last night dream that the worst had happened. i go, the gals appealed cannot, new coach for them.
suddenly i feel like writing my journey with the KSS gals. summary of cos becos i can write a book about these girls!
It’s comforting to see how the KSS basketball girl’s team culture has changed since I’ve come into this school to coach 3 years ago.
When I first took over the B girls of 2006, I really see them as no good. Their skills were incompetent and it’s no wonder why they have never produced any results in the past. However, after I got to know the team more, I realized they are simply a batch of wasted good team. The girls were so eager to learn but they know so little. I was shocked that I still have to teach them the basics of the game when they were already in sec 4s. I did what I could for them in the shortest time I was given-2months. Well, the girls lost their deciding game against Jurong secondary school with a thrashing 19point down. I remember 1 graduate telling me this: “Jiao Jiao (the nick they gave me), if only you were here earlier I’m sure we’ll achieve our dream of getting into top 4. You have tried your best and you’ve brought us to play our best game ever in my 4yrs. It’s a regret we couldn’t create miracle together but I really hope you can do it with our juniors and I believe you can. I don’t want Kranji girls to be looked down by others forever. Please help us finish our dream”
Back then, I was really an inexperienced coach. But those words really get me going and continuing my career in this school. Many better offers were offered to me along the way but were turned down by me even though KSS contributed least to my income. I can easily go into teaching too with my degree and get a more stable income. All because of a promise I’ve made to them. All because of a dream to be fulfill. Many cannot understand why I can sacrifice the better money. But they can never understand that the girls pay me more than what money can satisfy me.
But it’s not easy to do much as the culture was bad initially. The players deemed themselves to be hopeless as winners because they seldom win games. Manpower was limited especially with the 3rd batch of players. When I first took over, they only have 4players in that batch and eventually reduced to 2. Because of the break in this batch, the batch of B girls 2007 and C gals 2006 were greatly affected as the juniors weren’t enough to support the seniors and weren’t strong enough to lead the juniors. I told the girls: “We can lose the game but we cannot lose ourselves. In basketball/life, I want you to be answer to yourselves and never regret for not having done something before. So we’ll fight hard, play hard, work hard. End of the day, the results will take care of itself.” The girls never fail to fight till the last minute of every game, the girls never fail to play every last minute like it’s the first. People start to notice KSS. People start to stop underestimating KSS…
My plan is to start working on the C gals of 2007. It’s not all smooth either because while the top 4 schools have DSA ex primary school players, I have ex-librarians, choir members, dance members, art club members. The best I can get are 1-2 ex school players who don’t have as much chance as their fellow teammates in Unity, Jurong, Nanyang Girls under DSA in the past. We worked hard. We are willing to work hard. However, we are restricted by the number of school trainings. The girls told me they want to self-train but I couldn’t consent unless the school agrees. As compared to the traditional top 4 schools, we really train very little. On the average during off-seasons, they train 3x3hrs a week per division. For us, we train 2x3hrs with 2 divisions. The number of players, courts, balls greatly affect the efficiency my training plan. Despite the difficulties faced, we managed to emerge top 6 in the C division last year. If only the girls have the chance to train as much as other schools. I’m sure they will be greater than great now.
I never complained that I’ve no ready-made players like the traditional schools and I never doubt my coaching as I’ve produced results in almost every school I’ve been to. I just need more support and more time.
Not to offensive, I think the problem don’t lie with the coach or the team. If the system is not going to change, no coach can do much. The culture is changing for the better already and I guarantee that results will show very soon in couple of years. It’s justifiable that the school expects results from me as I’m paid for my job and I understand if you ask me to leave. However, do not kill the girls’ passion and hope. They have put in a lot and a lot of hard work. Do not expect them to vie with the traditional top 4 schools at the very beginning. It’s just too cruel to expect them with not much/no background of basketball to just train few months or 1 year and win teams with 12 players of competent skills and 3-4 years of experience. If it can be done, then I highly doubt the professionalism of this competitive sport that requires a lot of skills, mental and fitness. But we are not going to be always behind these schools. We took 2 years to catch up with the traditional top 4 schools. Although this year we lost again in the C division, but whoever presents at the game can tell that the referees played a big part to our loss. However, we are proud that for the 1st time ever, we are able to take the lead in the 1st quarter against unity secondary and played the closest game with jurong secondary so far losing by just 8 points. It’s true that ultimate results counts but I can boldly say that our team can finally compete at the same level with the top 4 schools. We have an equal chance to vie for the top 4 position from next year onwards.
I certainly hope I’ve the chance to create history with my players in this school. But if I don’t, I’m proud of these girls who have made vast improvements in this game over these 1.5 years. The only thing this team has not shown is result which is the only thing you want to see. Everything that has made them become better players and person I wish you can see them just like me. I’m sure the teachers see it too. Not to mention the seniors, they were just envy. If you have seen how they have grown over these 3 years on court and off court, you will be as happy, proud, comforted as me.
Now, let’s wait for the judgement…