Perth Trip Day 5

Perth Trip Day Five (LAST DAY)

Final Coaching Clinic by Coach Tracey @ Salvado Rd, Wembley

The final training session was a teary affair. The girls made a nice card for Coach Tracey and presented the card together with our school magazine to her at the beginning of the session. It was a fruitful final session and TKP A played TKP B in a match and were given pointers during the training match. It was soon time to bid farewell and I was quite surprised to see Seak Im giving coach Tracey a hug. If you know Seak Im, she isn't the PDA sort of girl (Public Display of Affection). Jeraldine, one of coach Tracey's favourite player, gave her a hug as well. Coach Tracey certainly has made a great impact on the netballers' stay here in Perth and I sincerely hope the girls would repay her by winning the nationals next year!

School Visit @ Mary Mackillop School

The girls arriving at Mary Mackillop School and were welcomed by their designated buddies arranged by the active Parent Support Group.

Jeraldine posing with her buddy for a photo during the reception party.

Even media crew like me got to enjoy the nice home-made sandwiches and cakes! Yummy!

Classroom experience! Really enjoyed the time in the classroom. We get to learn a song and dance, get involved in a group discussion and also were given a tour of the school by our buddies! Noticed the school likes to use SMARTBOARDS for their lessons. Very interactive and fun!

We showed them our 'hungry' cheer before eating our wonderful subway sandwiches for lunch.

The whole school gathering at the netball court to watch the match between TKP and Mary Mackillop School. Pressure!

It was biz as usual for TEAM A as they strolled to victory against their opponents.

Team B did not play well and succumb to Mary Mackillop's better passing and movement.

Our Buddies@ Mary Mackillop School. We really missed them and hope we will be able to keep in touch with them. SO that's it! Our 5 wonderful days in Perth...Oh and before I forget, our top 3 netballers of this trip (voted by fellow netballers). They are....Seak Im, Fatin and Isabel! Congrats!

Perth Trip Day Four

Perth Trip Day Four

Coaching Clinic @ Salvado Rd, Wembley

This was our second coaching clinic at Wembley, third one overall in the trip. Coach tracey was laying out all the cones and markers for her first drill when we arrived. The netballers slept early last night to prepare for a full day of training, fun and then match play (really a 'rojak' mix of emotions...serious, then fun and then back to serious mode). Well, after the clinic, we will be heading for the theme park, Adventure World.

As usual, the netballers were asked to jog round the entire width of the 30+ netball courts as warm-up. Pepe and Isabel sprinted back first nearing the end (they are the fitter ones I guess). Next, Coach tracey started a sort of a circuit training (3 stations) which is kind of what Mr Njoo always did for his physical part of the training. The first station was a sprinting + footwork station. The netballers had to learn how to take off quickly, overcoming a series of wooden planks placed on the ground from small steps to bigger steps which is kind of like an airplane taking off. Then, they have to negotiate the cones in front by jumping with both legs together. Coach Tracey explained that this drill helps the girls to accelerate more quckly, a much needed skill in netball matches where change of direction and speed is key to winning games particularly if we have no 'height'. Station two was a ball-handling practice and the third station was a skipping station. After that, the netballers were taught weaving in and out. Mr Njoo was particularly interested in this drill as it offers him another tactical option of attacking. Then, the girls were put into two groups and were playing this game 'Traffic jam' which focuses on timing and leading to receive the ball. Good drill! The netballers had fun as the losing team had to do suicides. Next, the girls got to play against each other. Team A vs Team B, although it was a foregone conclusion as to which team wins, Coach Tracey added that Team A have to win by 10 points to win the game. Did team A do it?

Immersion Activity - Adventure World

Adventure World , here we come! We really could not wait to hop off the bus once we noticed the huge sign 'Adventure World' ahead. We rushed out of the bus, almost knocking down the Aunt Josephine, our toue leader, off her feet. Our first ride as a 'team' was the Viking. Compared to the one in Sunway which turned 360 degrees, this one wa a piece of cake. Yet, not all the netballers took the ride...Next, Mr Njoo brought us to the next one, POWERSURGE. Af first, I thought nothingof it as it was so close to the ground. Little did I know that this ride would scare me out of my wits. It went up and down, left and right, and 360 degrees forward and backward. I honestly felt like puking after that. ?If you thought that we had experienced the scariest ride, the next one was even worse. It was the RAMPAGE! The worst ride ever possibly imagined. Again, like the the previous one, it goes into various movements, but much worse as it goes alot faster! I could see the horror of those who took it even Mr Njoo's facial expression was contorted into a look of fear and exhilaration. To cool us down, we next took a slow ride up to the highest point of the theme park for the roller coaster. It was a slow and scenic ride up, allowing us to cathc our breaths and enjoy the wonderful view of the the theme park has to offer. The roller coaster was a mild frightening at some parts. Just nice for my already shaken body! Our last ride as a team was a water slide called the Tunnel of Terror. We had to sit in pairs on a float and slide down the pitch-black tunnel. We were screaming in the dark until we reached the last part where there was an opening and SPLASH! We fell out of the float into the freezing cold water! We had lunch after that and Mr Njoo gave us permission to go have fun on our own while he looked after our stuff with Ms Ng. We ventured into other rides especially the wet ones. It was definitely the best day ever!

Matchplay @ Wanneroo District Netball Club

Back to serious mode, it was time to play some matches with the netballers from the Wanneroo District Netball Club. The club was having selection trials for the past week and there were about 100 over aspiring girls from the various age-group wanting to be part of this club. We were fortunate to take part in their trials for the Under 12 age group. First, the girls were to have a one hour developmental training before TKP A and B challenged the rest of the girls in two matches.

Finally, the mathces began, it was seven in the evening but it still looked pretty bright although it was getting colder for me by the minute. I was practically freezing while taking the video for the matches. The Wanneroo Distrct netballers were slightly much better than the Joondalup district netballers we played yesterday. Again, Team A did the school and country proud, defeating both the opposition with good scores. Team B played gallantly but with many newcomers in the team, they were not expected to beat the opposition. Some of the players thathave caught Mr Njoo's eye other than those in Team A are Pepe, Isabel and Josephine. Hope the three of them can give the team A a good fight for the first 7 places next year!