that everything is in the mind. Bruce Lee was a short and small fellow. But he whipped all his opponents which are bigger than him. Thats my inspiration.

I scored the most beautiful goal in my floorball career. A long range(more than half a court) slap shot right into the goal against Salibandy. Ill never forget that goal. I always thought that I have weak arms to make long shots. But this incident has proven me otherwise. Working hard on my upper body mass has paid off.

Player-coach Kuan Yang’s neverending emphasis of defense and blocking has got the best out of us. I learned a lot from this man. In this tournament, I blocked a lot of shots that could have been a goal. It sure was painful. But to let in a goal is even more painful than the pain on my skin. I got better timing this time with blocking the shots. I see a lot of improvement in myself in this area. Only part i regret was when Deswynn’s shot went between my legs. I dunno how it happened. His shot was supposed to be high. keke… again, Deswynn is an elite player, tat is expected of him. My fullest respect to my opponent.

Decisions to make.

The next thing Im going to do is first to make some important decisions regarding my floorball career. Firstly, I need to know which position suits me. Im now neither a forward or a defender. Got to get it clear. Anyone has an opinion, I need it dearly. Next… Im going to change my stick. Its time to upgrade my weapon. Then… im going to work on my floorball skills especially ball control. Its really bad at the high levels especially when under pressure. Need to work on my shots as well. My wrist shots are useless when it is needed the most. Finally, I think, I need to work on my stamina if i want to play elite floorball.

In a nutshell… The journey is still a long way ahead… This is just the beginning…We will be ready for the challenges ahead. See you in the next tournament !!! OOOOOOOO FRONTLINERS !!!