Day One
After seemingly relentless training in our local pool here in Damansara, the school water polo team was ready for the upcoming MSSMKL Water Polo Tournament of 2008.
On 30 January 2008, the first day of the competition had come and we felt pretty good about ourselves. This confidence however, was also accompanied by anxiety and worry for most of the team. Fully clad in our fashionable water polo gear (shorts, t-shirts and sandals/flip-flops), 13 of us were in school bright and early, disgruntled and unsatisfied with our snooze time.
We were taken to Bandar Tun Razak in Cheras, where the Cheras Swimming Complex was located. Most of the seniors and team captain, Brian Wong, trudged confidently into the Complex and up to the stands with memories of clinching the Gold here in the off-season circuit late last year.
The competition was run in the format of a league. Teams were sorted out into two groups of four each and the top two teams from their respective groups would move on to the semi-finals. Each match involved four quarters, each lasting 7 minutes.
The first match of the year was Sekolah Sri Cempaka against students from Westley Methodist. The ordeal of lining up and shaking hands with the opposition was nerve-wrecking as we were all anxious to get in the pool to rid ourselves of our doubts.
After the first goal was scored, our team got their rhythm and the goals kept coming. The score-line at the end of the match was 17-1, to Sekolah Sri Cempaka.
Having cruised through our first match, we were given a 3-match break that was then interrupted by our match against SMKBTR (also referred to as Bandar Tun Razak, BTR), the home team. The match started the same way and this time around, the result was 19-3, again in favour of Sekolah Sri Cempaka. This match saw everyone in our team, regardless of position or age having scored at least one goal each.
This was followed by a 40-minute lunch break where we had lunch packed from the Cempaka Cheras canteen. On the sidelines, the team went “dutch” and bought ourselves a bucket of KFC.
The last match of the day was held after our lunch break against the Royal Military College (RMC). This time around, we entered the pool confidently and started in the same fashion as all our other matches to date. By half-time, our goalkeeper was replaced by our team captain and was allowed to swim up as an offensive player. He scored 3 goals in that game. The game ended with Cempaka winning 26-0.
With a confident air, we came back to school, heads held high and noses burnt from the sun. Little did we know, tomorrow would be our toughest yet.
Water Polo Team members
- Alvin Soo
- Tan Boon Hoe
- Edward See
- Erwan Elias
- Koon Chun Foong
- Brian Cheng
- Tan Jian Juang
- Dani Ghazali
- Kenneth Ng
- Brian Wong (Captain)
- Chin Voon King
- Tan Jun Kit
- Harris Tan
Day Two
On the second day of the MSSMKL Water Polo Competition 2008, Thursday, 31 January 2008, the first and second school that top Group A and Group B advanced to the semi-finals. Sekolah Sri Cempaka, top of Group B on the first day with four consecutive wins, was pitted against SMK Bukit Bandaraya from Group B second place.
The first match, from 8.30-9.15 am was between SMK Victoria who was in first place of Group A and SMK Bandar Tun Razak (SMK BTR) in second place of Group B. Our school was scheduled for the second match which started at 9.15-10.00 am.
Our team did fairly in our semi-final match, resulting in a 15-3 score line after a slow start in the first half, scoring only 6 goals. However in the second half, our team stepped up gear giving no chance for SMK Bukit Bandaraya to advance into the finals. In the first match, we saw SMK Victoria beat SMK BTR.
The finals saw two teams that topped each group against each other – Sekolah Sri Cempaka against SMK Victoria – scheduled at 10.45-11.30 am which was immediately after the SMK BTR and SMK Bukit Bandaraya match for third and fourth placing.
The final match between SMK Victoria and our team was tough from the beginning. Both teams gave their all. In the first quarter, we were trailing 4-0. In the second quarter, our team became more focused and scored, narrowing the score line to 5-3. In the final two quarters, dozens of attempts were made but with rock-solid defence from both teams, the score ended at 6-4.
The award ceremony came after the match at 12.00 noon and Sekolah Sri Cempaka proudly accepted silver for the 2008 MSSMKL Water Polo Competition. SMK Victoria and SMK BTR received gold and bronze respectively.