Training 060609: Return of the C-730

"Two hours of training only meh?!!"
"...seemed like forever-lah."

Only now do the Frontliners truly appreciate the meaning of indoor courts. While coach Kuan Yang stood pretty at the sides (more or less)... ...he made sure the players enjoyed no such thing as they labored under the sweltering heat.

It was reasonably good attendance, with two new players: Soon Chern (right) and Mayfield (left), yet the faces of most Div.1 players were sadly missing.

Most of the drills by the coach emphasized receiving while moving, looking up and passing. For the first few drills, he had four cones arranged along the basketball court, on both sides. One player would stand at the first cone, and another at the last cone, opposite each other. In constant motion, one player would pass and the other, instead of waiting for the ball to come, would run up, receive, return the pass, then backtrack. A few variations of this drill were done, with the coach throwing in dribbling and turning and drop-passing.

"Tired?" (coach)
"Uh...yes?"
"Okay. Let's do killer pass."

Killer pass: Three players in one group; two stationary and with the ball, one running to receive the passes and return them. Constantly. Two rounds for each threesome to complete, one run being forty seconds.

And after the much-deserved waterbreak, it was finally time for a game. But what's a game without a goalie?

So in walked Michael, the man of the moment, all suited up (which took him forever to put on), with an extra flourish, making him look all Arabian (according to Coach). However, since there was only one goalie, the team without was hard put by and let in two easy goals in straight succession before a fed-up Ming Hwee marched in and placed two cones as the goal.

The game was much fairer now (that is, until Ming Hwee came in and hogged the ball all the way), and it was a real battle between two constantly changing and exchanging sides. Su Rong especially, could be seen everywhere at once. The two newcomers seemed to be able to get the hang of the game pretty fast. Julian and Kyle were like Yorke and Cole/Berbatov and Keane/Puskas and Di Stefano(football partnerships..). And June?




...had an absolutely scandalous time sticking to Su Rong all the way.

As training wore on, the sun rose higher, and some felt the only choice left was to whip their shirts off and display their wonderfully-sculpted bodies while playing (sorry, Ming Hwee, you haven't qualified yet). Then, as if by some silent agreement, the players trickled to the giant slide beside the basketball court, thus ending the game. Coach Kuan Yang then talked mostly about the upcoming friendly with Ztec on Wednesday.