Former American Footballer, Mike Ditka, once mentioned that, ‘Success is about having, excellence is about being. Success is about having money and fame, but excellence is being the best you can be.’  Our volleyball team had clearly displayed the essence of the quote above, in the match played.

Skin was scrapped and willpower was maximized, our volleyball team fought a fiery fight with a strong sense of sportsmanship.  The morale was kept high within each player, and teamwork was pitched at its highest point. The team’s due diligence was seen through the constant switching of players position in court. The minimal verbal communication among them showed the mutual understanding among the players.

As the saying goes, difficulties strengthen us, although our team did not make it through the match, qualities such as teamwork, determination and a strong passion for the sport, would render them success.  In the tough match today, the mutual teams had given their best, and their spirit would be a great take away for us.

Quoting Mickey Mantle,  “During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.” Hence, the harder one works, the harder it is to surrender bringing success around the corner!!”

Clara Kong

Day 2 of competition saw our team needing to win both of their remaining games and hope other results go their way to have a shot of making it through to the playoffs.

Hall 7
Against Hall 7, the team raced to a  3-2 win, narrowly missing out on a 4-1 win which would have put the team in prime position to advance as the other teams at the top of the standings faltered.

Hall 12
Needing a win against Hall 12 to win and hope Hall 9 wins against Hall 8 to gain auto qualification; our team did their best and emerged 3-2 victors, putting the score for Hall 11 at 5-2. But unfortunately, the other results did not go our way, and our team was in a 4-way tie with Hall 2, 8 and 9 for 2 spots in the playoffs.

The first tie-breaker saw Hall 11 and Hall 8 level on sets won. Moving on to the next tiebreaker, our team sadly lost out narrowly by 2 games.

Nevertheless, the team has come a long way from last year, not only improving in the technical aspects of the game, allowing their results to speak for themselves, the team also showed exceptional desire to win and create history for Hall XI darts. While we were so excruciating close to making it past and potentially going all the way, the fact that we emerged 3^rd in a very tough group and 5^th overall out of 16 halls showed the potential of the team.

With the core of the team still mostly around next year, we will definitely come back next year, hungrier and with something to prove as we strive to Soar Towards Greater Heights!

Wayne Gretzky once said: ‘A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.’ On 19 December, Monday, the field of NIE (National Institute of Education), was filled with hockey teams from various halls. Hockey happened to be the first opening sport for IHG 2011. Each of these teams brought along with them roaring cheers from the stand.

Despite the bad weather and heavy rain, players from every team showed a deep sense of determination and were thoroughly focused in their matches. It was evident that the players on the field are very passionate about the sport they were playing. About 6 minutes into the first game, the first goal was scored by Huijing, a player from Hall 11.

Though the second half of the game was a fiery fight, there were no goals. In the course of the game, players from both Hall 11 and Hall 1 showed a strong sense of sportsmanship. As the saying goes ‘A lifetime of training for just ten seconds’, the spirit of teamwork, determination and diligence shown by all the teams is a valuable takeaway for us all.

Clara Kong

The silent cheers of the onlookers and the silent screams in the participants were roaring loudly ironically in a ‘pin-drop silence’ room.  Snooker happened to be the opening game of this year’s Inter- Hall- Games. Everyone was anxious to watch the game. Our representatives being green about IHG were especially tensed up which caused many of them to lose their form. Despite that, we placed our trust on our warriors as they strategized and fought hard on behalf of hall XI. Unfortunately, the battlefield was hard and rough, as lady luck was not on our side. Disappointment is what the snooker team is experiencing as they had been training diligently from the day they painstakingly seek players to form their IHG team from zero.

Although our journey of Snooker for IHG 11’/12’ has ended, we extend our gratitude and appreciation to our Hall XI warriors, our competitors and organizers. Results being secondary, we thank our competitors from hall 2 and 3 from the exchange of valuable experiences at the pool table, congratulations. To Hall XI warriors, the battle is not over, it has only just began, don’t be disheartened as Oprah Winfrey has once said “ I don’t believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process”. Alas, today’s failure is with exchange for tomorrow’s success, Hall XI soaring to greater heights!