Spot any basketballers heading to the canteen after school? Striding through the centre aisle between the canteen tables, down the flight of stairs towards the carpark, then turning right… that’s right, we’re headed to the basketball courts. Shoes on, all laced up, and we’re set for training.

It is just another day on our homeground, where we train till the sun goes down, the rims go up and the lights go off. The typical training session begins with the most rudimentary warm-up routines, followed by basic drills and exercises, before a final team scrimmage to cap everything off. What else do we do? We push each other to the limit again and again every training, rain or shine; after all, we cannot get much done if we only work on the days we feel good. These are not just the words of past basketball legends – they are the mentality embedded in each and every one of us. We are driven by the belief that the accumulated effort put into every scrimmage, every cone drill, and every conditioning workout will eventually manifest itself on the occasion that matters: the National Championships.

Bored already? Thankfully, this is rarely a concern for us. Our teachers and coaching staff make sure to vary our workouts from time to time, instilling refreshing variety into our training sessions to keep us engaged. From periodic tracking of our physical metrics (such as muscle mass and body fat ratio), to providing a diversity of conditioning exercises and tests, we are constantly kept on our toes. Nevertheless, we have no regrets, because we know that we will ultimately reap what we sow at the end of the day – by becoming stronger, physically and mentally.

As with any team sport, comradeship is key. Camaraderie is built both during training sessions, and interactions outside of official CCA time. After training, we stay behind to hang out and have dinner. On days without training, there are the occasional outings and even staycations. Let us not forget our much-anticipated annual trip to Taiwan during the March holidays. During these trips, we get to face off against better teams abroad, but most importantly have fun together while gelling as a family. It is the time when first-year juniors get to bond with one another, as well as pester the seniors to drop their lecture notes and forget about their revision for the imminent post-holiday CTs by joining in with their activities and games.

Be it on or off the court, we basketballers value the time spent together with each other. We may be completely fatigued and worn out at the end of training, but somehow we will never get tired of one another. Like how we all fight to keep the ball in our hands in a match, we value everything the CCA has endowed us with – opportunities, memories and companions. Like how we constantly look out for our other teammates in a game, we look out for one another and make sure no one is left behind.

Dream. Team. Fight. Win. Whatever it takes to fulfill the team mantra, we are in it together.