My CCA

‘Watch out!’ somebody cried. I instinctively turned around and brought my gloved hand to my face, only to manage to catch a softball hurtling towards me. You have guessed it, for this post I am going to talk about my school CCA – softball or rather the pain of having to let go of my other beloved CCA, bowling.

I joined my primary school’s bowling club since I was in Primary Three. I enjoyed bowling tremendously and took part in the yearly annual schools’ competitions. Finally, in Primary Six the team I was in clinched the gold award in the team event for the national inter-school bowling competition. There were two very good bowlers in my team of four but I was elated to be part of the team. Taking part in the bowling CCA would probably be one of the treasured memories I would have of my primary school days.

It was therefore a tough if not painful decision for me when I had to decide whether to choose Chinese High as my secondary school since it does not offer bowling as a CCA and I would not be able to polish my skills. However, all that is now water under the bridge. During the first few weeks when I was in Chinese High, I was amazed at the variety of sports that are available. I love anything to do with sports and I was spoiled for choice. I tried the various sports including fencing, water polo, canoeing, etc but my heart was still with bowling. Finally, I settled on softball .

Compared to bowling , it is a really rough and tactical sport, I cannot begin to count the number of abrasions I have on my body nor the number of times I went home with painful butts, shins, etc after a heavy fall. However, from softball, I got to know a great sport that really requires teamwork. I am glad to know my fellow softball seniors and peers. The hours of practices we spent together build our bonds. I also enjoy the advices dished out by my softball teacher-in-charge as well as our coach. They not only train us to be tough physically, they also train us to be tough mentally.

This year, I am in the reserve team of Chinese High for the national softball competition. I really got to learn much about the game by observing my seniors play the matches. After the competition, we started intensive training. We started learning the different techniques in the offensive and the defensive parts of the game.

However, not all sessions are intensive. Once in a while, we will play a softball game where we get to apply what we have learnt and that is most enjoyable. During school holidays, we train really hard, from 8am to almost 6 pm thrice a week. I enjoy the lunch breaks where my seniors would bring us to the nearby places to have our lunch. During these times, I enjoy relaxing and bantering with my softball seniors and peers.

Such is the growing pains and joys of sports in my growing years. I do not know whether softball would be part of my adult life but I know I am going to make the best of it now, play in the school team and hope to do my school proud.