Basketball

Ok first of all I think I might as well share my basketball life wif y'all. Some people think its stupid but I feel like sharing it anyway. It's all about what happned in my basketball life from when I first touched the basketball up till now. As for blogging I'll probably do that when i have the time

1996
This is the year when I first started playing and touched the basketball. So I guess i was 9 back then (primary 4). I studied in CHMS btw, (Chung Hwa middle School) and tat school has always and will always be the champions in basketball. That school is very very well-known for its b.ball team and has been on a winning streak for i dont know how many years its been goin on and on. Anyway during PE class we were playing basketball and this friend of mine Chia Wei was really damn good, probably the best in the whole of primary 4. Im sure im not wrong about that, if im not mistaken he played ball when he was really little and his family there has a history of basketballers, cousins playing for the national team and all that. Anyway it was him who got me into basketball actually telling me about NBA, lending me the games and all that. Ya you guessed it i got into Michael Jordan and the bulls ( who doesn't?) tats the only team and player i know back then lol. Nuthin much happened after that, just glad that it was my first time playing basketball during the PE lesson and I really really enjoyed the game. Was just playing for fun back then

1997
Primary 5- This year was really memorable, it was the first ever basketball match I played in. You see every year there's this inter-class match. And so i registered my name into the team. All my frens joined too, and all were basketball players too, O tat guy Chia Wei was in my class so we were teamates and that's great. It was a elimination match so if we lost the first match then its gone. Our first match was against a team one year higher than us, the Primary 6 students who are bigger and more experienced. The game was urm... pretty messy lol, didn't score a point but I stole a lot of ball though. Overall we lost by one point and we could have won the game if only one of my fren would have fouled him to stop the fast break. Well at that time we all kinda blamed him for the loss. hey we were young back then ok. That was the only game I played that year and after that it was all just play for fun during PE lessons

1998
Primary 6- Became really good friends wif my friend Chia Wei and funny we were in the same class again lol. Well his still playing basketball and really good at it. He was serious wif the game back then by the way. as for me i just took it as a game. Came over to his house to play ball together whenever I had the chance and i developed my skill from there actually. I got really better at the game thx to him and his cousins. Still he was better than me, and at the time he was kinda cocky ( i think, cant really remember) but one thing i know for sure he was sayin how bad my b.ball was. That was the time when I kinda took the game a little serious and wanting to beat him. But wasn't THAT determined yet, just tried to beat him whenever i played wif him. I don't have a court or a ball so i just treat basketball as a game, played whenever i had the chance.

1999
This was the year when me and my mates all split up and go on our seperate ways. I was more into basketball actually, transferred to St Georges for 2 months then to Jerudong International School (JIS). I had a few friends there and the moment when I joined the school one of my friend called me to join her team. Ya it was a mixed game, I didn't know who was my team as i just joined the school. In the end i found out that the team consists of 2 boys and urm about 6 girls??? I can't really remember lol, but there was definately 2 boys and many girls. Yes we got our asses whopped, but it was fun met new friends gained more exp. And before the game i met this guy Vyron who was really friendly and he knew i was new so he was testing my basketball skills by asking me to shoot from here and there. He is a really good player, talented in many sports actually and was one of the guys that inspired me to play b.ball harder. Anyway this year I guess was the year that i learned msot about basketball. I had a really really STRICT coach who was fat, demanding, and was a woman. OK i might sound really mean but i regretted whatever I said about her later. I'll explain why later. I was really glad i came to this school, because that coach was good teaching people how to paly ball the proper way. I really learned a lot during this year thx to the coach, I've developed into a player who understands the basics of the game

2000
This year was probably the most memorable basketball moment in my life. I joined the school team. Went to Phuket to play ball, its where all the international schools in South East Asia compete with each other in sports. I really enjoyed my time there, I was playing Power Forward by the way, the coach kept asking me to get the rebound cos I was tall and jumped really high. So that was my job and i didn't score a lot in that game except for lots of rebounds and steals. And we got 2nd place baby! wohoo! IT was the first ever medal I got in my life and I was really proud of it. Winning the silver medal and I really think we deserverd it after hard training and all. besides that i also joined the track team. Losing in the long jump, 400m and relay :(

I also earned a silver trophy for the 3v3 basketball game. We were training as usual, and when we took a break my friend Vyron came up and asked if I wanted to join his team. I accepted his offer and we worked our way to 2nd place , i actually scored in this game and was really happy!!
^^ I started playing more ball, thx to the coache intense training, and I had a ball court where I lived so I played whenever i felt like it. As you can see why this year was really memorable, I achieved lots of stuff after 1 year of playing proper basketball. Winning the silver medal and trophy, and i developed into a better basketball player

2001
This was the year when I REALLY treated Basketball more than a game. I took the game really seriously. I guess i was really touched and influenced by the anime SLAM DUNK. Yes i watched the anime this year, was really late eh but it was worth it i guess. After watching the game i started to train seriosuly shooting 200 balls (getin it in) each day, training at least 2-3 hours a day. It was a good thing there was a b.ball court built where I live and nobody plays there. I developed into a pure shooter and changed my position to shooting guard. I can play the point too. I gained more respect in school because of my shooting, dont mean to brag but I think i was the sharpest shooter in the whole school tat time and I am still now :P. One weakenss, because I spent a lot of time shooting, my inside scoring was really bad. And my jumping decreased a lot, im now a shorty as they are taller people than me, even my friend Vyron who was shorter than me now was Taller than me. O ya after wathching the anime and got really touched by it, i started setting goals n having dreams for my basketball.

2002
Still in the same lousy school of JIS. This was the year my Lady Coach left the school and went to work in Singapore. YES I Was really happy back then, not only me but all of us, we hated her called her a b8ch, and all that because she was always screaming at us, shouting at us and all that and we did;nt like it. Guess I was wrong, really wrong. after she left, the basketball team got really quiet and there was hardly any training at all. I guess I missed the training, and i found out as a coach that was the stuff you need to do, and her coaching was right and great. It was stupid of me to say bad things about her and i really regretted it. I guess i matured into a better player with a better understanding of the game. Before she left there was always training, early morning, after school, holiday and she arranged games. We had games at least once every 2 months. But now it was all CRAP, no proper coach and all that. I really missed the coach......

However there was another forbissea games, the game where all S.E.A international schools competed each other? ya that one. I did't join the one last year which was in KL and the team did;nt win anyhting. This year the game was in Penang. Yup my 'hometown' kinda , I still treat it as part of my hometown anyway. Because it was in Penang i decided to join and get the GOLD from my hometown. We came up short, got bronze and to tell the truth we couldve gotten 1st place, but thx to one my of cocky selfish, very up himself friend. He costed us the game. We even lost to the worst team there damn it, can u believe it we lost to the worst team and we beat the team that got 1st and 2nd place? Yes i was really pissed, I dont even want to accept that bronze medal but i took it anyway ^^ I also got a bronze medal from the football team. So that makes 2 medals from the games. And I was really happy to see the face of my old coach again. yup she was teaching in an iternational school in Singapore and no surprise shes the head coach there. After the game in Penang I came back trained harder again, to try to achieve my dreams and goals.

Mid 2002
There was a inter-college basketball match. I dont know why but we got chosen to join anyway. Let's just say the game sucked and we did't even make it to the 3rd round. As i said there was no proper coach and all that, no more training people... So there was no teamwork, trust and chemistry. we sucked bad. Nuff' said. Then after that game there was a try-out to join the brunei team to compete in China. Yup i was so happy when i got the news i was chosen for the try-outs. I joined the try outs but did'nt get into the team. Guess i sucked, or the coach was really paying attention (really he wasn;t watching) anyway be it good or bad i could'nt join the team anyway as im not local. But it was a good experience anyway.

2003
Times almsot up, I'm leaving the country soon and I suck bad. Not enuf training and all. There was this youth program thing where any bruneians can join and participate in the training, if you;re good enough you can join the national youth team. To be frank I think i could join the team, because a few of my frens that i know and played ball with joined the scheme and got in the team. And i know if i joined i would have a high chance of being in the team, but sadly i couldn't because Im not local. and i got in contact wif my old friend Chia Wei, he joined the youth program scheme thing. O ya I've been training and was always thinking of beating him when I see him again LOL. Still didn't get the chance till now. Joined the inter-college tourney again and same thing made it into the 2nd round and got whooped. Same thing no coach no training, we had to do all by ourselves no trust and all. We hav a teacher who has lots of experience playing ball actually almost to a semi-pro level i think but he wasnt a good coach. all he thinks about is playing but not coaching. So he didn't coach us cos his lazy too. After that I didn't feel like playing anymore really, just felt like quiting, I quitted basketball for 2 weeks actually in 2002 and another in 2004.

2004
Bah this year was probably the worst year of my life. I had lots of injury before but never this worse. I had a tennis elbow so I didn't play for 2 months, and 2 months wasn't good enough to heal! There was a basketball tourney in KL, and will probably be my last tourney in JIS. Ok lots of things happened, I lost my respect during 2003 and a lot more in 2004 especially from my 'coach'. I didn't get to play much in KL and was disrepected alot. The coach doesn't trust me in my shootin and all that stuff, I mean my friends trusted me a lot and told me to take more shots as from the coach is the opposite. I can tell that I wasn't useful to the team, and I don't fit in the team. My style of playing just doesn't suit his style of playing...... Yup we lost the game and won only bout 2 games, overall we were 6th outof 8th if i remembered correctly (i was palying through my tennis elbow injury). There was one game when the coach didn't played me at all. I asked for a sub but he kept saying 'wait, wait' In the end we lost anyway and the next game the starters were all exhausted so the coach didn't had a choice but played me in the game..... Let's just say i was really pissed and frustrated. One thing i was happy was that I met my ex-lady coach again, she has lost some weight :P and gotten more beautiful ,lol. No surprise her girls team was really strong and overall got 2nd place. Really happy for her team. And I was really happy when she said that I improved a lot especially with my shooting, back then when she was coaching i couldn't shoot for crap.

My last game in JIS was actually 1 week before i left the school, there was a small inter-school comp organized by ISB and we were invited. The coach knows that it was my last game, and actually I didn't really want to play in the team cos i know im nog goin to be useful for 'his' team. I joined jsut because he asked me too, thinkin maybe he wants to use me. Guess i was wrong, I didn;t get to play for the first half, that's cool. I'll play in the 2nd then, yup I did for less than 5 Freakin minutes. When he made the sub, I was about to blow him off, but one of my friend said that he'll sub instead of me, really thank the guy for letting me play more. After that game i really felt disrespected why did the coach asked me to join the team when im not useful to him? Knowing it was my last game in JIS , i felt disrespected and disgusted especially from the coach. He knew it was my last game, and at the end of the game he went 'Jason i heard you're leaving' i just didn;t look at him , said 'yeah' and walked out of the gym. That was the last time I saw his face....

And so here I am studying in KL. There are heck lots of basketball players there, and I was commited to training , waking up at 5 am to play ball by myself but slowly, i stopped playing ball and i stopped for 1 month. Maybe its time to quit? I don't know..... we'll see, those dreams and goals i still haven;t achieved and not relaly commited as before, im now confused not knowin wat to do.......

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I would like to say thank you to Rajan, Leonard, Aimi, Vyron, Anton and Shawn my buddies for being an inspiration to me who gave me motivation to play and be a better player, even when I'm down (or quit) you guys were the one that brought me up again. Ms Stevenson (the urm coach i used to hate , the fat one?) for teaching me to play basketball and made me into a better player and all ^^... Leonard thx for helping me wif that 10,000 shots in 1 week training lol