The day was long, but it was not over. I was excused at 2.15 from class as we had an afternoon match against Bartley Secondary School - a match I was looking forward to as I had not played in one for quite a while. Although it was only a friendly, I was looking to playing my best and having fun. I just hoped it would yield a different outcome from the one we had in our previous game against Queensway Secondary School where I got into a bit of a scuffle with our opponents (but that’s a different matter all together).
The canteen was fairly empty, only a few students were out of class at that time, and my friends and I managed to have a quick meal before we proceeded to retrieve the balls, as we were assigned by our teacher-in-charge to do. Abrisam, Irfan and I proceeded to the soccer shutter, where the balls were located, and I heaved the shutter door up as Irfan and Abrisam took out the ice-box and most importantly the balls. Slowly, we dragged the equipment sluggishly towards the foyer of the school where the buses were arriving. After about 15 minutes, like huge leviathans trundling up the driveway, the buses made their appearance and we loaded up before clambering aboard.
I plugged in earphones, the loud Megadeth music blasting in my ears, as I fell asleep on the bus. Roughly 15 to 20minutes later, when the bus arrived at Bartley Secondary, I overheard my friends all complaining that as Bartley Secondary was surrounded by a Gurka Camp they had to take a rather circuitous route just to reach the school. After a quick sweep of the school’s interior and exterior, I concluded that it was not very well maintained; the peeling paint and dusty walls and corners spoke of neglect but the canteen was a cavernous one that could seat practically an army. The B’Division boys immediately got their equipment and started to warm-up the moment we arrived as their match was first. We, the C’Division boys, all scattered like ants around the fitness corner, some playing with the balls while others sat and talked or watched the B’Division game. I placed a dark blue towel over my head and stretched out like a lazy cat for quick forty winks on the sit-up bench.
“Wake up la! Our match is going to start!” Irfan kicked me and shouted in my ear, instantly awaking me from my delightful cat nap. We all got our equipment ready and our captain, Bradley, led us through a quick warm-up session as I analyzed the condition of the pitch – bumpy and grassy as opposed to our field which was made of astro-turf. This was not a promising revelation as the ball travels slower on grass.
The match commenced and we were in total control, dominating the pitch, despite the less-than-perfect conditions, and I also had set-up a goal. By half-time we were already in the lead 5-0. I had been substituted as I had sustained an ankle injury; their right-midfielder had kicked my left ankle and then clipped it, causing me to fall and writhe in pain. Luckily it was not that severe and there was no sprain or worse, fracture. Unfortunately we did not score any goals in the second half and the coach took out many players, replacing them with others. All in all, a good game for us but this was just practice, a mere dress rehearsal. The real challenge was to come in the east-zone tournament.
We had to find out own way back and I took the newly constructed “Circle-Line” at Bartley MRT to Serangoon and then changed trains to Dhoby Ghaut , after which it was several more stops to my home at Kembangan. That was the most frustrating part of the whole day as we were all exhausted after a most trying afternoon but still had to go through such an inconvenient route. After I reached home, I took a shower, had dinner and then immediately fell into a deep sleep that no tornado could have roused me from.
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