Frontliners Training 231107

Expecting little but receiving much. Not the encouraged mentality of athletes who aspire for the top, but somewhere along the way there all help is welcomed, especially when it appears to be one of the lowest points in the year.

How melodramatic.

Be that as it may, this was the case for training today. Because it was held at such an unusual time (Friday-1.30pm), the coach expected only five people to come. Pleasant surprise, then, when Delton Khoo came. Pei Li lead the warm-up, and during that, Mekananth made his grand entrance.

The price of lovely biceps has inflated. Afraid that the players would become giants with bulging biceps and take over, Coach Jason decided to switch to another punishment. (This is only speculation, it is not an official statement.) Megan, who came late, and Rooban who could not control himself and went to the restroom without permission (whoa, this sounds like school...), were ordered to run back and forth from wall to wall the whole length of the court, Megan 30 times and Rooban 15.

While that was taking place, the other players did Snakes. After a while, the coach stopped the drill and called them over.

"After two rounds if I do not hear anything... anything positive from your mouths, you're gonna be like him (points to Megan, Rooban had already finished)."

The court was much more lively after that, and training progressed to Snake 2. The effects of having training at 1.30pm when Kai Yann and Pei Li had to take a break before their lunch came out the wrong way.

Later when everyone was fine, Coach Jason paired the players up and had them pass to one another across the court. He went to where each player was standing and demanded that they look directly at their partner's blade while controlling the ball, threatening them with said punishment if they looked down at the ball.

That done, he introduced a new drill: mini 2-on-1, designed by "Miss Pei Li". (Unnecessarily adding the 'Miss'. Payback, maybe, for the 'Mr' in his name almost every week.) A 2-on-1 in a small badminton court, but this time the goal was the big one, not a cone.

Match time now, 3v3's. Coach Jason tried out the Rotation system where the players moved constantly around, taking up different positions so that there always would be two options to pass for the player with the ball. This kind of play required plenty of stamina, and soon the players were almost running on empty, there being only one substitute. Rooban taught the Frontliners a lesson in shooting, scoring 4 goals.

It was surprising to learn that everyone had plenty of fun during training, even the coach, though there were some very tired legs when training ended.

"Even though you all haven't been training for two weeks already... everyone did okay."

High praise from the coach.

Only one more week before the month-long break in December. Attendance is not expected to improve, but... let's hope for another pleasant surprise, shall we?