To the guys and ladies of Wesley Tchoukball, once a

Wesleysian, always a Wesleysian.

New Year.
01.01.2016
Having had time in camp after I went out of course a few months ago, it naturally
occurred to me to write about Wesley Tchoukball; this club can be said to have
had been one of my only constants for the past 3 years while adapting to the
changing environments that were the results of growing older. This piece of
writing, a product of jumbled thoughts internalised, is long overdue - but after the
many long hours of deliberation, I've finally managed to pen it down. Fighting to
bring about some form of coherence to all that has gone on within the past 3 years
was an insanely difficult task and hence, admittedly, while the bulk of this piece
revolves mainly around Wesley happenings, from past to present, it is interspersed
with my personal thoughts. Hence, it should be treated merely as a reflection by a
fellow member of the team, with the hopes that certain segments of the content may
well sbe views that each and every one of you can relate to. I would appreciate it if
you could take some time to read this as I would too, should any one of you decide
to express yourselves.

Herein, for the first time, begins the unveiling of the emotions, thoughts and
memories that most of you have never heard me talk about and which some of you
have only come to know in dribs and drabs.

Wesley Tchoukball. Thank you for everything.

It's been a long journey thus far for me. 3 years of weekly joy. 2 years of
bittersweet grit. A year of unfamiliar responsibilities. Events that have come to pass,
memories ghosting through the river of time, bringing with them a mishmash of
emotions that empower at times but hurt periodically. Due to the complexity of the
subject matter, oftentimes intertwined with tchouk politics, human emotions and
whatnot, this piece serves as an attempt, no matter how feeble, to express my longstanding feelings towards the club and its wonderful, amazing members, all of whom
I respect and love.

To the Wesleysians of yesteryear,

some of whom I doubt will even read this or
who may have long forgotten who I am, the
times spent with you people were nothing
short of amazing, memorable even after y'all
have left. Unbeknownst to most of you, the
open and warm culture that defined Wesley back then has resonated deeply with me
ever since the day I was warmly welcomed into
this team that I now call family. As a newcomer
to Wesley and simultaneously having only
recently embarked on my tchouk journey, I was
lacking in both skill and experience. Hence, I
had little expectations of fitting into a team that
comprised players that I felt were way out of my league. It then naturally came as a
surprise when I felt so accepted by the end of the first training session; the first
'dinner & lepak' I had with Wesleysians that very day was unlike any other I'd had,

evident from how I could easily interact with everyone without feeling excluded.
The lack of cliques back then, even when there were at least 15 members present
during dinner, with each person
engaged in animated conversation
with individuals around the table
was certainly foreign to me at that
point in time. Needless to say, I
became hooked to the extremely
unique culture that seemed to be the norm within the club, a culture that I've hardly,
if not never, witnessed in other teams, clubs or groups that I've interacted with or
observed to date.

Being the youngest member of the team for

more than a year forced me to break out of my
comfort zone to interact with people who were a few
years older than me, something that I had never been
capable of doing up until that point in time. The
person that most of you currently know me to be, that
crazily high, retarded and talkative individual, never would have existed had I not
learnt that seniors are to be
respected

but

never

feared,

approached and never shunned.

More importantly, age is arbitrary
and seniors can definitely be treated
as friends. Alas, the times spent
playing alongside you guys were
limited as working and university life got in the way for many of you. However, the

share of victories and setbacks that we experienced together and the fighting spirit
that I've always known of Wesleysians since day one have been the building blocks
for my continued passion for tchoukball, the initial trigger that has spurred me on
ever since.

I now address the bunch of individuals who had been, and continue to be, by
my side ever since I was but a mere newbie in the arena of tchoukball. I doubt a
thank you would suffice to account for the numerous
lessons that all of you have taught me. To the team
that prides itself on policies such as 'dinner > training'
and training sessions in which raucous laughter,
occasionally coupled with somebody doubled over
guffawing and rolling about on the floor, would
make itself heard once every few minutes, you guys
never fail to put up one hell of a fight on court. My personal favourites include the
guys' team's epic comeback against Crusaders during a Crossroads match and our
seemingly impossible tie with the YDC
veterans

during

WAD

games.

The

adrenaline that rushed through our veins,

the complete trust in our fellow teammates
to be wherever he or she was most needed
and the everlasting determination and grit
that fuelled us were all components that
contributed to an almost seamless flow of synergy between each and every one of us
during competitions.

More importantly, the dedication that each of you has had for these past years,
some of you having been a Wesleysian longer than I have, never fails to inspire me.
While attending training sessions regularly may not seem like much of a big deal, I
would beg to differ. With the multitude of commitments heaped upon you guys,
ranging from work to the insane university workload and national service, finding
time to appear for training
sessions always proves
challenging. However, you
people continue to hang
around week after week,
prioritising the team more
so than the time that you
could have put to other
uses on a perfectly fine
weekend. Even during your most hectic weeks, you guys still made the effort to
come down for those 3 hours and for that, thank you. You people are a huge part of
why my faith in Wesley has never wavered and why I continue to care so much for
this family. While I do not wish to mention names for fear of missing anyone out, I
feel that special mention should go to none other than our resident Song.

Mr Ho Song Yang. The big brother. The alcoholic. The joker. The 'fei()zhu'.
As the manager of the team, he has been a true blue Wesleysian longer than any of
the familiar faces you see at training sessions these
days. The commitment and dedication that he has
wholeheartedly shown to ensure the continued
survival and well-being of the team has been
phenomenal - penning them down seems to do him
little

justice.

Many

privileges that the newer generation may not actively

notice or may take for granted were actually fought for
and sustained by none other than him: the liaison with AC
International for an air-conditioned court, the annual
Crossroads competition and our very own jerseys, just to
name a few. And in my case, having had, in mid-2015, my
own share of dilemmas and worries over the future of
Wesley, I can now better empathise with the amount
that he has done for us, even more so because he was
still hounded by me over club problems through
Whatsapp conversations while overseas. 'I respect
him' is really an understatement in acknowledging
his unyielding spirit in holding the fort all these years
and allowing Wesley and its one-of-a-kind culture to
continue existing. Thank you Song, for everything
that you've done for this family that you have never, and by that I really mean not a
single moment, once walked away from.

On a side note, as with any group of individuals, having bonded together for
a period of time, it would be naive to say that there has been no hint of negativity.
Time and again, we find ourselves faced with circumstances that were neither
pleasant nor warranted. Our team has had its fair share of ups and downs, with
squabbles and unpleasantries sporadically inserted throughout the duration of our
existence. While I would like to claim that all disputes were amicably resolved, team
sports is no fairytale and we have had occasional ugly spats. However, the beauty of
our team, a close one at that, lies in its capacity for forgiveness and its ability to
move on, thereby allowing Wesley Tchoukball to be as peaceful as it is. It is here
that I would like to remind everyone that such a healthy practice should never wane
and that this culture should continue henceforth.

It pains me to have had to continuously use the past tense to describe my above
mentioned thoughts. While this is very much to be expected due to the passage of
time and the concomitant changes that have occurred, I have had to take to the
sidelines for the past year due to my inability to partake in competitive Tchouk since
2014. While I have been extremely frustrated and saddened - and still am - it has
been a mini blessing in disguise as I got to find yet another purpose at Wesley
Tchoukball, one that rivals my love for the team and my need for improvement.

Finally, I'm now able to address the newer generation of Wesleysians. To all
of you, especially those who had just begun your journey with us in 2015, it's a pity
that you'll never be able to experience for
yourselves the exact same environment in
which I first started my tchoukball days.
I'm not saying that 2015 for the Wesley
team was a dull year; it has been no less
memorable than any of the others. Rather,
having had fond memories in the past, I felt a need to recount them and to keep the
original Wesley spirit, which has burned brightly for the past years, alive for years
to come. Nonetheless, to you guys, thank you. Thank you for giving me yet another
reason to continue to tchoukon week after week. Giving up on tchoukball has crossed
my mind numerous times ever since injuring
myself back in December 2014. Many of you
are probably chuckling even as you read this,
writing my statement off as an amusing joke,
thinking: 'there he goes again, he say for fun
one, he'll never be able to quit'. All I can say
is that this impossibility might have actually
come true had my passion for the sport been extinguished from a continual
frustration with both the inability to perform on court as I once did and the rather
limited time I had on weekends at that point in time.

Coaching. Something that I've had the opportunity to try my hand at for the
past few months. Thank you guys for being my 'guinea pigs', staying patient with
me and giving me words of encouragement as I started to develop myself in that
aspect. You all have reinforced my interest in teaching and have given me a separate

reason, apart from upholding the team spirit, to continue to come down for training
week after week. After my surgery, I will try to come down, not to play (something
I promised a few people), but to help out in whatever way I can, something that,
regrettably, I should have embarked upon many months ago.

We are, once again, on the cusp of yet another new age. As the pioneer
members fight on to rally the team and seasoned players mature, you guys have come
forth to join us. I hope that the times that you have spent with us thus far have been
extremely enjoyable and that you continue to look forward to, or even crave for, a
closer, more integrated and stronger Wesley family. Over the duration of your stay
with us, I also hope that you guys will come to realise what exactly fuels us,
especially the pioneer generation, to continue to commit to our Sunday training
sessions

.
The love for our teammates and the want to spend quality time with them.
These, and not the sport itself, continue to drive us forward. While improving at the
sport is indeed important, it is nothing compared to the friendships that we have
made along the way and the bonds that we have forged thus far. I hope that you will
one day come to call us your family rather than just close teammates in a sport that
we all love to play.

Although what I'm about to say next is not exactly pleasant, this is my
reflection and I would be doing myself an injustice should I choose to keep such
emotions and thoughts buried much longer.

While the vast majority of us believe in committing to the team, a handful of

incidents over the past years have been more than enough to cause a tinge of
disappointment within me. There were periods in time in which we were struggling
with an extremely small number of team members who were coming regularly for
training. For those of you who still remember training during those dark periods,
thank you for sticking through the tough times. Truth be told, those periods back
then had me extremely worried. While a few of us worked hard to salvage the
situation, it really set me thinking. A team jersey
is extremely symbolic in my eyes; in fact I
daresay for all existing members of the team, the
jersey is a symbol of our pride towards Wesley
Tchoukball. Once it is in your possession,
everyone treats you as family. Although it is
perfectly fine for people to come and go,
understandable

results

of

intensifying

commitments and newfound interests in life, if you still view yourself as part of the
Wesley family, at least put in some commitment to come as and when you can,
because honestly? It really hurts when people no longer seem to care about what
some of us hold so dearly to our hearts. Please try not to give us false hope, week
after week, that you'll finally decide to turn up for training because it is extremely
tiring.

Well, if you have read my reflection up until this point, I thank you for taking
time off to do so. I'm not a sucker for the tradition of New Year Resolutions, having
never made one in my entire life, but I'll make a special exception for 2016. Wesley
Tchoukball, I will put in the effort, with all of my heart, for the people who I call my
teamies and my family. I'm not asking you, be it newcomer or existing member, to
sacrifice everything for Wesley. Rather, play your part to contribute to the best of
your abilities just like how the pioneers have done so, and are still doing so, for the
entire team. Action speaks louder than words, and should any of you embrace my
resolution, do not just verbally promise. Act upon it. Let us all work together to
welcome a more connected, better and most importantly, committed, team this 2016.
Hupernikao.
More than conquerors.
On court as well as in life.

Signing off,
Shun