CCA Previews ’20: Tennis

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Raffles Tennis Exco ’20

Once upon a time, a friend of mine asked me what tennis is all about. “Isn’t tennis just 2 dudes whacking balls at each other?” I was horrified—how could one reduce the amazing sport of tennis to just “whacking”?

Well of course, this might be what the seemingly simple rules seem to suggest—use your racket to hit the small green ball over the net into the big rectangular space that’s called the tennis court. Simple, right? Not quite.

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CCA Previews ’20: Indian Cultural Society

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Vaishali (20S03I), Chairperson

To summarise ICS in short, it’s a CCA with a varied combination of, well… Indians. You name them, we have them! Tech/film geeks? Check. Singers? Of course. Dancers? Duh. Actors? Absolutely. From Indians who love to debate, to Indians who just like to sit back, eat some murukku and banter with everyone, we welcome all!

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CCA Previews ’20: Volleyball

Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Chen Yunxi, Wynsey (20A01A), Girls’ Team Captain, Benjamin Tan (20S03G), Boys’ Team Vice Captain, and Ng Chee Lun (20S03G) 

We confess—we thought long and hard about this intro. We even considered using the following quotes from that one volleyball anime: 

And just for the lolz, this: 

haikyuu-quotes-if-you-look-down-on-us-like-that-well-chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out-ryunosuke-quotes-tanaka-quote
(just kidding, we don’t bite… or chew… or spit.)

However, all the quotes we were considering seemed to fall short of the introduction we were looking for. To us, the spirit of Raffles Volleyball encapsulates so much more. The mental fortitude of each player, the trust between teammates, and the thrill of the sport simply cannot be described in a series of anime quotes. Thus, we will leave the fixing up of a cool intro behind, to dive into what we believe is more important—what RIVB means to each and every one of us. After all, we are merely a bunch of Raffles Volleyball players who’ve fallen in love with the sport and the CCA, and hope that there will come a day where you will too

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CCA Previews ’20: Chamber Ensemble

Reading Time: 2 minutes

By Isaac Tah (20S06L), Chairperson, Joel Hoe (20A01B), Vice-Chairperson, and Jacinda Soh (20A01D), Secretary 
Photographs courtesy of Cheng Wentuo (20S06L)

To the prospective Year 5 student:

Any good H1 General Paper student will tell you that using sophisticated words makes you sound sophisticated:

“Grandiloquent” instead of “disgustingly flowery language”.
“Juxtaposing” instead of “comparing side by side”.

“Chamber” instead of “small”. 
“Ensemble” instead of “bunch of people”.

Ugh. That’s really snooty.

However, the even better H1 General Paper students will tell you that we should never draw conclusions from titles alone. If you unpack the key phrase properly:

“Chamber Ensemble” = “group of earnest amateur string players who enjoy meeting up and making music together”.

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CCA Previews ’20: Chinese Orchestra

Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Lin Leyi (20S03H), Chairperson, and Alastair Soh (20S03D), Vice-Chairperson 

Presenting to you, RJCO! 

Lights on, baton up, deep breath and go. 

Honestly, we get it. Just by the look of it, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell if we were rebellious waiters and waitresses who escaped from a Chinese Restaurant (RJCR), or… musicians from a Chinese Orchestra (RJCO). Yes, you might still be holding the misconception of CO music being filled with loud cymbals and trumpet-like noises, but we promise you that what CO offers is much more than what you see—or rather hear—on the surface level. We are a big family of musicians who enjoy make 笛lightful* music together, but more so, also friends who 笛eeply* care for each other and have fun together.

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