By Raffles Floorball
Photos taken pre-COVID
Nothing is impossible. Here at Raffles Floorball, we are firm believers in this mantra. Once you step on court, you have 45 minutes to challenge your limits and make magic happen. Abandon all your preconceived notions about matches being lengthy and boring—not a second goes by in this game without some form of intense and fast-paced action. In this game, you will be challenged in far more ways than you can imagine. This game will teach you to outwit and outdo your opponents with determination and creativity.
Amid the intricacies of the sport and the grueling physical demands, the new batch of floorballers have had to face an unprecedented challenge—the coronavirus. With the possibility of fulfilling training sessions and competition sessions taking place more uncertain than ever amidst the enactment of the circuit breaker period, the new floorballers have been tasked with maintaining good physical ability and retaining limited pre circuit breaker skills and techniques from the space of their own homes. As phase 2 e-training sessions were organised over Microsoft Teams by teacher-in-charge Mr Benjamin Fong and legendary coach and former National Men’s player Mr Benjamin Quek, the players took their rustiness head on, practising our ball control, playups and agility intensely. By the time limited physical training resumed on Wednesdays within the Indoor Sports Hall, we were all raring to go.
All this may sound daunting and impossible. “How can they get up to standard in this short amount of time?” Halt in your tracks, for here in RJFB, we believe what makes a player isn’t their aptitude, but rather their attitude. Maybe you’ve always failed your PE classes. Maybe you’ve only run the 2.4km required for NAPFA. Maybe the closest thing to a floorball stick you’ve ever held in your life is a broomstick. Fret not, so long as you dare to learn and seek to self-improve, we believe that floorball is the sport for you. Almost half of the team members come from a non-sporting background. We are diverse in our own ways, but all united by our passion for floorball. Training will be tough. Time is now very limited. Limits will be tested. You will want to give up. However, your CCA journey will be all the more fulfilling because of your hard work and progress. With all the physical barriers and challenges in place, your motivation to train and forge bonds as a batch will only increase.
Not only will you walk away from this CCA feeling fulfilled, but you will also form invaluable friendships as you go through trials together as a team. In this family, we strive to outdo ourselves both mentally and physically, knowing that we have each other to support us. After all, it’s not about the outcome, but the experience. And amidst this circuit breaker period rife with uncertainties, the CCA experience will undoubtedly be very unique. Even after you’ve graduated from JC and moved on from Floorball, the bonds with your teammates forged in the toughest of training sessions will make you reminisce about the times spent in this CCA. At the end of your journey, regardless of the team’s final placing in the (hopefully happening) National School Games, it’s not the goal count that you will remember, but the memories and experiences shared with the rest of the team that will make you want to turn back the clock and live it all again.
Ultimately, players may make up the team, but the team is what defines the player. Far more than individual skills and physical fitness, the essence of floorball lies in the team. As the universal saying goes, teamwork makes the dream work. Without our teammates to encourage and support each other on or off-court, we would be nothing. Alone we are merely regular people passionate about the sport, but together, we are a family who will face any challenge head on, never leaving any man behind. Honestly, it is never easy being part of this family, but nothing worth having ever comes easy. After all, the toughest steel is forged under the hottest fire, and we promise that RJFB will make all the blood, sweat and tears well worth it.