By Keng Yi, Nicole (25S03S), Meryl Lim (25S05A), Teo Hui Sian (25S06C)
Cover picture credits to Yeo Xin Yi (25S03A)
The air is chlorinated and sterile. The atmosphere is quiet, like the venue is holding its breath. Swathes of supporters enter in green, black and white. It’s time to watch an NSG match.
The arriving spectators are enthusiastic, but not quite knowledgeable about the sport they’ll be watching; after all, water polo isn’t as ubiquitous as, say, soccer or badminton. Herein lies something unfamiliar, something exciting.
Here’s the thing: barely two years ago, the players in the water were just as clueless. To be specific, only three out of the nine current members on the girls’ Water Polo team had experience in the sport before joining the CCA in Y5.
This is not a unique occurrence: in the stands, two seniors of the team, Annabelle Gong Jiaxuan (23A01F) and Oh Kae-Lyn (23S06P), tell us that they too entered the sport as blank slates. Last year, they left the National School Games without a medal. They’ve passed their ambitions for a medal down to their juniors, and now, they watch them fight for silver.
RI has beaten their opponent in this finals match, Saint Andrew’s Junior College (SAJC), 4-3 once before in the semi-finals. A silver medal will require RI to replicate that result.
So, the stakes are high. The match begins.
The game kicks off on a high. Action punctures the calm waters. The burgeoning cheers of the crowd make no mistake of what this is—a battle for victory. Coaches from both teams shout over the noise, desperately trying to choreograph their players towards a goal.
RI’s Coach, Mr Lim Yao Xiang, standing on the sidelines of the pool. Photo credit: Yeo Xin Yi (25S03A)
At first, the game is frenzied—players from both teams stay in unbroken motion, keeping themselves afloat in three metres of water. All have their eyes latched onto the ball, commanding their muscles to propel their bodies forward, pushing through the water as the water pushes back.
Then, finally, a breakaway. The ball flies in a seamless arc towards the SAJC goal, where it’s struck in by an RI player just over the left shoulder of the goalie.
Dutifully, the RI stands erupt. For the players, however, there’s scarcely any time to breathe, let alone celebrate. The momentum is on their side now, and they certainly can’t surrender it. RI scores another goal with ease. Then, another. The first quarter draws to a close with a score of 5-0.
Intermission has hardly started before it’s over, and the players dive right into the second quarter.
Another goal flies into SAJC’s goal post: 6-0. It starts off looking like a repeat of the first quarter, until an overzealous RI player pushes an opponent down into the water. The referee spreads his fingers wide into a ‘five’, for five metres—a penalty. The stands draw in a breath. This could be a turning point.
SAJC shoots, and RI’s goalie, Koh Min Wei Kathleen (24S03O), propels herself up and out the water, her hand grazing the top of the net and denying SAJC’s goal in a seemingly impossible save. The ball rolls over the top of the goal, and the game plays on. Off the back of their goalie, RI’s team scores another three goals, unrelenting in their offensive.
In the stands, spectators wonder if RI has sealed its victory. In the last ten seconds of the quarter RI’s supporters hold their hands in their laps, waiting to applaud for RI’s score of 9-0.
What happens next sends gasps through the crowd, throws them off-balance. SAJC puts together a coordinated offensive, and an opportunity opens. SAJC welcomes it with open arms. The second quarter ends with a 9-1.
The scoreboard showing SAJC’s first goal in the last 10 seconds of the second quarter. Photo credit: Yeo Xin Yi (25S03A)
Rolling into the third quarter, the team gathers into a circle for a resounding splash, hoping for the energy to tide them over the third.
It’s now the start of the second half of the match. RI created their lead in the first, and there’s just enough minutes on the clock left for SAJC to catch up. Intensity builds. Both teams oscillate between offence and defence, hauling themselves to the other end of the pool within seconds. The pendulum swings in favour of SAJC.
They shoot.
Miss.
The score is at a patient standstill. Time is of the essence. Each team only has a mere 30 seconds to score a goal, before the possession of the ball is passed to the other team.
With 4 minutes and 26 seconds left on the clock, the match seemingly accelerates into action. RI scores a goal: 10-1.
A minute later, another that pushes the scoreboard almost into perfect symmetry: 11-1.
SAJC retaliates with an artistic goal that skids twice over the water to find the back of the net: 11-2.
Thean Rae Chyi, Rhea draws her arm back for a shot in the 3rd quarter of the match. Photo credit: Yeo Xin Yi (25S03A)
“Hurry up!” SAJC’s coach pushes the players to find a comeback, but RI meets them at every turn.
Both teams now are only too aware of the time bleeding away. RI makes the most of it, and sends the ball flying from their own goal to the other to score with 11 seconds left, closing the third quarter with a resounding 12-2.
The last quarter. This is the part of the race where endurance shines most. The end is in sight, and the air is strangely quiet, almost electric with a kind of tentative hope.
By now, both teams are exhausted. They’ve been led in a back-and-forth race for half an hour, dragging their bodies through the water with adrenaline and single-minded resolve. There are attacks on both sides, but they’re mostly futile, drawing the score to a tired impasse.
The noise of the crowd rises and falls, clockwork, as shots from both sides deflect off the crossbar, the post, the goalie.
SAJC scores, 12-3.
RI returns the favour with a goal of their own, 13-3, and the supporters begin to count down the final seconds of the match. Ten… nine… eight…
A last-ditch effort from SAJC closes the match as the buzzer sounds. As the RI team draws themselves away from their defensive positions, victory sinks in.
“We are extremely proud. We finally got the medal that we missed out on last year. We trained so hard, and now we’ve ended up here.
– Carys Tan Shuan Ning, Captain (24S06F)
The once-quiet air is alight. The players clamber out of the pool, weariness washed away by the adrenaline of victory. This was a victory, one, two, years in the making.
The thing about team sports is that everything is tenfold. You win as one; you lose as one.
This team consists of everything from a national player (Zhu Zhiyun, 25S03E) to a vice-captain with no prior swimming experience. Koh Min Wei Kathleen (24S03O), said vice-captain, summarises how they coped with the intimidating learning curve, even with members with no experience at all:
Push through… train hard.
– Koh Min Wei Kathleen, Vice-Captain (24S03O)
The team poses for pictures taken by the spectators sitting in the stands above. Photo credit: Yeo Xin Yi (25S03A)
Two years ago, two-thirds of this team had never played a game of water polo in their lives.
Today, they come away biting down on medals.
Team Members:
#5 – Carys Tan Shuan Ning (24S06F) – Captain
#13 – Koh Min Wei Kathleen (24S03O) – Vice-Captain
#1 – Ong Yuean Yee Gladys (25A01E)
#2 – Jahidah Nadirah Muhammad Azlan (24S06P)
#3 – Zhu Zhiyun (25S03E)
#4 – Audrey Mak Zi Ning (25S06I)
#6 – Koh Lin (25S06E)
#7 – Thean Rae Chyi, Rhea (24S03J)
#8 – Henrietta Tjan Shii Ern (24S03M)
