By Neo Wei Jie (18S06R), Captain

A decade.

That’s how long most of the Raffles Junior Badminton Team (RJBT) members have been playing badminton for. To us, badminton is no longer just a hobby, but also an integral part of our life.

Our current batch has a small team of 12 (8 guys, 4 girls) which makes us a closely knitted bunch! We train in the ISH on Tuesdays, Thursdays from 5–8pm and Fridays at the Y1–4 side from 4–7pm during season (typically April to May). After season, training is reduced to twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays 5–8pm. Our training consists of mainly court trainings, such as drills to improve our techniques and matches to hone our game sense.

We have two coaches, Coach Ronald and Coach Aman, who are in charge of singles and doubles respectively. They are both specialists in their area and have led us well, as evident from how we successfully defended both our titles in the inter-school A Div championships earlier last year. We also have strong support from our CCA teachers, Mr Wong and Ms Lim. They care for our welfare and work hard behind the scene, ensuring that we can focus on our training and give our 100%!

RJBT is special in that it is a team consisting of many different individuals, each with their own strengths and part to play in the team, united together to strive towards a common goal: to bring glory to Raffles.

For 2018, we definitely hope to retain our titles. More importantly, however, we hope that everyone will mature together along the way and enjoy our time as a team in spite of the many challenges coming our way.

Lastly, any interested individuals can sign up for our trials which will be held soon. We look forward to any new members joining our family!