After 9 weeks of hard-work, passion and dedication, the football 18/19 season has come to an end. I am proud to have played alongside fantastic young boys who showed commitment and resilience throughout the whole of this season, being examples on and off the pitch. It was unfortunate that we drew against SAIS which in turn saw us finish second as SAS won the ACSIS title by 1 point, moreover the boys are absolutely gutted by our poor performance in SEASAC, finishing fifth. From my perspective, this was a huge setback for the team after being unbeaten for over 15 games.
Yes, we finished 5th, but what I am so proud of is how we bounced back from a painful defeat in the quarter-final. To lose to golden goal in extra timeis quite possibly the worst feeling because you know that your so close to winning, yet you are so far as one small mistake can cause the dream to collapse. Unfortunately for us, we lost 3-2 to BPS which crushed every single one of us. I have never seen our boys cry. This impacted me. The tears streaming down all our faces demonstrated how much the team means to us. To send off the Seniors who contributed so much for our team to a 5th place result was depressing. However, we all have left with some positives, beginning with the brotherly bond established by the shear passion and positive energy that each and everyone of us has. The trust in each other was ever-so present on the pitch and especially during the team huddle. Chanting “Dragons” still gives me the goosebumps. Moreover, on a personal note, I felt mentally and physically fit which in turn saw me score 7 goals this season. Although being a defender, because of the faith I have in our team, I was able to attack more, contributing key goals for the team, thus highlighting #LO5 as I had to collaborate well with my teammates. More importantly, I think the biggest take away from this season is about keeping to the right mentality. I think prior to SEASAC we were over-confident and we too relaxed due to our unbeaten streak. It is important to keep the right mentality, one that is focused, non-judgemental and down to earth. I believe if we were more mature, the outcome of SEASAC could have been a lot more different. This is demonstrative of #LO7 because we should have shown awareness to our mentality and changed it by being more humble. While we ended on a sad note, I will never forget the relationship that I have formed with the players, these memories will never be forgotten.
Also, a big shout-out to the coaches Max and Gavin for motivating and pushing us to become better people, let alone better footballers.
Max is currently in Bangkok coaching: I would like to thank him personally for being my backbone throughout the course of this season. I thank him for motivating, loving and caring for me. I am truly blessed to have been coached by him. I hope to see him soon.
