Return to the Promised Land (something like that)

CANGGIH-NYA!!!

...was the word when Frontliners who hadn't been here before came and beheld the awe-and-fear-inspiring Balik Pulau Stadium.

"It's the first time any club has had training here," said Coach Jason proudly.

Definitely something to be proud of (costs aside); training here gives people a sense of professionalism so they can boast: "I trained in a stadium!" and not old, much beloved PBSM or Kompleks Belia.

Feet on the ground, though, as training will probably not be held here every week (and everyone with a car can sigh in relief for their petrol expenses).

To take a break from all the kecanggihan and kemodenan, the club welcomed Lavinia back from Sabah. Lavinia had been training with Nomad Floorball Club there.

The players set up the ad boards (international size minus one) while the floodlights slowly warmed up. Once fully bright, the players started immediately on their 2-on-1's, the exact same drill done last week.

The standard of play had not gone up by much, though, the keepers easily saving 9 out of 10 shots. Kuan Yang called the players around twice, releasing them to do the same drill again, then finally called for match time.

Michael awestruck by the size of the court. The players were divided into three lines, one junior, one past-junior-not-so-senior, and one senior. The second line played without rest while the junior and senior interchanged.

Predictably, the seniors bossed the second line, and the seconds bossed the juniors. There were few goals scored by the seniors thanks to excellent defending by Sanjeevan, but the juniors were totally outmatched.

However, they did manage to get one shot on goal on the counter after the seconds' defence was nowhere to be seen. The last laugh was by a rapidly-improving Su Rong, however, as he scored the final goal before Kuan Yang called time.

After training, the tired Frontliners sat back to watch the Penang Ladies' team batter Springfield from Singapore 15-0. Springfield's players were tough and not overawed in the least, often letting their aggression get the better of them (two minutes called twice), but their inexperience showed as Penang scored again and again.

They managed to get a few shots on goal as the game progressed, though Sharron saved Penang the blushes, as even Penang's defenders were going forward, looking for goals.

The match ended with Valerie scoring four, Charmaine and Sheryn three, Serene and Penny two, and Sarah one.

Exodus to Balik Pulau

Frontliners will be having their training in the prestigious Balik Pulau Stadium(prestigious by Penang standards) this coming Saturday on the 22nd November 2008. Training will start from 7.45am in the morning. Please be found in RGBC by 7.05am. The van will transport us to the land of durians and will wait for no one. After reaching, first things first, go get the boards and fix it first. Training will end by 9.30am so lets not waste time. In between, there will be a friendly match between Penang Woman squad vs Team from Singapore. We will give our support to our Penang Woman squad until the game ends. The van will transport us back to RGBC by 12pm. See you all there.



* Please confirm your attendance to Coach Jason at 012-251 2460 by 21st November 2008, tomorrow.

The Million Dollar Question. Inspired By Mike.

Penang Floorball League 2009 (PFL'09) is just around the corner. In fact, Division 2 starts in Jan, and the club has decided to come out with a new kit for the league next year.

The plan is for the players to own the away kit which will be redo every year. All players are required to bring RM50 during the next training for the new kit. Any extras will be returned to the players. Any players with financial difficulties can discuss with the Manager to pay in installments.

As for the Million Dollar Question brought up by MIKE(blame him!!), the club has decided to post the question up for all member to debate.

"SHOULD OR SHOULD WE NOT PRINT INDIVIDUAL NAMES ON THE JERSEYS AND WHY??"

All comments to be post as comments in this post with your true identity if not, it will not be entertain. All your thoughts will determine the fate of your jersey, so THINK TWICE, THINK WISE.

Good Luck!!

p/s: the numbers and individual names(to be printed if we decide so) will be update for final confirmation. Stay tune.

1. -
2. CALVIN
3. VERINA
4. ADRIAN
5. TANIA
6. OLGA
7. KENNY
8. PEI LI
9. TRISTAN
10. NICHOLAS
11. ROSELYN
12. STEVEN
13. MARK
14. SACHIN
15. LAWREN
16. BRYAN
17. SONIA
18. SU RONG
19. MING HWEE
20. SANJEEVAN
21. YI LIN
22. SOON KHAI
23. MICHAEL
24. MEGAN
25. LOGAN
26. -
27. JUNE
28. KYLE
29. KUAN YANG
30. KENNETH
31. GABRIEL
32. JULIAN
66. SHARRON

Training 151108

Ramshackle goals and coverless drains: So What?

Frontliners Floorball Club again held training outdoors with the belief that fresh air and lovely breezes are good for health. This time, training was held not-so-in Kompleks Belia dan Sukan. Hardly any puddles compared to training last week, to the relief of some.

Fifteen people made it to training which started off with short passing. Now, most of the drains were considerably dry, but there was one that had God-knows-what blackish goo inside, and some players were unfortunate enough to have their balls sink into it.

Training then progressed to Beat the Keeper, where the players had to shoot within a certain distance, first with forehand and then with backhand. For the forehand part, Kuan Yang gave a quick demo as in how to shoot accurately, then stood behind the goal to point out the spot where the players had to shoot.

It took some time for the players to get used to the different, rougher surface.

In the 2-on-1 and 3-on-2 drills, Kuan Yang emphasised on the attackers' speed, demanding that the players either score or take a shot as fast as they could. And in match time, it was Forwards vs Defenders. However, as one goal was missing, Kuan Yang balanced one cone on top of two and said the ball had to touch it for the Defenders to score.

The sun was getting higher and higher, and the players were getting sapped. Trips to the canteen for water became more frequent, and finally, match time was called to an end.

The players then tried out penalties, where Pei Li scored her first penalty ever and Steven successfully pulled off an airhook-goal.

Training was quite laid-back, in a nutshell.

The BIG-E

It's the time for the biggest event of the year!

As you are having your HOLIDAYS now,

DON'T WASTE IT! Come and have fun in

BIG-E camp 2008

...you've been seeing these pictures on the sidebar for weeks now, so how about taking that extra step and signing up for it?

The forms can be gotten from Coach Jason/Steven/Pei Li.

Do HURRY, the closing date for registration is this Sunday.

Hope to see you there!

For more info please contact:
RGBC: 04 82803224, Reservoir Garden Road,11500 Air Itam, Penang rgbc@streamyx.com
Pastor Tom: 016 4699691
Steven: 016 4334910

Playground Floorball

Training last Saturday was held up above, in the basketball court in Taman Gelugor (according to Mikey). Fears that it would rain and interfere with training were quashed as it turned out to be great weather for floorball: not too hot nor too wet.

However, Miss Communication did put a tiny damper on the day as somehow or other, Kyle did not get the message that training was held here, but SuperChan (a.k.a. Coach Jason) flew to the rescue and brought him right over.

There were a couple of faces missing; Roselyn from fever, and both Tania and Sonia being unavailable, but so were there old, familiar, long-time-no-see faces in Steven, Sharron and Sanjeevan and Loga (as shown above). Altogether, a total of 20 people turned up.

Training started with jogging and warm-up led by Kuan Yang, up and down the road beside the court.


However, Tim Duncan and Yao Ming (not in picture) had rights to one end of the court, so the Frontliners had to be content with short passing at the other end.

"I want 30 passes to forehand. And look up!" said Kuan Yang.
(passpasspass)
"Okay! (big sigh) Kuan Yang, finished 30 passes already!" Pei Li said.
"Hah? Okay, now give me 40!"

Overall, it was kind of tough, passing on the uneven surface, and Pei Li kept checking her new blade to see if it was okay. No one reached the target, in Kuan Yang's eyes, and whoever claimed to do so was quickly squelched under his rapidfire demand to know whether they looked up and passed to forehand.


Duncan and Yao were still not done slam-dunking, so Kuan Yang had the Frontliners line up in three rows. Sadly, it was not to be t'ai-chi as Kenny so thought, but taekwando-style ball control. Most of the Frontliners had no problem keeping the ball under control thanks to Coach Jason's mad fixation on the importance of ball control.

And in between ball-controlling and waiting for the b-ball stars to disappear, Steven impressed the people around with his airhooks, more often failing than succeeding.

With the court finally empty, the players paired up and did a lobbing exercise. Slow to grasp it at first, they managed to get the ball to fly a considerable height, and in no time, balls were flying anywhere and everywhere. Sanjeevan, in particular, had lovely technique in lobbing.


With about one hour plus gone, the coaches decided it was time for the players to strut their stuff. Still no goalposts, and neither were there benches, so Coach Jason decided to go with the old-fashioned cones apart. Or wait... too easy for the players. He pulled them together and decreed that the ball had to touch the cones for the players to score.

Kuan Yang added that whoever lost had 20 pushups in store for them.


And so it started! Pei Li discovered, to her utmost shock, that people actually do slip when running through puddles. Once, twice and thrice. Suffice to say she was soaked through when the match ended.

Sanjeevan showed he had not lost touch, scoring a cracker of a goal from distance, knocking over both cones. A first-timer too. There was also good interplay between Kenny, Loga and Pei Li. Sanjeevan quickly added another with a carbon copy of his first after a lay-off from Kenny.


The juniors were getting bored, so Coach Jason called for change. More energy, more enthusiasm... less fluidity. Kyle was another player who got soaked in clean rainwater, hopefully. Play continued, even though the ball frequently flew out of court and onto the grass. This was where the lobbing practice came useful in plenty.

The slides and monkey-bars offered plenty of distraction, not only for juniors like Julian and Gabriel, but also for Kenny, who used the slide as a napping-ground.

Mikey eventually pulled one back for the Saints 'All-Stars' team, enjoying his goal to the max, but they were well and truly beaten 4-2 in the end.

It had begun to rain, so the Frontliners quickly gathered under the largest tree in sight, where the coaches talked briefly about next year's Penang League and then let the team go off. Although both PBSM and Kompleks Belia were unavailable, the players clearly enjoyed themselves, which was good to see.

Impossible IS Something, Sometimes

In a time when most clubs would have less players due to exams, Frontliners Floorball Club had a relatively good record of 21 people coming for training last Saturday. There was one new face: Jeffery Lim, though some originally mistook him for Jason Lim as the younger brother wore the exact same shirt Jason wears.

Kuan Yang led the players in warm-up then set the seniors on passing drills, stressing that

1. No first-timers allowed.
2. Look up!
3. Pass to forehand.

In that order. The juniors did ball-control drills with Coach Jason supervising.

Training continued with some more passing as the goalposts somehow contrived to go missing that day, and the club had to settle with two benches for one goal. The goalkeepers, Bryan and Soon Khai, did some movement and catching drills in one corner.

The juniors and seniors then combined to do a circuit drill involving shots, passes, spin-offs and flips.

"Front flip or backflip?" asked Adrian.

"Forehand flip!" came the curt reply from Kuan Yang.

Having made sure each player had four goes already, Kuan Yang then called for match time. With no goalies, the juniors had to shoot the ball through the top bench to score, and the seniors had to knock off either one of the two tiny cones balanced on the top bench to score.

Talk about ketidakadilan yang melampau.

However, the impossible did happen when Kenny smashed off a cone from a rebound after good work by Su Rong. What was more impressive, however, was newcomer Jeffery's speed and willingness to run, intercepting more than one ball in his attacking half. What was even more impressive? The new sticks Coach Jason brought that came in all shapes and sizes: from killer waves to crazy curves and to literal holes-in-shaft.

Coach Jason then called match-time to a close and the players lined up for the customary... complimentary ice cream provided by the wonderful Coach.

No such luck. As always for the past few weeks, the players did three rounds of killers.

One can always dream:)