Lion's Heart... and almost a lion's share

The Penang Open Challenge has come and gone. Primary purpose of participating, as put down before, was to expose the players AND to show off their impressive Nike jerseys (if not the only reason).

Sharron Tan (GK)

Line 1:
Khor Kuan Yang

Kew Pei Li

Mekananth

Por K Yan

Line 2:
Jason Chan

San Jeevan
Joshua

Alice Ong

Subs:
Christopher Anand

Ilaiye Pumaren

Goekula Kannan

The first game did more than expose-- it geared the team up for what they all knew would be a tough day. Up against the Subang Rascals, boasting the likes of Sasi and co., Frontliners did okay (in fact they did quite well for a warm-up match) and only lost by a mere seven goals :)

Along with the next game came the Dalat Moldy Oldies. One up to Frontliners in no time thanks to Joshua, but they let in two successive goals before the Game Over. 2-1, then, to the Dalat team. Not bad, really... after the generous first game's scoreline.

Come the third game, Frontliners changed into their white strip and trooped out against Salibandy! Co. Better organized and prepared, Frontliners again drew first blood after some slick teamwork between Joshua and Jason. Drawing level soon after and going ahead after a bad call by the ref (in view of the threat of floorball hooligans, the club has decided not to release his name;), with time running out, it looked like the team was doomed to their third straight defeat... when out of nothing, Jason decided to have a whack at goal inside his own half. Somehow, just somehow, the ball managed to find its way into the net. Frontliners 2-2 Salibandy! Co.The scoreline says it all (though methinks Jason wouldn't mind adding a few words...)

Revved up, the Frontliners engine did not lose any speed against their next opponents, Innebandy! Co and were unfortunate to be undone by an opportunistic strike from Mr. Daniel.

Up against familiar faces from Contact, the team lined up against them with the 8-3 mauling a month ago still fresh in their minds. Both teams did well and played to a one-all draw, but Kuan Yang missed an oh-so-glorious opportunity to garner a win for Frontliners after some good work by the Contact goalie. Later on, a Contact player acknowledged that the team had improved much since the friendly.

The players, apparently, had saved their best and also their tempers for last. Playing against the second Dalat team, Frontliners was showered with two minutes(es?) with goals during those periods rubbing in some extra salt.

All the players deserve to be commended for their performance, some more than others (though as Mr. Jason says, there is no 'i' in team, so...), holding the tag of underdogs but not walkovers. And although there will be no nasi kandar water this time (Note: you should be able to guess who's writing this report by now), the club has announced to all of Penang that for the Frontliners Floorball Club, the best is yet to come.

GO GO PENANG OPEN CHALLENGE !!!

The long-awaited Penang Open Challenge is finally here. Frontliners will be sending a team into the tournament. In preparation for the tournament, the Frontliners have been engaged with 7 intensified training sessions in 2 weeks before the challenge.

The names representing the Frontliners in Penang Open Challenge will include

1. Sharron Tan, GK
2. Khor Kuan Yang, Player-Coach
3. Jason Chan
4. Joshua
5. Mekananth
6. San Jeevan
7. Ilaiye Pumaren
8. Christopher Anand
9. Por Kai Yann
10. Goekula Kannan
11. Alice Ong
12. Kew Pei Li

Coach Kuan Yang said " Our purpose of joining this tournament is to expose our players to more competitions."

Asked on how he felt about the trainings held, Joshua Raj said " we improved a lot during this extra training sessions. "

This tournament will be a good experience for all the players. There will be lots of quality players participating in it. A team from KL will be sending national players and some foreigners. The competition is going to be tough.

CEO Jason Chan says, "Participating in this tournament will be the first step in our so-called "Project 2007" program. While we are not the best in terms of our overall skills and experience, we are aiming to do our best in the tournament. We aren't expecting much though. But we believe that the players will learn a lot during this tournament."

Coach Kuan Yang says with a military tone, "The whole purpose of joining the tournament is not to win. The purpose is to PLAY WELL !!! "

Whatever they say, we wish Frontliners all the best. May we see the best of the FRONTLINERS during the tournament.

Frontliners Training: Business As Usual

This week is the second week Frontliners is having boys and girls training together as preparation of the up coming Penang Open Challenge.

The attendance was slightly reduced due to some of the players attending school co-curriculum activities while both Jason and Sarah had to attend leaders meeting.

Training started of in regular fashion with few rounds of jogging and warm-up drills such as ‘Snakes’ and ‘2 on 1’. New coach Kuan Yang was a bit picking on the ‘2 on 1’ drills as he halted it to emphasize on the positioning play of the defender.

The coach gathered the players and explained a few basic tips of being a defender, such as how to position your body, staying calm, and backtracking. He then paired the players up with both of them facing each other and started of with a backtracking drill, where the attacker will run forward while the defender will backtrack and players will change roles in turn.

“This drill is to training your footwork so that you won’t injure yourself in training or real matches” said the coach.

A little bit of fun was added in the same drill with the attacker trying to out run the defender. “If the attacker has run past you, what’s the point of backtracking? Have more common sense. Turn around and run with the attacker.”

The “2 on 1” drill was resumed and the defensive play improved. After the drills it was the much more anticipated game play which everyone enjoyed the most. Overall, it was just usual business with a bid of extra intensity from the new coach who has high hopes for the club.