By Faith Kelly Chang (Girls’ Captain), Emily Tan (Girls’ Vice-Captain), Tung Qi En (Boys’ Captain), Hovan Tan (Boys’ Vice-Captain)
Ever thought of forming a formidable partnership like that between Hinata and Kageyama from Haikyu? What about joining a supportive community and forging long-lasting friendships with your teammates? Well, this merely scratches the surface of what you stand to gain from joining our CCA. Let us introduce you to the intricacies of this beautiful sport.
What is volleyball?
The basic principle of volleyball is simple: don’t let the ball touch the ground. Each team gets 3 touches to dig, set or spike the ball over to the other side of the net. Since holding on to the ball for even a second too long is a foul, it is crucial for volleyballers to consistently practise their basics to build excellent ball control.
Each team will have six players on court at a time, and these six players will work closely together to support each other. Hence, having good synergy and team dynamics is also of utmost importance.
What do you do in Raffles Volleyball?
A normal training session starts with our Raffles Volleyball cheer (“Raffles, ace, ace, ace!”), followed by an intense warmup session. Next, we practise some ball drills to improve our basic skills and finally, we play games! Enjoy the loud cheering and screaming from inside the court and by the sidelines as we play against each other to work on both our individual abilities and team dynamics. Our coaches then give us a debrief to help us identify areas for improvement. To end off the training session, we usually go for a nice team dinner to bring us closer together!
Raffles Volleyball trains at the Sheltered Basketball Courts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 4.30pm to 7.30pm. During competition season, Y6s train at the Indoor Sports Hall on Saturdays, from 9am to 12pm as well. The girls’ and boys’ teams train separately under different coaches, but we still train next to each other so there is ample opportunity for bonding between the two teams.
Our CCA participates in the “A” division of the National School Games which typically occurs between late March and April. The competition takes place in a round-robin format within 4 groups and the top 2 teams that emerge victorious from each group will progress into the knockout stages. Normally, each team sends out 14 players to the competition (the size of each batch!), hence you have a high chance of participating in NSGs at least once over the two years.
Apart from participating in the National School Games, Volleyballers also have the opportunity to organise games for others to try out the sport. In July, we organised the Volleyball Team Raffles Games, seeing 14 teams of various houses playing against each other. In February, we will host the Old Rafflesians League, in which past cohorts of Raffles Volleyball alumni are invited back to have a fun day when people can catch up with old friends and bond through the game. Volleyball members get to try their hand at refereeing and organising during these events.
I want to join!
Now, you may be wondering: what are the requirements to be a part of our volleyball family? Well, as volleyball is a developmental cca, all we require is your enthusiasm and eagerness to learn! No experience of any sort is required. In fact, many of us joined the CCA with no prior experience. We are simply looking for passionate members that are willing to commit and give their best to the team. Just like how no man is an island, no one is alone on court. Everyone has an important role and you will definitely find a position suited for you in the team.
If this sounds like the CCA for you, do sign up for our trials and we are excited to see you next year!
