Training on Thursday 22 Nov

hello all. so on tuesday, nobody turned up, so i just did a 12km long run instead of the proposed programme.

for thursday, i'll still be there, but this time, i'll be there a bit earlier, cos i'm meeting some friends at 2000hrs. so for interested parties, i'll be at the track at 6pm sharp. seeya'll if i do.

oh and my no. is 97552894. or 96230640. but if you call the second no., must speak in chinese. i'm using that no. to force-train my mandarin.

Training on Tuesday 20 Nov

Hey guys... looks like coach still hasn't come up with a training schedule. let's just start on our own amateurish one lah huh... who wants to come? either turn up outside central library at 1900hrs, or at SRC at 1915hrs. you can call me if you're coming so that i'll know to wait for you.

max out is one hour lah. for tuesday, let's do... 6km run in 40mins, followed by 6X400m, 90secs per round. everything should be over in an hour, then you can go back to your oily books...

seeya'll!

p.s. i'll probably be running again on thursday and friday, so watch this space!!!

p.p.s sudi!!!! i'm sorry i didn't run with you today... had a lil' sum'in goin' on... IF YA KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!! hehe...

Quote of the moment

after a bad tackle...

"*&$$%#%@!!@#?! What the hell are you trying to do man!"
- nicholas "panda" lim

Training on 15 Nov Thursday

22 people in attendance. boots training. started off with monkey - however there are 3 sides; blue, green, red. one colour will be the monkey. whichever other colour loses possession to the monkey colour will become the new monkey colour.

after that did some sprint drills. face front go; face back go; run around the cone go; hop over the ball go; hop forwards over the cone go; hop backwards over the cone go; etc.

finally did some counter attack practice. broke up into groups of six. 4v2 half field. score within 30 seconds. everybody gets to defend 3 times i.e. 9 reps in total. end of training.

oh and we drew the friendly 0-0, although we could've scored a number lah. still, it was a pretty good performance.

next week, our own training kicks in. anyone wants to join me please do. 7pm at SRC track. max finish by 8pm. monday, tuesday, thursday, friday. watch this space for more updates closer to the days.

God Bless and rest well.

Quote of the moment

"busy lah. after exams i will be free."
- umar "ramu" ngalim

Quote of the moment

"i came to school at 1030. my lecture ended at 1045."
- sud "how-many-balls" di

Quotes of the moment

"don't know which country your ancestors from."
- coach "angry face" ara, to cheng "ah beng" wei.

"hokkien."
- cheng "ah beng" wei, in response.

"i said which country, you say hokkien."
- coach ara, in response again.

"kenyan mah."
- yu "ninja" da, eavesdropping.

"get those gremlins off the field."
- coach "angry face" ara, referring to eusoff hall football girls.

Training on Tuesday 13 Nov

today's attendance 13. weiquan, jo, wilson, yujun, vincent, yuda, chengwei, mark, fong xiongkun, zeyan, raihan, nicholas yip, and russell. coach came today too, and we wore boots.

started off with a couple of drills in pairs:

1. as X backpedals, Y will pass the ball to him. X will then lay the ball off for Y, who will pass back to him again. changeover.

2. with X facing Y, X pass to Y, then X run ahead of Y to receive the return pass, turns, then passes to Y, and so on.

3. X and Y now face front, and alongside each other. X pass to Y, then overlap to receive the return pass. X then passes back to Y, and overlaps again this time on the other to receive the return pass. and so on. then changeover.

4. Same as drill 1., but this time, the lay off will be first to the right side, then to the left side. changeover.

5. shielding drill. as you dribble the ball, keep an eye on your marker behind you. make sure you're constantly shielding the ball i.e. if the marker is on your left, dribble with your right foot. executed correctly, the player with the ball will end up dribbling right, then left, then right, then left, and so on. changeover.

6. shielding drill. this time, the marker faces the dribbler. as the dribbler drifts to the right, you guard him with your right foot in front of your left foot. and vice versa. changeover. end of drills.

then, we did a 2-man crossing drill. X is nearer the centre circle, Y is closer to the touchline. starting from the halfway line, X will pass to Y. Y will then bring the ball towards the middle as X overlaps him. Y will then send the ball towards the corner flag, where X will cross for Y to finish. only did with the right flank, so this drill favoured the right footers.

then we did a 3-man crossing drill. start from halfway line again. X is on the left, Y in the middle, Z on the right. Z will pass to Y, who will then send a long ball to the corner flag for X to cross for Y and Z to finish. only did on the left, so this drill favoured the left footers.

then we did a variation of the 3-man drill. but this time on the right. X on the left, Y in the middle, Z on the right. X passes to Y, who passes to Z. Z then sends the ball down the line to the corner flag for X to run onto and cross for Y and Z. the key thing is for X to time his run so that the point of release is before he crosses the halfway line, in order to spring the offside trap.

then we did another variation of the 3-man drill, this time on the right again. X and Y are within the centre circle, with Y as the target man. Z is on the right. Z will pass to Y who will lay off to X who will send a long one to the corner flag for Z to cross for X and Y.

finally, we split into 6v6, full field, free touch, anybody can be keeper. "for you to enjoy" said coach. end of training.

so anyways, since i'm here i might as well just say it - thursday's training starts at 1800hrs, NOT 1830.

okay. seeya'll. rest well. God Bless.

Quotes of the moment

"UNCLE SAM! the blue one (skipping rope) and the brown one got difference anot?"
- Cheng "Ah Beng" wei

while running during cool down, i said panda was fat, and he said:

"Opulent."
- Cheng "ah beng-but-ang-moh-tok-gong-one" wei

Training on Monday 12 Nov

today's attendance was 11. chengwei, junhao, yuda, vincent, sudi, yujun, fong xiongkun, panda, nicholas, weiquan, and chris kang was a guest for a while too. coach is still out with stones(?) so sam took us today.

started with 2 rounds warm up jog. stretch. then agility exercises - hops, zig zags, ball pushing, etc. 5 reps. then went into 5BX. then did 5 reps of 1 min skipping. then we did ambulance run i.e. shuttle run relay, but dribbling a ball. 5 players per relay team. did about 5 reps of 2-3 mins i think. and last but not least, 6X400m run. target was 65 secs, but nobody met it at all. in the end we did about 70+ and 80+, never went above 90 secs. not bad lah. but it was a real killer. i have a headache now. end of training.

so anyway, i guess we're all kinda disappointed by the no.s in training. of course it's not that we want to force you to be around (actually, deep down inside, that would be ideal!), but at least to let junhao know that you're not coming, so we won't be like, "let's wait a while more, maybe more will turn up." see, sudi so on, just now declare he's not coming tmr, but i tell you ah sud, you better bring your gear and make sure you finish your project before 1830hrs!

alrighty then. see you guys in school/on the pitch/track.

God Bless!

P.S. we might be getting a 50% subsidy for the KL trip! cos vincent is a horny bugger.

Quote of the moment

so we were all stroking the ball around, waiting for the match to start. ara started going around to the individual players and telling them which position they were gonna start in - keeper, defender, midfielder, striker, substitute, ball picker. then the referee blew the whistle, and we started shouting 'starting eleven!' and then he asked:

"eh, just now that one is the coach ah?"
-ze "drogba" yan aka chengwei's-buddy-times-same-pattern

Training on Friday 09 Nov

about 15 people in attendance. started off at the stadium. started with the regular agility - ladder, hop hop hop, zig zag, hop hop hop, sprint off. 5 reps. then we did 5BX. then we did a 4 man drill:

A..........................B



C..........................D

so A passes to D, and will switch positions with B. D will then pass back to A's original position (whereby B is now at) and switch positions with C. B will then pass to D's original position (whereby C is now at) and so on. continuous for 1 min. about 4 reps. then we went gyming. today was quite happening at the end - we taupoked mark and yuda cos it's their birthday. i think. for yuda, chengwei really went the whole hog - ripping off his pants and almost his underwear. lucky someone helped to pull them back up sia. end of training.

Commentary - Liverpool vs. Besiktas

once again, plaudits to liverpool. the english teams are really making good of themselves eh this year... still, let's see how besiktas made them look good. footage at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WY7zizJah8

1st goal - crouch was surrounded by 3 defenders, and yet the ball squeezed through for him to shoot. and after that, he managed to pick up his own rebound. wah lau.

2nd goal - what was benayoun doing all on his own at the far side?!

3rd goal - three defenders, and not one of them picked up rise as he drifted behind them into the penalty area (the danger area for crying out loud!) totally unmarked. and again, for benayoun, his defender was on the wrong side man! as one sportscenter presenter put it, "benayoun certainly hasn't put on anti-perspirant. defenders sure are giving him a wide berth!"

4th goal - keeper cock up lah. catch it, or push it out of the danger area - not into the 6 yard box!

5th goal - nobody picked up gerard as he ran onto mascherano's pass. then, gerard's defender committed himself (stay on your feet for crying out loud!). and as a result, the one-two with voronin gave him a clear run on goal.

6th goal - as the ball came in from the left, benayoun and babel were free. this was still not enough for besiktas's defenders to wake up. babel wasn't even troubled as he executed the cheeky backheel.

7th goal - need i say more? the defender cleared the ball against babel and it lobbed the keeper. wah lau.

8th goal - probably the most deserved goal of the lot. but still, a defender should at least have been jostling with crouch for the ball and maybe try to put him off.

ok man. heads up. stay on your feet. let's win ivp in style.

Quotes of the moment (edited, thanks vincent and evan!)

so we split into bibs, and no bibs. coach gave instructions on the game, and then he asked:

"so pass to who ah?"
-cheng "ah beng" wei

then, we split into two sides. coach said, 'keeper play for this team, the other team defend 3 goals". and then he asked:

"so keeper do what?"
-cheng "ah beng" wei

Training on Tuesday 06 Nov

today was finally boots! about 15 ppl for training. started on field 1 with possession play. two touch. each team had two 'goals'. the 'goal' is basically a triangular area in which a fellow team mate occupies. when team mate A passes to team mate B (who is in the triangle), team mate B has to pass to team mate C. team mate A then moves into the triangular area. after this we moved to field 2, cos there were no lights on field 1.

did some physical workouts with ball. 4 to a group. 2 balls each group. each group would then have 2 feeders. players are A, B, C, and D. cones are x, y, and z.

A....................B

x....................y


........CzD........

basically, both C and D will start from z. C will run to x and use left foot, while D runs to y and uses right foot. A and B will feed the ball to C and D respectively. C and D will then run back z, and now switch sides - i.e. C now runs to y and D runs to x. this will continue for about 1 min plus. then C and D will switch with A and B. the exercises we did were passing on the ground; side foot volley back to feet; control with thigh and pass back to feet; control with chest and pass back to feet; and head downwards to feet.

after that, we did shuttle run with ball. dribble as fast as you can for about 7 metres to line A, dribble back to starting line, dribble back to line A, and dribble back to starting line. total of 2 big groups. each would do about 4 reps, then rest while the other group did their 4 reps. this continued with variations in no. of reps, as well as patterns. e.g. one exercise required dribbling to line A and leaving the ball there, running to start line, running back to line A and retrieve the ball, and dribble back to start line. another exercise involved leaving the ball at start line, running to line A, running back to start line to retrieve the ball and dribble to line A, turn and dribble back to start line. there was also one exercise that was leave the ball at start line and run to line A, retrieve the ball from start line dribble to line A and leave the ball, run back to start line turn retrieve the ball from line A and dribble back to start line.

finally, we split into 2 sides. 7v7, but one side got goalkeeper, the other side defend 3 goal posts - score by putting on the line. free touch. did about 20 mins. then everybody ran 2 rounds, while chengkang, raihan and vincent practised shooting from 3 angles.

................................[_______goalkeeper________]


angle 1




.......................angle 2...................................angle 3

end of training.

today, we finally got our training jerseys! quite nice i must say. with that also comes an announcement - every week, there will be a joker of the week. this joker will then have to wear a special distinctive jersey (e.g. pink sailor moon hello kitty combined) until the next joker is found! also, i forgot to announce that mark and sudi are now officially the team managers for NUS Soccer 07/08! watch out for their arrows gentlemen. mark is quite the marksman i tell you....

God Bless guys. and rest well for those with injuries. our thoughts are with you.

Rumour of the moment

it turns out that cheng 'hattrick' kang and mark 'booby' koh are going to take their relationship to the next level. they are going to be brother-in-laws too! they were spotted with twins today having a sweet little tete-a-tete. "MARK MARK! KANG KANG!" perhaps this would explain their mysterious disappearances during the week...

Training on Monday 5 Oct

today was session with sam. 9 ppl at training. had agility training. high knee lift, jump jump hop hop etc. 5 reps. after that 5BX. then we did suttle run, but with ball. dribble about 15m, pass off, then wait for the ball to come back and go again. 5 reps of 1 min. then 5 reps of 1 min skipping. and lastly, 5 ab workouts - alternate leg, v-man, plank, cruches, row boat. end of training.

seey'all on tuesday.

Quotes of the moment (edited, thanks junhao)

"eh sudi! you got see your blog anot? eh, no you got see your picture on the blog anot? CANNOT SEE ANYTHING SIA!!"
- cheng "ah beng" wei

while dribbling down the left flank, he lost possession when cutting inside. so coach ara who was on the touchline said to him, 'you must understand the options available' and he said:

"i know i know, can shoot right?"
-cheng "ah beng" wei

Commentary - Arsenal vs. Slavia Prague

brilliant performance. almost like how team beckham plays. hehe. but seriously - i also believe slavia prague made arsenal good lah. view the footage at http://youtube.com/watch?v=dd0iAUcJsgM

1st goal - hleb had 2 defenders on him, yet he managed to pass the ball off to fabregas. where's the 2v1? they were virtually standing in a line, and did not cut out his passing lanes. and where's the guy who's supposed to be tracking fabregas's run? he was too far, was caught on his blind side, and even slipped.

2nd goal - poor defending off a corner. the first defender dunno what he's doing, missing the ball, and the clearing header was neither far nor wide, but simply set it up for hleb, whose marker was MIA as well.

3rd goal - need we say more? cock backpass, even cocker clearance.

4th goal - firstly, fabregas was totally unmarked in the hole between two defenders. where's the tracking/closing? then he passed to hleb who's run was totally unchecked.

5th goal - the one-two play was unchecked, leading to the final pass for walcott to finish. remember, when a player you are marking passes off the ball, stop looking at the ball and check his run!

6th goal - firstly, hleb should have been brought down for a tactical foul, but that's another matter altogether, so never mind. then walcott's first touch to fabregas - the slavia prague defender (jersey no. 4) obviously had to go and cover walcott and could no way cover fabregas. so where's the midfielder who was supposed to be tracking back?

7th goal - see pointer on 5th goal. when bendtner passed to eboue, there were 3(!) static defenders who did not check his run.

still, all credit to arsenal for being able to exploit the weaknesses and finish with aplomb. but don't get too carried away yet.

Training on Friday 02 Nov

Had 11 ppl for training today. no coach, no sam, nobody but us. so we went on a short run, from SRC to PGP via business, and back to SRC via NUH, macham A1 bus route. then we played court football at the tennis court with some civilians. 5v5 (inclusive of keeper), 2 goals out. end of training.

see you guys at tmr's game. remember - 4pm, wear blue.

God Bless

Training on Thursday 01 Nov

coach ara is still sick. so we had uncle sam again today. 15 ppl for training. did the regular strength and training. started with agility. the twist was completing a mathematical equation along the way. if you get it wrong, kena pump. 5 reps. then had the 5BX of hopping and jumping and twisting. then had resistance training followed by fireman lift. 5 reps. then today the extra bit was skipping. 1 min of skipping. 5 reps. lastly, we had 200m X 6, full speed, 1 min rest. end of training.

today's COCK OF THE DAY, is literally this SCC ang moh. forgot his jersey no. the cock went to the rugby post and took out his cock and did his business there!! wah lau! weiquan started shouting at him some more. but we kept him quiet after one shout la.

anyway, a big welcome to Zeyan who is a new trialist who trained with us today. if you guys do know, he's actually the ivp basketballer who was playing in the final quarter of the semi-final we went to watch. he's the monster who fought for every ball man! and an even bigger welcome back to weiquan! finally making his long awaited return. but his ankle is still a bit off lah. so still adopting a wait and see approach.

in the meantime, our thoughts are still with the other injured personnel in the team... latest casualty vincent (courtesy of ah beng!)

God Bless guys