Yesterday's Nations Cup dinner was crazy... Crazy because it rained so heavily & the staffs were busy helping out. Crazy because I drank alot. Crazy because the music was so nice...

I danced crazily yesterday & those around might be surprised. A stern-looking person on court will actually danced so crazy at the party. Perhaps it was a good to relax; been stressed up during the Nations Cup.

Seen the ugly & greedy side... The head is getting bigger and bigger...

Nations Cup

5 days of Nations Cup had passed...

Loss to Sri Lanka was indeed a disappointment;not only us but also the spectators who came specially came down to watch. I guessed we lacked of the desire to win on that day though we knew that we could have won.

Win over Samoa was good & it's a bonus to our young team. Being a new developed team with some oldies, I thought we did well in this game.

Loss to Papua New Guinea was another disappointment & I must admit that I played badly in that game. I just couldn't find the right time to go to the space I wanted & ended up delaying all the plays. We were "lost" when they put in consecutive goals due to our own mistakes which I thought we shouldn't have done. Well... it's over and we got to carry on with our next game.

"Never say die"

Training camp

3 consecutive days of full training & my body was aching terribly. We had games against the 21s & the men's team.

And my face got scratches during yesterday's game with 21s. That vain woman didn't even cut her fingernails short & she behaved like a cat; scratched my face with her fingernails. Damn~~~

A comment from a player: "Wow... so pia.."
I said: "So what? Pia at the wrong time." *laugh*

Was disappointed with my own play and shooting. Should I be more dominant or passive? Shooting has becoming worst... Wondering what the $&^#!@ am I thinking... Every moment I have been thinking on court, perhaps think too much. Can't wait for wednesday to come... And I can fully concentrate...

Nations Cup is here!

Dear netball supporters,

Nations Cup is here soon! Please show your support to the Singapore Team & let us hear your Cheers!!!

http://www.netball.org.sg/index.php?page=nations

Sunburn

Training + match play under the hot sun is a terrible thing to do on a saturday morning. And playing as a GA really made me panting madly and I could feel my skin burning under the sun rays.

Training lasted for 3 hours and I'm glad it's over & it seemed like I had finished a carnival. For so long I had never eaten duck rice and it just tasted so yummy when I'm eating for my lunch. Yummy~~~ and the additional char siew... *slurp*

Team meeting finished at 5pm. Home sweet home~~

Fern went to clubbing with the rest. I'm supposed to go too but I didn't. Perhaps it's a good choice not to go as I got really terrible headache now. I guessed I got heat stroke.. "Alamak"

Relieve...

After slogging hard for 7 days, I felt so relieved at 8.45pm once the papers were submitted. No regrets... Not too bad, I forced myself to memorise the answers in 1 1/2 days. My goodness... My brain can actually memorise so much things within a short period of time. Hopefully I will get good results this time round.

I'm in for the Nations Cup team & which means I got to do a lot of extra work. I'm very busy preparing for the tests again. So fast... every 3 months I got to face the tests... stress...

Looking back in the past when I sacrificed my precious times just to do netball trainings & it really taken away a lot of things from me. My career (which I haven't move on), my social life, my relationship (almost gone at a point of time), my degree. Should I blame NETBALL for taking away these stuffs? Well... I used to do so but 2nd thoughts came, why blame it when I still continue playing? I can just stop & have all my life back. I can only say that PASSION is in me.

Being national netballer isn't easy, you have to face a lot problems in school, work, home, friends. And when it comes to trainings, you just have to put aside all the problems and focus in trainings. It's tough, especially when you are sad after a quarrel/fight with your loved ones. How to focus?

I often ask myself, "If I ever stopped playing netball, will I have a bad figure?" Oops, though my figure is not that good now but you should know what I mean...

Fern had her tough days too... her studies weren't that outstanding (which is eyeshocking to me) and she got hard times coping with it. Though she couldn't continue her Honours, I'd never heard her complaining that NETBALL caused her to lose Honours. But she did nag that if she got HONOURS, she'll be earning few more hundred bucks.

Everyone has their own problems & it's how you deal with it with your own mind.

Back from Perth Training Trip

A week spent in Perth was really fast & I do missed staying in Perth. Stayed at Scarborough Observation Resort & 18 of us stayed in 4 units. Schedule was tight & we were hurried for trainings, games, ice baths, lunches & dinners. The team was slow with no sense of urgency which I didn't know why & poor Lisa was so pissed that she didn't want to talk to anybody.

Perhaps I missed those times Vicky, ex-national team manager, who often scolded us for being slow or not getting the things done correctly. In this manner, most of the players were scared of her & would have sense of urgency.

1st game against one of the ANL team & we really really played so badly. We just couldn't bond together or rather said that we played individually or trying to test one another's abilities.

2nd game against the Men's Team. Oh my god, they're super fast with their play, playing with their abilities & not being contactive. I could said that they are the gentlemen as they would hold you back when they knocked you down, unlike some other players. Bad game too... We just couldn't control our passes; slow & sloppy.

3rd game against the Men's Team again. Much better flow with a little bit of controlled passes & pace.

4th game against WAIS development & invitees. A younger group of players to challenge. Much better passes & we controlled the game quite well. And I had to be the "captain" for this game. I was soooooo nervous that at a point of time, I forgot that I'm the captain.

5th game against WAIS squad. Though the results was upsetting, we managed to play better as a team, knowing one anothers' abilities.

6th game against the Men's Team. At the 1st quarter, we managed to hit 12 goals for the attack side. That's a boost for us. But after that, we went into a slump. What happened? At the end of the game, the men were so sweet that they gave us little gifts wrapped up in pink.

Through this trip, I know what I need to improve. My runs as a GA were much more better but my shots were lousy. And the most important thing is I must get a TIP/INTERCEPTION! *angry* I didn't manage to do it in any single games & I swear that it'll be part of my goal from now on.

Through this trip, I could understand some players better & able to know whether the players has motives in their mind or players who are humble by nature. I could only adviced that being arrogant won't get you anywhere... so please be humble. At least people won't dislike you. =) And it's unhealthy to bring in the bad habits as we don't need that.

I disappoint him again... Wanted to meet him before I leave to Perth but my mum woke up & started nagging, "So late, still want to go out?" Sigh~~ Was kinda frustrated as I know she'll nag at me again if I really go out. And the worst is she might call & scold me so I ended up not meeting him, causing him to be disappointed.

I'm sorry~~~

Shock

Did the yo yo test during training & I'm worried if I will "deproved" again. Luckily this time round I improved~~~ Yeah~~~ I will work harder towards it.

If I hesitate to brake for few seconds, I think 小白 will be gone... Really such a close shave & my heart was thumping on the way til I off the engine. Sigh~~ shall be more careful the next time. Err... no more next time... I rather receive the "horns" from others than to crash 小白.

The night is not young anymore & I started to talk rubbish. Hint : Time to sleep!

Fitness test again

I couldn't believe that my vertical "deproved", my sprints "deproved". Oh no!!! Time to buck up! Just hope that everything will end soon & I can concentrate more on national trainings. To get back in tip top form for the upcoming games which I doubt I can... Whatever it is, I must try my best.

Sigh~~ Dislike those people who do things purposely just to know the truth. Ask la... Sigh~~~ Hopefully there'll be no commotion around & I shall be on low til it fades.

Piercing

Yeah!!! I finally got another piercing that I've been yearning for it & it takes a lot of courage for me to get it done. Not as painful as I expected & the piercer is so experienced that she took few seconds to get it done. Shall take good care of it in case there's infection. *smile*

Beware...

Never judge the book by its cover so early. I realise I can roughly gauge the person's character/personality easily & will able to know whether the person is good or bad. Hmmm... Is it good or bad thing? Time will reveal the truth & I shall see if my judgement is correct.

Already suspected why she's there to listen to conversation. To know more what's going on & go around spreading? Oops, I hope not. If not, I'll be mute.

Last game for National League

Today is the last game for National League & though we can't play in the finals, we still want to win this game. It's about time to start the game but 1 of the umpires wasn't here & they asked Wai Yee to umpire the game.

At first I was like "huh..." but as the game progressed, she's very fair in umpiring. She called for the infringements, saw it and called for it. I was really impressed by her even though she had some weird calls. She reversed the penalty, advanced the ball when she found that the player was delaying the penalty. And again, I was really impressed.

I seldom praised umpire but Wai Yee, you are really GOOD!

Lost my cool on court because I really couldn't stand it, I had reached my max in tolerating. I'm sorry if you had my elbow but, you made me do it.

We played chasing game from the start til 3rd quarter & finally it's their turn to chase.
Luckily we won... but we aren't happy about it. We made it hard for ourselves... Sigh~~
BLAZE, Jia you!!!

Knee hurts

Knee had been hurting since Monday & the pain had becoming sharper each day. What's wrong again? I was told my muscles were too tight & I needed to stretch more. When I run, it's ok but when I walk, the pain is excruciating. Tomorrow I got to see physio.

Hmmm... the eyes of everyone who witnessed the "push". Seems like there's no improvement at all & every go, there's a "push". Something's wrong out there...

It was always so enjoyable training with Blaze. The laughters, the silly jokes we created, the "humiliation" we made, were all so family.

Was looking forward to drive the Toyota Vios to training but I was disappointed by my own driving. Perhaps it was the long period of time since I drove a manual car & the car was stalled 3 times in 30 mins.

Couldn't control the clutch (as usual) & now I know why people refused to drive a manual car. I was busy changing the gears while on my way. I'm beaten by this car today. Overall I really felt demoralising when driving.

I was pushed to do my max weight for the box squats at 85kg (with weights & barbell) & I could really feel my hamstring working very very hard...

Funny thing today: Hui Lin was encouraging me when I'm doing the dumbbell shoulder press. She went "1/2 way. Yes! You still looking good...blah blah blah." Once I finished my set, I told her not to encourage me next time as I really felt like giving up when she encouraged. Kinda funny but I couldn't take it. It made me feel soft-hearted & wanted to give up. Funny gal isn't it?

Joe surprised me by appearing in KNC. Wow... it's really a big surprise today... :) so happy...

Lousy game

Had a lousy game today against Labten & I must admit that I couldn't focus throughout the game. Not because of complacency but the main reason was I slept for too long in the afternoon. This time round the coffee didn't help by giving me a wake up call & lower back was aching so badly after the nap.

Shots were bad as I couldn't estimate the amount of energy I got to use in shooting. Perhaps it was the cause from the weights I did in the morning but still, there're no reason for missed shots!

We won eventually but the team weren't happy about it. And I guessed we knew what's the reason behind it.

Gd nite everyone... Have an enjoyable weekend. I do hope everyday is a Sunday.

Laughters

Since weekend til today, I finally laughed heartily. Friends are so funny when they tried to create nonsense in front of lecturer. "Craps!" That's the term they used in today's lecture. And I must say the lecturer was abit "lo soh" and his lecture is too dry that makes my eyeballs keep rolling;falling asleep soon.

Thanks to "The Rock" who entertained me & Ling. That funny guy... trying to show off his muscles...

There're so much thoughts today...

What's so great being a national netballer?
Why do I still want to play competitive games?
How to balance my life?
Where's the support?

I really don't know. What should I say? Unlucky year? Like how others say on court, "Unlucky" Then when's lucky?

I'm trying to balance my life... but there're still faults...

♣ Perth ♣

Yoohoo~~~ Been on a trip with Fern & Ling & the rest joining (Jean, Joanne, Pearline & her hubby) to Perth for holiday, meeting Kate, shopping, sightseeing & watching Kate's ANZ team game. We rented a car with no GPS & took ages to reach our destination. It was fun though with frustrations in us when we couldn't find the place.

Today we drove to Fremantle & went to do market shopping. The fruits & vegetables look so nice & tempting... *drool* After marketing, we headed to Fisherman's Village which we took almost 1/2 to 1 hr to reach the destination. Had our lunch at the most famous Fish & Chips restaurant.

Headed to Harbour Town next where we spent most over there. Quite happy that I bought a casual dress which I couldn't find in Singapore. Legs are aching & now we are waiting for my dad's friends for dinner!!! PR time~