DECEMBER REVIEW

December has broken yet another record having spent a total of 109 training hours vs (72 hours in November and 54 hours in October). Taking full advantage of the final holiday weeks, the on-court hours has spiked up since July 2012 as seen from the graph. We had to cancel the final two weeks of tuition classes to allow the boys keep pace with their daily training demands. We can sense the resoluteness of the coaches as they work tirelessly to contend with the feisty activities.

With all the hard hours ploughed in especially over the past six months, the boy’s badminton is beginning to come of age. We begin to see a prelude of what seem a semblance of a lithe badminton player with correct coordinated flair, especially Aaron – yet there is still plenty of work to be done.

As I mull over our new resolution, in the mean time, the boys will have to brace themselves for the new academic year in 2013. Our challenge will be to balance between their hectic tuition hours vs badminton training hours. I am cringing now and will have to take one day at a time. 

DIALLING DOWN THE PACE



Aaron (R) paired with cousin Nicholas Ong (L) from the UK who visited us for 2 days



One day Aaron broke his silence with a question to me. “Daddy, why I cant enter semi finals like kor kor?” I could see that he has been quite worked up about it. I begin to understand more about Aaron’s inner workings. It seems like he has the ambition but still hasn’t acquired enough tools in his war chest to take him there. He was like playing for tomorrow with yesterday's armoury. It could get pretty frustrating and would probably explain why he threw difficult games away.

Perhaps we didn’t realize that we have put our hopes a little too high for little Aaron to live up to. He needed to after all, like every one else, go through the process of development in his own time. However I was glad he asked that timely question because we will now dial down our volume to match his own pace.

Furthermore, in future tournaments, being an artful player he is, we advised him to cut down his fanciful but risky play and focus on the basics to reduce unforced errors. We continue to believe in him as he is such a talent to watch.



Doubles Sparring Aaron/Nicholas vs Ryan/Me at Bt Jalil Golf & Country Club



Wrist Strengthener Upgraded

           

Before - with Variable Weight Adjuster

After - with G5 Grip & Flexy Shaft

                                           

13th INTER-MBA TOURNAMENT 2012




Aaron with his YY Arc Saber

 

2012 came to a close with the final Tournament in our calendar, the 13^th Inter-MBA held in MBA Taman Megah. For the first time, the boys will be contending in the Intermediate level having just stepped up to this level 2.5 months ago. All the zealous training this year has culminated to this penultimate test.

Nicholas Lim, the boys’ 10 year-old cousin who spent his holidays with us for a few weeks competed in the basic-level pool of 21 contestants. He won his first round against an 8-year-old boy but lost in his second round to a stronger opponent who eventually made it to the semi-final.

Aaron’s badminton was like an art - playing perhaps his best game I have ever seen. Prior to the tournament, both my wife and I have been giving him lots of pep talk to prepare him mentally to approach his games in a positive way. He had a fairly easy passage in the first round but fell in the second round although he was slightly better technically. His lack of experience showed when he was trailing by 3 to 4 points in the second half. He got desperate and made several unforced errors which cost him his game.





Ryan lost by only one point

 Ryan had a bye in the first round. He managed his game steadily to win in his next two rounds to enter quarter-finals. His quarter-final opponent was seeded 4^th in this tournament of 37 contestants. They were equal stroke for stroke with Ryan leading narrowly 15-14 before the break. The boys were neck to neck again until the game was tied at match point 29-29. It ended with Ryan overshot his forehand drive and handed the game to his opponent. Ryan was in tears as he was so close to upset a seeded player. However, being in the top 8 out of 37 players is already quite an achievement having been in intermediate level after just 2.5 months and we can take comfort that he is just a tad short for 3^rd or 4^th best.  











Results Boys Singles Basic Level

1^st Round :             Nicholas Lim vs Lye Jun Min                            30-25

2^nd Round :            Nicholas Lim vs Tan Man Peng                       12-30

Results Boys Singles Intermediate Level

1^st Round :             Aaron Wong vs Tan Wei Tze                              30-21

2^nd Round :            Aaron Wong vs Nicholas Hew                          27-30

1^st Round :             Bye

2^nd Round :           Ryan Wong vs Ngeow Dey Ren                        30-22

3^rd Round              Ryan Wong vs Tan Kai Hong                             30-23

Quarter-Final         Ryan Wong vs Chew Kuan Leong (4)              29-30