Inter-College Games Day is an annual event where some seminaries in Singapore come together for worship, fellowship, games, and competition. This year we have 6 colleges taking part (TTC, SBC, EAST, TCA, BTS, BGST ). There are three games competed: Faculty Challenge, 7-a-side soccer, and captain ball.
As part of TTC Community Living Committee, I was automatically part of the committee for the Games Day. It was great to be involved in the preparation. I got to know new friends from other colleges. And it is also interesting to see how the six colleges work together to make this event successful.
Last Friday started with Church History class in the morning. Half of the class wore the legendary red TTC T-shirts. We were totally in games day and holiday mood (as we will have 2-weeks mid-semester break starting 7 March). After class, me and a couple of TTC friends went to the venue of the event, Highpoint. When we got there, some friends from BTS, with their light blue polo, were preparing the flea market (where we collect unused things from all students and sell it for $2). I helped preparing the flea market. Some guys was painting the line on the soccer fields and prepared the canned drinks.
More and more people coming. EAST wore green shirts, SBC black, while TCA has the same colour with TTC (ugh!). They started to shop at the flea market. Suddenly, it started to rain. We covered all items sold at the flea market and ran to find shelter.
I was quite worried at that time as the rains poured more heavily. But my friends kept telling me not to worry as the rain would eventually stop. They know I have been praying hard especially for the weather. If it had been raining the whole evening, we would have cancelled all the games. I kept praying in my heart that the rain would stop.
Praise the Lord the rain began to subside. All of us were instructed to get into the worship hall where we held the worship (initially planned to be at the basketball court). During worship, the rain stopped... and the games began!
First, the most exciting games of all, the Faculty Challenge. We would get to see our Principals and lecturers played some games. I'm so glad to see all faculties tried their best to win the challenge.
(left to right: church history, Prof. of systematic theology, Dean of Studies/Prof. of NT, hermeneutics, worship and liturgy )
faculty in action *so proud of them!*
After fellowship games, 7-a-side soccer and captain ball competition started!
I was in the captain ball team as a substitute, so I will tell the stories more in a captain ball player's point of view.
First, TTC vs BTS. TTC didn't get any difficulty to win over BTS. At the first half of the game, TTC lead with 16-0. I played the second-half and during that time we were asked to slow down and practice our pass instead. I remember an exchange student from Yale told us during the half-game break, "Hey, guys! Relax! Slow down! Let us show that TTC has grace." We, who initially very determined to get more score, agreed with him. We were supposed to have fun and friendship, not to destroy the other school's spirit.
Second, TTC vs EAST. They were tough. They have a good defender/jumper, a very tall Caucasian man (one of the faculty). But in the end we won.
Third game, TTC vs TCA, red vs red. To differentiate, TTC players wore blue lanyards. It was quite a harsh game, I must say. TCA was very very driven to win. In the previous game, they lost to SBC (and it was also a very high-tension game). Both TTC and TCA argued a lot with the referee. Actually from days before the game we were warned not to do three things: swearing, fighting, arguing with the referee; but the third seemed inevitable. Some TCA players seemed quite pissed off. Thank God nothing bad happened... and we once again won.
Fourth (and last) game, TTC vs SBC, the most waited game, fighting the champion. According to our seniors, last year's final between TTC and SBC ended up bitter due to the referee's not counting our scores. This year we came back to claim our victory. Everyone was on fire!
The match was tense. In the first half, the jumper from SBC accidentally hit our catcher's face many times and it culminated with him hit our catcher right in the eyes. Our catcher looked pissed off. We thought he would refuse to continue with the game. We kept on cheering for him and some of our friends tried to calm him down. Thank God he eventually calmed down and went on with the game. First half was quite balance. Both sides would score here and there.
The second half was quite smooth. It is obvious that we scored more than SBC. TTC cheering team was getting louder and louder while SBC was getting softer. When the whistle was blown, we shout in joy! TTC captain ball team won the first place!
After the euphoria, we moved on to cheer the soccer team, so did SBC. TTC soccer team was fighting SBC in the last match of the day. The first half ended up 1-0 for SBC. But the soccer team refused to give in, they fought hard until the end. The cheering team, the eight player, was so motivated in their task. We cheered louder and louder *poor throat... working so hard*
And it's just happened. Our team scored a goal! The match ended as a draw. 1-1.
After calculating the total points from the three competition, TTC came out as the champion! Surprisingly, SBC came third and EAST came out as runner up. I think EAST has been preparing very hard for this year's games day and SBC was quite nervous to defend their championship.
The unbeatable captain ball team
sWe are the champion!
Some committee members (3 TTC, 2 BTS, and 1 SBC students) stayed late to settle financial matters . After we finish, four of us (3 TTC and 1 SBC student) had dinner at Adam Rd Food Centre (near SBC). We dropped by SBC to send our friend and drop some items, then we went home to our lovely college. It's a very tiring but sweet day :)
As to why the captain ball team was strong. It's because they have been practising hard for the whole year every Wednesday evening *which I never be able to join as I usually go for prayer meeting*. In the past month before games day, they practised twice a week. I myself had 3 practise session with the rest of the team. Having been playing together for one year, they grew up loving the game. They totally had fun. Through the discipline of practise, they also got to understand each other's style of playing, strength, and weaknesses. Each of them would cover for other's weaknesses. Beautiful, isn't it?
Discipline. Love. Fun. Teamwork.
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