“In football, the result is an impostor. You can do things really, really well but not win. There’s something greater than the result, more lasting – a legacy.”

-Xavi

Of course, at RJ Football, results have always been important. Coming in 2nd in the National School’s championship only two years ago, our team is hungry and determined to reclaim the championship. However, it is not the result that unites us – it is the love for football that bonds us as one footballing family.

To succeed as a football player, talent is definitely important. However, without hard work and the correct attitude, no amount of talent will make you a good football player. One of our most important considerations in selecting players is their passion and attitude towards football. In the beautiful game, passion is what fuels the game, and for us, passion is also what drives us forward.

For us, trainings are the highlights of the week, and we look forward to them after a tiring day of classes. Just like most sports CCAs, football trainings are held three times a week. Most of the time, they are field trainings, with an emphasis on improving our technique and ball skills. You can always be sure to look forward to the small match played between ourselves at the end of every training session, where we try to put what we learnt earlier into practical usage. However, as mentioned before, dedication and passion are extremely important, as training can get tough: near season, trainings can increase to up to five times a week, and it could become a real struggle to balance schoolwork and CCA.

What will keep you going is the support that you get from your teammates. We stick with one another through thick and thin, in good times and bad. Going through tough trainings together, working hard together outside of training and fighting for the same objective together only serve to strengthen the bonds between us. In the game, we fight alongside our brothers and cover each other’s backs. Your brothers on the (battle) field will spur you on to continue fighting despite of your fatigue and you will do so not for yourself, but for your teammates playing alongside you.

At the end of the day, what really matters, is the legacy – the time, memories and experiences that you’ll have with your teammates, the friendships that you’ll forge. Be part of our family and it will be a decision that you won’t regret. Join us now!

Raffles Street Dance is a young CCA, officially established only 5 years ago as a Student Interest Group in 2010. It has since come a long way and now performs for various events such as Art Season, National Day, CultuR Shock, Water Conference and more.

Street is a place where we aim to forge meaningful friendships with people of common interests, and to fuel our love and passion for dance. Our CCA places the growth of its members as a top priority, both physically and mentally. We care strongly about all Streeters’ welfare, and make it a point to create an environment where all Street Dancers will be able to call Street their home away from home. Our bonding activities and outings planned throughout the year serve that purpose, placing special emphasis on character development and learning. In order to properly induct the new J1s into the CCA, we hold a dance camp every year filled with dance-packed and bonding activities.

In Street, our members have the opportunity to learn from an experienced instructor, Ms Stefanie Leong. Through her guidance, members are able to improve their dance technique in a fun yet safe training process, improve their fitness and mental endurance, and also explore different styles of dance. We hope that through their experience in the CCA, Streeters will learn to lean on one another for support and encouragement, and be able to grow as team players, balancing out each others’ strengths and weaknesses as each member develops their own individual, unique style of dancing.

We also hope to be a CCA that contributes not just to the school, but to the wider community. Street Dance has, in the past year, taken up CIP projects such as teaching dance to children and preparing them for their Christmas show performance at the Young Women’s Christian Association, and raising funds for ex-offenders through a performance for The Aurum Concert.

Our regular practices are held on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, though these sessions do increase in number as performances draw near. Our practices include physical training, drills in dance basics, and the learning and practising of dance choreography.

If you want to be a part of the Raffles Street Dance family, do sign up for our trials! You will be required to learn a simple dance routine and freestyle to a song of our choosing. Even if you don’t have dance background, fret not- what we look for is basic coordination, your willingness to learn and most importantly, your passion for dance. Here in Street, we believe that ANYBODY CAN DANCE, so don’t be afraid to take the first step to sign up for auditions. We hope to see you there!

A Year in the Life of an International Chess Club Member

The international chess club member does not merely think. He analyses. He calculates. How many steps does it take for him to reach his proper place in the parade square for morning assembly from his chosen nap-place in the canteen? One hundred forty-seven. Does the pointed use of the masculine pronoun in every sentence of this paragraph thus far hint at some sexist bias inherent in his CCA? Probably not. (It does, however, demonstrate a certain unfortunate trend with regards to the gender of majority of its members. One YOU can change or further contribute to!)

The international chess club member does not merely scour for a mate, as others do. He plots. He prowls. The plebeian playbooks of the common man are cast aside in favour of tactic books and puzzle books which he and his club-mates fervently peruse- the casual conversations abandoned in favour of stony silence as pairs battle for dominance repeatedly in sparring match after sparring match. All in feverish pursuit of that mental victory and the psychological satisfaction it brings.

(There is a lot of psychological satisfaction to be gained from this CCA. It is in fact commonly said that membership in this CCA near guarantees that psychological satisfaction will probably the only kind of satisfaction one will be gaining for a long time. What were you thinking?)

Requirements for New Recruits

The good news: there are no official requirements for joining our highly exclusive, extremely sought-after (really) CCA! You heard us right: no trials! What are you waiting for?

On a more serious note though, here are some of the criteria you should probably meet, if you don’t want to spend two years skulking about miserably in the classroom that doubles as our base of operations:

• A Passion for Seeking a Mate. Strictly over the board only, please.
• Free Friday afternoons (3-6pm) to study the art of strategising. All in the name of that elusive mate. Ahem. Checkmate.
• Partly-free March and September holidays, where our major competitions usually occupy 1-2 days.
• Spectacles not mandatory, but probably inevitable.