By Deborah Lee (17A01D), Carman Chew (17A01D) and Lee Yun Ning (17A01E)
Photos courtesy of Adriel Tan (17S06C)
Tears were shed, hugs were exchanged and vigorous calculations were being made in the nerve-wracking thirty-minute wait for the release of the bowling ‘A division championship results. Over the past week, RI had fought hard, with the girls maintaining just a 6 points difference between their closest competitors, ACJC, and the boys coming in close for third place. The alley, flooded full with avid school supporters and even more avid parents, held their breaths with the bowlers, each wondering: was the performance on the last day good enough?
The answer came with a resounding roar from the RI bowlers when the results were finally released. The boys had done spectacularly, exceeding expectations and coming in second place overall, beating ACS (I) by just 2 points. The boys also did well for other events: not only did Boaz Chan Xu (16S03H) top the singles and all events category, he also came in third for doubles along with team captain Bertrand. Ryan Teo (17S07C), too, bagged a bronze trophy for high game — just 6 pins away from second place.
Bowler Bertrand Yan (16S06F) rolling his way to the top
The girls had even done even better, clinching the champion title by just a slight margin. There was a tie in the number of points between the girl teams from RI and ACS(I), but RI came in first place overall because Alyssa Deanna (17S07B) had a higher pin fall than the competitor’s top bowler. When asked how it felt like to be the deciding factor of the whole competition, Alyssa commented, “I didn’t expect myself to perform at my peak because it’s the last day of comps, which is the most stressful, and I don’t think I deal well with stress but I did it — I managed to control my emotions and take it one shot at a time.”
Bowler Alyssa Deanna (17S07B) hitting a spare by sparing no pin
Despite the stellar performance, there were still teams who didn’t go home with a trophy. Nonetheless, they took home memorable experiences of their strong camaraderie, having worked equally hard and helping one another press on through the tough fight. In the words of an RI bowler: “Even though we ourselves didn’t win, I would like to think that we played an indirect role in helping the girls clinch champions. Maybe we bowled and cheered so well next to the other schools they were scared of our faces.”
For Tabitha Ong (17S03A) and Andrea Ng (17S07C), it had been their first competition, only picking up the sport a few months ago, but the two managed to remain calm and make the experience a memorable one. “Today’s performance wasn’t the best,” said Tabitha. “But we tried our best,” laughed Andrea.
In the recent Master’s event held on Saturday, pitting the top bowlers from each school against each other, both Tiara and Boaz clinched runner’s up in the girls and boys categories respectively.
Bowler Andrea Ng (17S07C) returning victorious from one of her strikes
In addition, the vibrant spirit of 30 councillors made up the motivational voice for the team and constantly cheered them on, completing every passionate “RA-” shouted by the bowlers with a resounding “-FFLES!”. Said Vice Head of CCAD, Jerome Boon (16S06K), “Today’s performance was commendable since the team was facing strong competition, and they managed to put up a good fight. I’m proud to see our fellow Rafflesians achieve good results.”
Both team captains and teachers-in-charge were pleased with the outcome of today’s competition, with Mr CH Low acknowledging that the team ‘exceeded their normal performances, which was a pleasant surprise.’ The team captains Han Rae Ann (16S07A) and Bertrand Yan (16S06F) of the Boys and Girls team respectively shared the same sentiments, Rae Ann attesting that ‘Our team fought hard despite there being lots of ups and downs.’ and Bertrand similarly affirming that ‘Everyone showed strong character and fought hard and managed to keep their spirits up.’
Raffles Press would like to congratulate bowling for their great achievements!
The bowling batch of ‘16 and ‘17 celebrating their win
