“Hold the ball! Slow the play down!” The throaty instructions of both RI’s and SAJC’s water polo coaches could be heard throughout the ASC(I) swimming complex, as the A Division boys’ water polo 3rd-4th placing match got underway. The RI A Division boys’ team had lost narrowly to both HCI and ACJC in the previous rounds, two closely fought matches which denied them a chance of defending their title in the final. However, the team was fully prepared to end the season with a medal, and secure a top 3 finish for the school.
RI’s Daniel Tung (holding the ball) trying to find the right teammate to pass to
Both teams wasted no time in trying to assert an early advantage, with numerous attempts on goal and energetic bursts of swimming which drew appreciative applause from the handful of spectators present. Unfortunately for the Rafflesian supporters, SAJC managed to edge out the first two tightly-contested quarters of play, heading into the second break holding a slim 6-4 lead over RI.
In the third quarter, RI played a slower passing game, moving the ball around the attacking half of the pool. They were rewarded for their work, with Kelvin Zhou beating the SAJC keeper with an effort from range to score the last goal of the quarter, narrowing the deficit to 8-7.
RI’s Bradley Windley (#10) beating the SAJC keeper with a well-struck effort
With the game poised at 9-9, it was up to extra time to decide the match. Team captain Bryan Ong led by example, netting an accurate shot in the first half of extra time. With RI leading the match by a single point heading into the second half of extra time, it set up a nail-biting finish to the match, which saw SAJC pelting multiple shots toward goal every time they had the chance. However, RI held on to their narrow lead till the end of the match, claiming a very well-deserved win.
Defending against the late SAJC onslaught
Bryan, who led the RI team to their comeback victory, said, “I’m very proud of the team for playing their hearts out and winning when the odds were stacked against us. We didn’t lose our cool, didn’t panic and played like champions. Even though we did not get to emulate the form of our seniors in previous years, we finished today with no regrets. Couldn’t have done it without each and every one’s efforts today.”
Raffles Press would like to congratulate the A Division Boys’ water polo team on their hard fought victory, clinching third place by a single point in what was an exhilarating match. We would also like to wish all other students the best of luck during this inter-schools season, and hope to be reporting on even more success in the months to come.
When I brought my primeval Nokia ‘brick’ phone to school, the most frequently asked question that was directed to me was a brow-raising ‘What happened to your phone?’ While at first I attempted to explain the tragedy that had befallen my Blackberry, it was pretty soon condensed into ‘Well, this is my new phone.’
Many a time we hear of a cause, be it about children in Kenya or the elderly in Singapore, but how often do we do anything about it afterwards? How often do we feel passionate about something for three days then forget everything almost immediately after that? How often do we pledge or dedicate our hearts to something meaningful, only to dismiss that pledge as a passing statement?
The new logo for the Home Economics Institute, Raffles
This morning, Principal Mrs. Lim Lai Cheng announced at a media conference that RI will get its very own Home Economics Institute, Raffles (HEIR) in the third quarter of 2013. This follows the successful roll-out of the EW Barker Institute of Sports, the Raffles Leadership Institute, and the Raffles Science Institute.
Explaining the rationale for the latest initiative, Mrs. Lim explained, “We have been tracking the marriage and fertility rates of ex-Rafflesians for the past 5 years. There has been a noticeable drop of over 70% in the number of graduates finding their significant other.”
The school has started a nationwide search for a Dean to lead the new institute, together with two or three specialists in the field. To be funded by the 1823 Fund, the institute will be housed at the current Humanities Programme block, which will be re-painted.
Once fully operational, the institute will provide enrichment programmes in cooking, sewing, cleaning and child-rearing to Year 5 students during Protected Time. Unlike external programmes, which tend to teach practical skills, the Institute will focus on the fields of “differentiated research, thought leadership, and household administration and psychology”. Elite students who successfully complete the course will receive a Distinction in the new Life Skills Development Domain of the Raffles Diploma.
In addition, the Institute will also run an Intensive Core Remediation Programme for selected Year 5 students during the school holidays. Those who require the additional support will be identified by their Civics Tutors.
Members of the Rafflesian community have responded positively to the announcement. Parent of a Year 5 student, Mrs. Mary Low told us, “I am so relieved that the school is doing something in this regard. The formal accreditation process will ensure that my son is marketable to potential spouses.”
Civil servant Mr. Tan Keng Meng, who graduated from RJC in 2006, also wrote in to say that he was pleased that RI was “furthering the national direction articulated in the Population White Paper, and heeding MOE’s calls to move away from an excessively academic education.”
It is expected that the Institute will be officially launched at RI’s 190th Founder’s Day in July.
An account of the National Schools Cross Country Championships 2013. The writer is a member of Cross Country and Press.
Photos from Today Online and Jolene Quek (13A01C).
27 March 2013 has long been on the calendar for many of us not because of the Maths CT1 paper, but because it was the day which would mark the culmination of all the time, energy and effort we had invested into the gruelling trainings – the National Schools Cross Country Championships 2013 to be held at Bedok Reservoir. It has been no secret that our aim was nothing short of the double Gold, and both our A boys’ and girls’ teams had been quietly confident going into this penultimate race of the season, having established ourselves as the school to beat in the 3 previous races. But we were not about to let the danger of complacency set in. The focus was on maintaining our position and working on getting enough sleep, nutrition, and hydration, especially with the horrible weather in the weeks leading up to the race.
It was 7am and the previously quiet and tranquil environment of the reservoir gradually grew in activity as competitors and supporters alike began to stream into the area and teams began to head off in different directions for customary warm-up routines – the whole place was abuzz with excitement as everyone eagerly anticipated the start of proceedings.
The A Boys kicked off the day with the first race scheduled at 9am, a distance of 4.3km that was exactly one round of the reservoir.
RI runners forming the leading pack from the start of the race – just like another training run (from left to right: Yu Jie, Jonathan (partially hidden), Jia De, Bryan)
While the pre-race favourite Karthic from Hwa Chong quickly established a sizeable lead, no one was willing to follow his punishing pace as he was clearly a class above the rest. Barring him, the lead pack consisted of our top 4 RI runners in Yu Jie, Bryan, Jia De and Jonathan and an ACJC runner as the pace quickly settled down. We did not have an actual race plan, but if there was one, it was to run together and that was exactly what we did. This “running formation” of sorts was sustained for most of the race and it was only possible because we had practiced running together at such a pace in training so many times that it felt almost natural to do that in the race.
In the end, Yu Jie finished 2nd, Bryan 3rd, Jonathan 4th and Jia De 6th to secure a commanding victory of 15 points over our nearest competitors Hwa Chong Institution. Our 5th and 6th runners also performed commendably, with Everest coming in 10th and Joshua coming in 11th. (Cross Country team scores are calculated based on the positions of the top 4 runners in the team.)
A Boys’ team with the champions’ trophy and Overall Challenge trophy (back, L to R: Everest Yeow, Heng Yu Jie, Lim Jia De, Joshua Nga, Darrion Mohan, Goy Shen; front: Jonathan Tan, Bryan Yong)
When we finished our race, the A Girls were there to congratulate us before they reported as their race was the last race of the day, starting at 9.50am. Having the A Boys team championship in the bag, we were rooting for our girls’ team and hoping that they could wrest the team championship back from bitter rivals Hwa Chong Institution who had won it in 2012.
Our girls’ team had displayed ruthless dominance in the previous race by sweeping the top 4 individual positions to record a perfect score of 10, and they repeated their sheer superiority led by Jolene Quek, who stopped the clock as A Division Girls’ Champion in 14.11.79 for the 3.6km route. She was followed closely by Janielle Lim in 2nd, Tan Wan Xin in 3rd and Adeline Bee rounded off the legendary finish in 4th. Mary-Lisa Chua and Daphne Chia finished 8th and 9th respectively to ensure that all 6 girls finished within the top 10 places. This is the first time in recent memory that any team has swept the top 4 positions and perhaps possibly the incredible unlikelihood of this occurrence means that our A Girls could probably have just walked themselves into the history books of Inter-School Cross Country with a performance that deservedly stole the limelight.
Jolene Quek, Tan Wan Xin, and Janielle Lim complete the podium – tired after the race, but who says you can’t smile?
With RI also taking home the A Division Boys’ and B Division Boys’ team championships, National Cross Country Championships 2013 was a good day for RI who dominated it with 3 out of the 6 team titles, winning 3 out of a possible 4 on offer.
Victory has never tasted so sweet – our victorious A Girls’ Team! (L to R: Daphne Chia, Mary-Lisa Chua, Adeline Bee, Tan Wan Xin, Janielle Lim, Jolene Quek, Victoria Tan)
RI Cross Country thanks our coach, Mr Steven Quek, our teacher-in-charge Mr Tay Meng Kiat, Mr Vincent Quek and Mrs Ramesh from the Year 1-4 side, Madam Or, the RV Cross Country teacher-in-charge, and the many alumni who come back to help us with training, as well as the seniors and student supporters.
The RI contingent at National Schools Cross Country 2013 – bringing home 3 titles
