2011 Inter-Faculty Games - 1 Gold, 2 Silvers, 3 Bronzes!

Photography by: Jon Low (Law 2), Joyce Ng (Law 2), Clarence Tan (Law 1), Kok Yee Keong (Law 2)

NUS Law School has truly made its mark in this year’s Inter-Faculty games (IFG). Despite all the difficulties that surfaced, our players fought hard and never backed down. Tears and blood were shed on the battlefields that were the courts and fields, but our valiant Law players stood tall and proud. Bring on Law-Med, we’re ready.

Law Annual sincerely thanks the captains and players who kindly took time off to pen down and share their IFG experience!

Rock on, Law School!

More photos are up on our facebook group, Overheard @ BTC, so be sure to check them out!

MEDAL TALLY FOR IFG 2011 – LAW FACULTY

SOCCER (WOMEN): GOLD

ROAD RELAY: SILVER

HANDBALL (WOMEN): SILVER

TENNIS: BRONZE

SQUASH: BRONZE

SWIMMING: BRONZE

3rd runner up positions also go to: Netball, Contact Rugby, Touch Rugby and Floorball (Women)!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE TEAMS!

Captains and players speak:

Floorball Men

Article contributed by: “Woe-be-me” (Law 2) 

Oh Woe, be me. I tell the tragic tale of the fallen warriors. Few would be bold enough to tell such a tale, for few can take such profound loss. But such is the tale, and such is the story teller.

On the 3^rd day of September, on the 11^th year of this millennium, the men from law school went to play floorball. But play is a trifling word. This was no game. They had been recruited from all across the land, form the farthest reaches of the Law Faculty. They had trained every Friday (and sometimes Tuesdays) to perfect their skills with the ball, with discipline and focus rivaled only by Samurai and Spartan alike. Few had ever seen men train with such intensity and courage. Everyone of them. Intense and courageous.

But from the beginning, they were cursed men. Cursed men, they were. The elder generation, were torn between two courts, having to battle the Leviathan that reared its terrible head in the (moot) court of law. Leviathan, thy name was Mallal. The younger generation, were battling an enemy with an unseen face; the enigma that is SLS. Yet, fortune smiled, if only briefly on these cursed men, teasing them and tricking them into thinking that victory was possible. Every warrior made it to the court of floorball 5 minutes before the first game, tantalising them with the mad hope that they could win.

But alas, it was but a mere sleight of hand by the trickster that is Fate. Despite launching vicious assault against the enemy, no fatal blow could be struck, but time and time again, at every split second that our warriors let their guard down, their defences were broken. With blade and thrust they held valiantly, but after 4 intense battles, each which lasted an eternity of 9 minutes, our warriors were cut down.

Others were just as unfortunate. The Hippocrates for one, played like mewling infants, crying out at every instant and cursing the gods (the referees). They did not survive either. This storyteller feels that this portion must be told!

Oh Woe be me. For the bravest of warriors did not stand a change that day. But where body was felled, spirit remains. And with that spirit comes vengeance. A vengeance that shall be answered in the next epoch when man and blade unite again to defend the sacred relic that is Law-Med.

Justice will prevail.

***

Basketball Men:

Article contributed by: Timon Chiong (Law 2), Captain, 2011 IFG Men’s Basketball

Saturday, 27^th August seemed just like any other lazy Saturday, ideal for sleeping in or just bumming around at home. This was not the case for 15 of our tenacious students who trooped down bright and early to the SRC for a one-day carnival-style preliminary round of IFG Basketball (Men’s).

The odds were stacked against us — we went into IFG as clear underdogs and potential whipping boys, unaided by the unfavourable draw that pit us against formidable opponents in Engineering, SDE and Science. Computing rounded off the group but they were no pushovers either. Even the weather was not on our side, with intermittent showers forcing delays and breaks in play.

For the first time, however, this basketball team possessed a team spirit that has been seemingly absent in previous editions of IFG, cultivated and imbued in the team over regular training sessions. Our chosen motto: ‘no easy game’. This sense of unity manifested itself in our opening game against traditional powerhouse Engineering. Notwithstanding our technically superior opponents, the 15-9 scoreline belied our team’s performance as we battled with grit. Our players matched theirs offensively and defensively for extended periods of play and our bench shouted their throats hoarse. It was immensely unfortunate that the team fell only to 2 shots from downtown. Our performance startled not only ourselves but those watching from the sidelines; law (finally) had a team which threatened to give the rest a run for their money.

At the end of the day, the team failed to advance to the knock-out stages. Nevertheless, we fought hard and stuck to our motto, going down only by the narrowest of margins to our other opponents who had the slight edge in experience. This IFG experience can only bode well for future law teams; gone were the days where other faculties could steamroll us into one-sided victories. More importantly, friendships were made and everybody had fun playing together — and that’s what matters!

***

Basketball Women

Article contributed by: Natasha Goh (Law 2), Captain, 2011 IFG Women’s Basketball

First and foremost: a gigantus thank you to our wonderful sports sec Eddy for lugging all the IFG shirts over from the dreaded KRC, for getting reimbursements for all our IFG-related expenses and for specially buying size 6 basketballs. Sorry for being such a noob and asking you question after question. Your edifying responses were truly invaluable for a first-time captain like me and I thank you for them. And yes, the pun was intended.

vs FASS 5-7, loss

Our very first match against FASS caught most of the team off-guard, as it was the very first unfriendly match for most of us. The team was taken aback by the aggression that the Arts team unsheathed, but managed to adapt and we managed to get a few punches of our own in (figuratively, of course). However, our recovery began too late, causing us a crucial and  ­­­­­unfortunate loss that denied us from advancing to the next round.

vs SOC, 7-6, victory

Our second match was in the evening, after our lessons, on a Monday. Due to clashes in schedule, the team started the match with barely enough players, and was amazingly courageous and competent, giving SOC a hard time in the first few minutes of the match. The match was tied in the dying seconds of the game, when Jaime was awarded two free-throws and the clock continued to run. The tension in the air was palpable as Jaime took her second shot, after missing the first. Her beautiful second shot swished cleanly through the net, putting us up by 1, as time ran out and Team Law clinched its first victory.

vs Medicine, 4-12, dignified loss

The so-called grudge match against our arch-nemesis was entered into with cautious expectations, at least on my part. The medicine team was, I hate to admit it, good, and had been merciless in crushing their opponents thus far. Although much of our best efforts were rendered ineffective by the medicine plays, the team was truly inspiring by relentlessly attacking the medicine basket, never losing hope, never backing down and never degenerating into un-sportsmanship by arguing shamelessly with the referees. Although we lost by what seems a humiliating margin, I can safely say that we left the court with our dignities intact, having put up a decent fight which at least annoyed the medicine team, and with the team enjoying the match free from blame or undue stress.

vs USP, 18-2, win

Our match with USP was the last match of the qualifying round, with USP almost having to walk over due to their lack of players. However, we managed to start the match when their 5^th player arrived. The team managed to hold their own by themselves, and most, if not all, of them were given the opportunity to shine and truly show what they were capable of on court. I’m also pretty certain that the team really enjoyed themselves playing ball. The floodlights turned off at the end of the first half, plunging both teams into darkness, and after much discussion, both teams decided to end the match at the current score at half-time. Kudos must be given to the USP team for their valiant fight despite one player getting injured haflway through the first half such that they were 1 man down against us.

The tournament ended on a lovely note as some of us stayed back after the USP match to play amongst ourselves despite pitch blackness, mountains of readings and the fact that Kent Ridge is so far from civilisation.

To the team, in general

The beginning of my captainship was truly a worrisome one when very few of you stepped up to play basketball for Team Law. The fact that the netball qualifying matches were on the same day only served to aggravate my mental state. You guys have no idea how much joy I felt when, finally, 12 of you stepped up to take on the battlefield with me.

Timon and I did our best to make the jerseys look cool and bargained with the jersey dude to get the best price possible. I hope that you are proud of the jersey we picked out.

I was truly encouraged by the commitment you showed in attending my trainings, although 3 trainings in 5 days is pure madness. Thank you for not giving up on me when my mind shut down during trainings and not going on strike when I made you do suicides. I apologise for any grumpiness I might have shown during trainings, and I just must say that I am so very proud of all the progress each and every one of you has made these 2 weeks. My heart surges with insurmountable pride and joy whenever you do a decent layup.

To Nat, Charlene, Jaime and Steph, my warriors in the paint

I hope you don’t resent the ten consecutive under-basket shots I kept making you do. To Nat: thank you for being so crazy aggressive (but in a good way) on court — for fighting for every ball and seriously pissing off the opponents who tried to take advantage of us. To Charlene: thank you for taking the initiative and leading the attack, for being fluid and adaptable on court. To Jaime: thank you for being tall and for being a helluva shooter — you made my job much easier. To Steph: I am so glad I jio-ed you personally to join the team — your eagerness to learn, your secret joy in bullying others physically and your model-standard finger-rolls propelled you to being my security blanket on court and for that I thank you so much.

To Weilin and Jeanting, my respectable seniors

Thank you loads for all your guidance and for stepping up and helping me with trainings and matches when my noobity shone through. To Weilin: thank you for helping me to explain the 2-3 defence, and for being such a fighter — please take care of your shoulder though, that is of paramount importance! To Jeanting: despite what you say about being rusty, you’re still the dependable point guard I look up to on court. Thank you for being so encouraging and helping me to be a better captain.

To SAL, Nianci, Joyce and Claire, my last-minute miracles

You guys really surprised me pleasantly when you signed up for basketball past the supposed deadline. To SAL: you were truly everywhere. Thank you for chasing down the ball and for always being there to offer help on court. Thank you extra extra loads for skipping training for the matches! To Nianci: till now I cannot really understand your shots or layups — they are unorthodox but so graceful and accurate. Thanks for tolerating my nagginess. To Joyce: if anyone dares make fun of you for playing sports again, let me know and I will hunt them down and kick their butts. Thank you for giving it your all on court and during trainings (especially doing suicides in sneakers, wow) but please remember to wear socks next time! To Claire: you were really an undiscovered gem and I am incredibly encouraged by your passion for basketball. Thanks for all the wonderful support you gave on court, and please tell me your secret of shooting in the dark hehe.

To Cat and Monique, my sportswomen

I don’t know what I would have done if you guys had had to abandon me for netball. To Cat: you were a constant pillar of support on court, and your willingness to learn and improve and be helpful is truly heartening, thank you. To Monique, my favourite captain: thanks for livening up trainings and for making it more enjoyable for everyone. Thanks also for always making yourself available whenever I needed you.

Thank you all so very much for such a memorable experience of captaining this team. I really wasn’t kidding when I said it was an honour training and fighting alongside every single one of you. I hope that you have enjoyed this IFG experience and I hope that you have discovered at least a touch of the magic that makes this sport so simply amazing

***

Women’s Soccer

Article contributed by: Hannah Cheang (Law 3), Captain, 2011 IFG Women’s Soccer

I was fairly confident about IFG this year because we were fielding a relatively strong team — especially with seniors who were back from exchange, freshmen with existing skills and experience, and a Danish girl, Line (Lee–nuh), who plays for a club back home (our secret weapon!).

In the weeks leading up to the IFG, however, there began to be some cause for worry. Our sole goalkeeper, Sarah, had left for exchange and we were in dire need of a replacement but couldn’t find one. There was a suggestion for us to borrow the Handball team’s goalkeeper, but that too failed, because the girl wouldn’t be available on the day of the IFG. Furthermore, one of our top defenders, Wei Lin, dislocated her shoulder while playing another sport; and one of our top strikers, Rachel, pulled her hamstring and needed quite some time to recuperate. Our fixtures were also intimidating, because there were five teams in our group among which were FASS and Medicine, both very strong teams, but only two were going to advance into the semi-finals (one of the teams later withdrew from the competition though).

To compound matters on the actual day of the IFG, we were told on very late notice (just before we arrived) that our games were going to be pushed forward by 45 minutes due to management hiccups by the hosting faculty. I panicked, because many of our players were going to be late and we barely had enough time to warm up and compose ourselves before our first game (which was to be against Medicine). So we stalled for as much time as we could, until our most essential players (at least) had all arrived. Line came running in just in time for the match.

But it turned out that my fears were all unfounded. From the moment the first whistle was blown till the last, the girls were amazing and played with almost-professional aplomb. Wei Lin and Rachel, despite just recovering from their injuries, put up a solid defence and tore through the opponents’ defences, respectively. It was also the first time I witnessed such accurate and collected passes among the team. There were no silly mistakes made (as is typical of girls) such as hand balls, foul throws etc, but everyone was focused on beating Medicine and giving their all. Keeping our goal was Jolyn, whom I hesitated to position as a keeper initially because I felt she was better in midfield, but she sure proved us all wrong! She was alert and agile, knowing when to run out and when to stay behind, and in fact the team felt more at ease knowing she was tending the goal. Line eventually scored our glorious first goal, and the game ended with a score of 1-0 to us with our rousing cheers of part ecstasy and part disbelief of the fact that we beat the Medicine giants. It was an awesome start to the competition — our spirits were soaring even though our next game was to be against FASS, another giant.

With the same measure, tenacity and composure, we went on to beat FASS 3-2 and drew with USP 2-2, thereby topping our group table and qualifying for the semi-finals. (Special mention has to go to Line for scoring all the goals except for one scored by Rachel.) We were so thrilled! By this time our intimidation had dwindled completely. With every goal we scored and every game we won, our hopes and morale only grew. We were undefeated till then and were determined to further maintain our clean sheet till the end. We had to, if we wanted to clinch the championship!

Then we were up against Business in the semis. Suffice it to say that it was a close fight resulting in a 1-1 draw and that the winner had to be decided based on a penalty shoot-out. The pressure was immense. The three takers in our team were Line, myself and Wan Yi. Line scored first, securing our first goal. Business missed. Then it was my turn — I foiled it by taking a shot at the keeper, and there and then felt the weight of disappointment sink in me, especially being the Captain. But fortunately I did not have to bear the disappointment of the rest of the team in addition to my own, for the were very encouraging and I distinctly recall Bevelyn and Rachel shouting from across the field, “It’s ok Hannah!”, which really warmed my heart and lifted some of the burden of my shoulders. The next shot was taken by Business, but they were denied a goal again because Jolyn had read her moves and had leapt in the right direction to save the shot — our star keeper indeed. While we were silently cheering, pressure was at its maximum for Wan Yi, because she had to put the next shot into the goal in order for us to advance into the finals. But she proceeded to take the shot with full focus and composure, and skill too, because the ball was fired into the far left of the goal, way out of reach of Business’ keeper. It was a spectacular shot, and it was our ticket into the finals against Science.

By this time we were already living the dream; we didn’t think we were capable of coming this far, but we did. Some of the girls were even saying that it was alright even if we lost to Science, because second place was satisfactory enough and worthy of our contentment since it was beyond our initial expectations. But the rest of us were quick to brush those thoughts away — since we had already come this far, we might as well aim for the gold! So when we were huddled together and doing our final “Go Law!” cheer before the final game, we had only one goal in common — first place and nothing less — evinced by the gusto in our voices, the most that we could muster. It was the final battle.

The game was particularly heart-racing, because Science was dominating and keeping possession in our half of the field. There were very gripping moments in which they were so close to our goal that we feared the worst, but somehow we managed to fend off their attacks and after much fumbling, eventually cleared the ball into their half. Jolyn also made an amazing dive, once again saving our asses. Line scored a magnificent goal from kick-off, then Business equalized. Our midfielders did very well in bringing the ball across the field, with skilful dribbling and good passes. Then in the second half Line scored another splendid goal, slotting the ball into the bottom right of the net, which was practically the only available space not blocked by any defender. In the remaining two minutes of the game, Science earned a corner kick. We had to defend it at all costs, in order to win. The first time they took the corner, Wei Lin cleared it past the goal line, affording them a second chance at it. The second time, I intercepted the ball and deflected it to our own half. Right after that, the whistle blew.

The ecstasy was indescribable. Everyone, including the girls at the sidelines, ran onto the field, cheering and hugging one another. But we did not forget to be gracious winners; we paused our celebrations and quickly formed a line to shake hands with the opponents. Science was a very good team and they deserved credit for it too.

I shall not go on about our euphoria, but all in all, this was definitely an IFG season to remember, both for myself personally as well as for the rest of the team, I’m sure. From start to end we fought hard. We literally weathered the competition, in the scorching sun and heavy downpour. And even though Line deserves much praise for scoring practically all the goals, I am convinced that it was a combination of team effort that brought us this far. I apologise for not mentioning everyone here (Grace, Chng Yan, Vinna, Arias, Natalie, Jessica…); I really could have described how every single one of the girls played well and each had their own moments of brilliance, but I think I should spare everyone the agony. Know simply that it was an awesome display of skill, spirit and teamwork, and that every single one of the girls truly deserves the gold medal.

With that I’d just like to say, thank you girls for an unforgettable experience. All of you exceeded my expectations by miles, and I am extremely, immensely proud of you. Even when I ‘failed’, the rest of you held the team together and continued fighting the good fight. Not that I am determinative of the team’s performance of course, but I am touched and impressed that all of you carried the team through. This is the best soccer team I could lead. I certainly look forward to the rest of our games together. Law-Med and Law Frat, here we come!

So proud to be your captain.

***

Swimming 

Article contributed by: Sara Ng (Law 2), Captain, 2011 IFG Swimming

The IFG swim meet on the 3^rd September was a much quieter affair compared to last year. There were fewer competitors and supporters present this year, and the team from law consisted of a mere handful of guys, while I was the only girl swimming. We went in not expecting to win, but simply to obtain as many points as we could for the faculty.

Since some of the guys could not turn up due to other IFG commitments, Chen Wei had to take their place in their events to avoid getting demerit points. Fortunately, he did well and managed to win a few individual medals. The events passed quickly and the swimmers from medicine and business were dominating the individual events. I lined up for my first event in the 100m freestyle hoping for the best — it has been 8 years since I stopped competitive pool swimming and switched to long-distance open water events.  I had serious doubts about whether there were any fast-twitch muscles left in me. The field was strong, and I managed to claw my way to a 4^th place finish, grateful to be able to win some points. My next event was the 50m breaststroke, which I approached with much trepidation. In all my 16 years of swimming, this was an event that I had never competed in, but somehow I was registered for it and there was no backing out. I was glad to finish in the middle, instead of dead last, which I had readied myself for.

The guys on the other hand were doing much better individually, and also busy taking the place of the other swimmers who could not make it. Chen Wei and Ming Kun clinched a few individual medals, and also managed to cobble together a men’s relay team at the last minute that took bronze.

Although this years showing was not impressive as it was last year, there was great effort and spirit shown on the part of all the swimmers. Everyone swam their hearts out not for the pure sake of winning. We went in without expectations and perhaps got more than what we hoped for. Many thanks are owed to all the swimmers who spent their Saturday at the meet, and also to Siu Chen who tried her very best to form a women’s relay team and for coming down on the day itself.

***

Volleyball (Men and Women)

Article contributed by: Kelvin Toh and Valerie Koh (Law 2), Captains, 2011 IFG Volleyball (Men and Women, respectively)

It was a fresh start for the law volleyball team this year with new blood from across different levels of seniority, not to mention a girls’ team for the first time. It was especially heartening to see enthusiastic participation from the faculty this year, and much credit goes to the bubbly first years.The daunting learning curve failed to douse the participants’ enthusiasm, and everyone was keen and patient to learn. There was a sense of camaraderie from spending our Tuesdays and Fridays evenings training together, doing drills repeatedly, laughing at each other’s silly mistakes, helping one another and enjoying one another’s company at the same time.

Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on the faculty’s side during the week preceding the match. The fixtured clashed spectacularly with the first years’ take-home assignment and many sports, including volleyball, were affected. Having taken in fewer players at first in hopes of more effective training, we found ourselves very under-strengthed. With only two days to find and train new players, frustration was at its peak and morale reached an all-time low. Thankfully, helpful schoolmates such as Tham Jia Min, Amanda Koh and Natasha Goh (who responded as an urgent replacement at the eleventh hour) stepped up to participate in the competition. Our last training the day before the match was a frantic affair of getting the new players up to speed with the confusing formations and rules , but they responded positively and took the challenge in their stride.

On the day of the competition, several pairs of eyes were staring at us curiously as we traversed the volleyball courts. We were not only the team with the fewest number of players there; we were a brand new team with zero competitive volleyball experience. Undaunted by such handicaps, the girls played to the best of their abilities, put up a fight, and most importantly, supported and encouraged one another during the match. They lost their matches, but they left a visible mark in the IFG volleyball scene and forged bonds of friendship during the short three weeks of training that will persist longer than any medal.

The boys started the day under-strengthed and lost their morning matches. Natasha, who was called on to make up the numbers for the mens’ team, held her own impressively. The day picked up afterwards when the first years joined our ranks and the boys put up a good fight in our 3^rd match against FASS, one of the best to play this year. Shawn Joo, the centre-blocker and undisputed MVP, turned the heat on for our opponents with his lightning spikes and formidable blocking while initiative from Tay Hao Ran and Eugene Ong was able to hold off the FASS onslaught for a while. We were bested for the 3^rd time that day, but we came out knowing that we could do better. We went into our last match against USP hungry for a win and our resolve paid off. Our blocking and receives were adequate to stave off the USP offensive and we countered with the crushing finality of Shawn’s spikes and composed, tactical play from the team; the game was over in 2 swift sets and we ended the day knowing that we could definitely do better. Yes, the mens’ team will be back next year with more to show.

***

Handball (Men)

Article contributed by: Ng Boon Gan (Law 2), Captain, 2011 IFG Men’s Handball

Handball is a game unfamiliar to most. It resembles basketball with the need to dribble quickly across the court and sidestep other players, while the scoring element demands the agility and ferociousness of dodgeball, but once a player steps into the borders of rugby, he gets sent off the court for an eternity of two minutes. It is a game that many would consider to be quirky at its best and probably alien at its worst.

Aside from a handful of practise sessions, the majority of the team had no prior experience with handball. It was a challenge to internalise the various rules and build cohesive team play because most of our previous players were either on exchange or injured. On top of that, we could not have any freshmen playing because of their weekend SLS assignment. But on the bright side, we had Axel Fagerhall, a Swedish exchange student who had a childhood filled with handball games, joining us.

Despite all these setbacks and bolstered by the presence of our new teammate, we decided that we would go on to play at the handball courts in Kent Ridge on Saturday. We would play to the best of our ability — and we would show the other faculties the extent of our ability.

In our first match against School of Computing, we kept our cool despite letting in 2 goals, and we played tactically to conserve our energy for the afternoon. Axel’s encouragement and experience gave us the confidence and we soon turned the tide. Securing an 8-2 win gave the day an appearance of a good start

Our game against University Scholars Programme was more intense because of the faster pace, but we kept up with the opponents and continuously pressured them with our persistent and calculated attacks, ending the match 7-1 in our favour. We were heartily encouraged by the results — handball wasn’t such a difficult game after all!

However our inexperience as individual players and a team later showed in our games with Business and Engineering. We were overwhelmed by the agility and aggression of the largely-German team who gave no quarter, and some of us were overtly aggressive which resulted in penalties being awarded against us. Similarly in our later game against Engineering, our opponents’ cohesive and tactical play outshone ours, and although we managed to take advantage of their fatigue in the second half, we went down 13-5 again.

Although we did not win, it was valuable experience. (That’s what most non-winners say anyway.)  Although I had no competitive experience with ball games of any sort, my teammates were willing to work with me and they came down for practice despite the crushing workload. Although we had lost games, we never lost our fighting spirit. Our bodies might have tired but our minds never wavered.

Eddy, Yi Zhang, Yee Keong, Axel, See Kiat, Shao Hsien, Shawn, Alvan, Alex, Victor, Hao Ran, Eugene and Marcus — thanks for joining me on that Saturday. (And thanks Marcus for coming down after SLS.) To all who came for the practice sessions, I’ll see you guys again on the handball court. Looking forward to Law-Med!

***

Road Relay Run

Article contributed by: Kelly Ho (Law 2)

Our runners woke up bright and early on a Saturday morning (even more so since the race was pushed forward to 8am the night before… groan) and headed to the much hyped-about  U Town.

The team this year comprised of mostly ex-runners and a current triathlete (Female, to boot! Hi Sara!) There wasn’t much pressure on us to win since we were up against powerhouse faculties. However, our captain Timon would occasionally say that we stood a good chance of winning a medal.

After much waiting, the 1.7x6km race kicked off. We got off to a good start: Benjamin, our first runner, did us proud by coming back second. What followed was a closely fought race by the next 4 runners before finally clawing our way back to 2^nd place in a neck-to-neck fight with Business, with Alvin, our final runner.

1.7km is not particularly long, but it can be draining in a race (especially one with many slopes!) As clichéd as it might sound, what really stuck with me was how we stationed ourselves at various points after completing our run, and cheered for each other. When you think you’ve run out of gas, it is comforting to see familiar faces spurring you on, even running alongside you. I’m pretty sure this experience was not limited to Road Relay alone but was applicable during the whole IFG.

On hindsight, the whole experience leading up to the race itself was a good one — trainings were explicitly ordered to be enjoyable and relaxed for us, instead of having our captain slave drive us and push us to our limits. We only had a total of… 3 trainings. For that, I’m thankful, and not just because I’m saved from getting whopped. Who says you can’t chill AND win at the same time? 😉

This was a team which came with no high expectations. We were put together just a few weeks before the race, and nearly had our Year 1 runners withdrawn due to their SLS assignment clashing with the race. (Thankfully rescheduled.) Nevertheless, we gave it our all and fought hard — and we won Law our first IFG medal.

***

Contact Rugby

Article contributed by: Shawn Ang (Law 2), Vice Captain, 2011 IFG Contact Rugby

10^th September 2011 – On a sunny Saturday morning, the NUS Law Men’s Rugby Team competed in the 10-a-side IFG Competition. The team this year had a good blend of youth and experience, with several year 4 stalwarts such as Bing, Marshall and Ian playing their last ever IFG competition and an exciting crop of year 1s making up the bulk of the team. Lead by our classy playmaker and Captain, Wesley Tan together with Vice-Captain Shawn Ang as team manager (injured while representing the faculty at handball, oh what a talented sportsman!) the team went into the competition confident of challenging for honours.

The league system of the competition meant that every team had to square off against one another, with the team finishing with the most points at the end of 5 games being crowned the champions. This meant that we had to play Medicine in our 2^nd game, a match we were certainly looking forward to.

FASS, however, presented us with our first obstacle and despite being on the backfoot for most of the game, we scored an incisive breakaway try courtesy of a a typically powerful run from our freshman Hooker (yes that is actually a position), Bryan Wong, breaking free from 2 tackles and neatly offloading to the onrushing Wesley Tan to score under the posts. Talented Scrum-Half Gregory added the extras with a cool conversion.

The next game however, proved to be a different ballgame altogether. Up against our archrivals Medicine, the strength of our team counted for nothing against the organized and experienced Medicine team. From the kick-off, we were pegged in our own half, with some excellent kicking from the opposition Fly-Half. After a few phases, we found ourselves defending our try-line against an onslaught of Medicine attacks. We defended resolutely and held on, but were unfortunate to go down 10-0 (2 tries) at half-time.

After an inspiring half-time team talk from talismanic team manager Shawn Ang and buoyed by the effervescent support of our Touch Rugby girls, the NUS Law School team started the 2^nd half with guns blazing. Victor Lim, dubbed ‘Speedy Gonzalez’ due to his fleet-footedness came close to scoring a try, taking on his much smaller Medicine opponent for pace on the outside before being hacked down near the try line.  Isaac ‘the Man Beast’ Chua was next to go close, holding off 2 tackles (and ripping his shirt in the process, exposing his manly chest to the legion of Medicine girls), before being brought down in the Medicine half. However, despite the valiant efforts of our boys, we lost the game narrowly by 3 tries to nil.

3 games to go, and we were sitting comfortably in mid-table with 1 win and 1 loss. The next game was against Science, and despite an early scare, where we went into half-time 10-0 down, the team recovered to score 3 unanswered tries in the 2^nd half, winning the match 17-10 with 2 tries coming from flying Winger Alvan Quek, cheered on by his legion of adoring fangirls and boys. Gregory added the extras with another coolly taken conversion.

The next 2 games against Engineering and Business was crucial as Engineering had defeated Medicine in an earlier game, which meant that we were now level on points with Medicine and could finish top if we won our remaining 2 matches. However, Engineering were no pushovers with 2 National Team players on their side (We did however, have a better-looking team. Just saying)

With the championship firmly in our sights, we started the match against Engineering brightly, pinning them in their own half with clever kicking from our Captain Wesley Tan. But Engineering slowly started to get in their groove and began running the ball from deep, spreading the ball confidently across the field. Our boys put their bodies on the line and threw everything we had against the team in Yellow, epitomized by two bone-breaking tackles made by Justin and Hanyi. We defended resolutely and were frustrating our opponents, every engine attack was smothered by a crunching tackle (or two) and every line-out throw was stolen by our jumpers Martin Butler and Syafiq (minorities yay!). In the final moments of the first-half, our Centre Ian went on a jinxing run through the Engineering defence before offloading the ball to Alvan, who had a clear path to the try-line. Unfortunately, the pass was harshly ruled to be a forward pass and that brought an end to a keenly contested first-half with the scores tied at 0-0.

We began the 2^nd half the same way we started the game — with fire in our belly, flying into tackles and frustrating our opponents. However, it took a moment of magic from one of Engine’s National Team players to finally break the deadlock. Receiving the ball off a defensive kick, the Engine player went on a slaloming run through our defence, beating 5 players before scoring under the posts. It was a cruel way to end the game, as we had defended lion-heartedly and thoroughly deserved a point from the game. Despite dominating the 2^nd half, we lost the match to a solitary try.

The full-time team talk was a somber affair, with our Sports Secretary Eddy Hirono wailing uncontrollably on the sidelines. The team was looking dejected, but there was a fire in our eyes. We were down but certainly not out. This team was made of champions, and despite the championship being out of our hands, we were determined the end the competition on a high.

Our final game was against Business and our team was facing a severe injury crisis (the pick of which belonged to Marshall, who took a punch to the face for the team. Good man!), with Bryan playing with a broken nose and Benjamin playing with tiger-balm plaster on his neck (and an exhausted Victor, who had ran over from U-Town Starbucks). Our boys battled hard against Business but were unfortunately defeated, bringing an end to our IFG journey.

Despite the loss, the team finished in a credible 4^th position, closely behind Medicine who finished 3^rd. Engine and Business made up the top 2.

This IFG has been an awesome journey and a wonderful experience. On behalf of the team, and the school, I would like to thank our Year 4s Marshall (technically Year 4 and a half), Ian, Bing and Wesley for 4 excellent years of rugby. To the rest of the team, Alvan, Victor, Isaac, Han Yi, Bryan, Martin, Justin, Syafiq, Ben, Greg, Eddy: Thank you for sticking it to the end, we have something good going on this year, let’s stick together and work hard towards Law-Med! And finally to the supporters who came down to watch us, thanks for making the trip, your cheers certainly kept us going on the field!

Cheers guys!

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Badminton

Article contributed by: Elin Wong (Law 2)

We were all told that the badminton girls from other faculties could barely serve and that this year we had a stronger team than last year and stood a chance of qualifying.

After one entire week of hardcore training, the Team LAW IFG badminton team went down to NUS SRC and braced ourselves for battle against Arts, Computing, USP and Science. What greeted us there on that Saturday morning was a sight that none of us really expected. Practically everyone there was a seasoned badminton player, almost every single player looked like they had prior training, and those girls could most DEFINITELY hit the shuttlecock.

With their large pool of talent, it was no surprise that we lost to Arts. Spirits were low as we faced our next challenger, USP, to play the school that may or may not dash our dreams of making the semi finals. The structure of the game was as such. First, we would play women’s singles, followed by women’s doubles, and then men’s singles, doubles and lastly mixed doubles. In order to win, we had to win the best of 5 matches.

Unfortunately, despite putting up a brave fight, both our women’s singles and doubles lost to USP. All attention then turned to the men’s singles match, played by our captain Nicholas Soh (Year 3). He was up against what was supposedly the year 1 stud of the USP team. Rumour has it that he was some high-ranking officer in the Army and had just signed on his life to the Singapore Armed Forces. All those hours Nic spent mugging in the library his opponent spent doing PT. With Redbull and adrenaline coursing through his veins, Nic smashed his way to victory, playing it cool smart and steady despite being at an obvious disadvantage. The game ended with an extremely close rubber set and supporters cheered themselves hoarse as we relished the fact that after all those blunders earlier, we were still in the running.

Our men’s doubles then continued their intense match against USP and secured Team LAW a victory after a grueling rubber set. Next up was our star mixed doubles team comprising of Lili Teo (Year 1) and Wong Chun Han (Year 1). Naturally with such a strong doubles team, USP’s defeat was inevitable. Despite having extremely gungho opponents shouting “杀” at every point in order to intimidate us, Team Law prevailed and brought us one step closer to the semi final.

Despite putting up an awesome fight, we lost to Science narrowly despite David Lee’s (Year 4) well placed shots and eventual win in the Men’s singles. We won a couple of matches here and there against Computing, but with such talent surrounding us (the Medicine badminton team looked like they could all join IVP together), it seems like our hopes of getting into semis were dashed. Nonetheless, given the determination of the IFG team to train more often during the school term and Tan Khai Boon’s (Year 2) decision to go for private badminton coaching, no doubt Team Law will strike back harder next year! Thanks must go to all those who participated and came down for trainings and see you again next year!

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Netball

Article contributed by: Monique Koh (Year 2) and Lisa Lim (Year 3)

The Team

Midfielders: Annette Liu (Year 1), Shermian Koh (Year 1), Natalie Ng (Year 1), Melissa Ooi (Year 2), Catherine Lim (Year 2), June Loh (Year 2), Zeslene Mao (Year 2), Cheung Hai Yiu (Year 3) and Cheryl Tay (Year 3)

Shooters: Jaime Lye (Year 1), Natasha Goh (Year 2) and Hannah Cheang (Year 3)

Defenders: Monique Koh (Year 2) and Lisa Lim (Year 3)

Honorary member: Charlene Nah (Year 3)

I’ll be honest.

When we started off out IFG netball campaign on Saturday, 27^th August 2011, few of us had aspirations of making the semi-finals. Here was a team of 15 with barely 4 trainings under its belt (no thanks to a tight IFG schedule) and plenty of unpolished talent. Things looked set to be replays of our previous years at the games.

The weather on the Saturday of our netball round robin day was horrible.

We woke up to torrential rain and our matches had to be pushed back. We finally took the court against USP 1 hour after the match was scheduled but nothing was quite clicking for us. We were 4 goals down at 3^rd quarter time when the match was suspended due to more rain. Much was to be determined in the 4^th quarter as we finally found our feet, came roaring back with a big offensive and managed to catch up to tie the match.

We discovered our winning formula and we never looked set to lose our match against Science. With 3 points in the bag, our semi-finals hopes depended on the outcome of the USP v Science match since both teams had already lost to Business. Thankfully the match went our way and Science pulled through with a win allowing us to progress through the group stages into the semis.

Then came the epic semi-final match against our long-time archrival, Medicine.

We only had one line-up since so many of our players had classes to attend, leaving us with no substitutes and meaning everyone had to give it their all. We started off brilliantly with a 3 straight goals taking Medicine by surprise.  Our momentum continued in the 4^th quarter and when the final whistle blew, we were even at 21-all. We then headed into 5 minutes of extra time where we battled goal for goal the entire way, tying results once more at 24-all. It came down to a long sudden death round where the match would be won by whichever team managed to be 2 goals ahead. Neither team could capitalise on each other’s mistakes. Every miss we made resulted in an offensive rebound and an eventual goal. Every mistake we made was countered with a flying intercept by one of our girls. Every time Medicine scored from one of our centre passes, we would manage to turn the ball over again and equalise the score.

After over 30 minutes of sudden death we eventually lost 35-37. But given the amazing play that day, the scoreline seems insignificant to the sheer tenacity and display of moral character the girls showed. No one complained that they were tired (unlike the Medicine girls who were calling for a break during sudden death), no one yelled at the umpires for a bad decision (again unlike a certain Medicine player who shall remain nameless), instead we dug deep and played our hearts out. The final result may not have gone our way, but we walked out of the match with our heads high. Medicine will never take us lightly again.

Bring on Law-Med games.

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Frisbee (Mixed)

Article contributed by: Ng Huan Yong, otherwise known as VD (Law 2), Captain, 2011 IFG Frisbee

A morning of heavy rain set the scene for the Ultimate Frisbee showdown between a total of ten faculties, each wanting a piece of the disc and, hopefully, a hand on the coveted trophy. Law was up against Engineering, Computing, FASS and SDE in our group, and we had set our sights no lower than the very top. Unfortunately, we took a hard hit by losing to FASS in our first match. Nevertheless, the tenacity of the players shone through as beat Computing convincingly in a true show of skill and grit, followed by a draw in a hard-fought match with SDE. Despite our valiant attempts, however, we were unable to progress to the semi-finals after a second loss to Engineering.

Ultimate has never been, and never will be, a game of individual skill — the disc doesn’t fly far without capable players to carry it. Thank you Wei Song, Josiah, Jaime, Larisa, Evelyn, Cat, Su Lyn, Gerry, Daniel, Jason, Jia Hao, Eddy, Chun Yee, Kay Hian, Yu Hang — all of you were heroes in your own right. Also thanks to everyone who came down to support (including of course the Year 5s!) — they can talk as much as they want about how the team consists of only 15 people, but I insist that each and every one of you is as much a member of the team as the player running, catching and jumping.

Luck had not exactly been on our side, with Law’s perennial problem of having to spread its talent thin across many events causing some of our players to miss certain matches. However, every single player above certainly gave their all, pushed their hardest, and treasured the disc for every single one of the blood-pumping four matches we played. Even when we experienced an early setback, we kept our heads up, dug in, and showed them that Law was not to be trifled with. Even after an early loss, we shook the sand off our back, stood up, and threw the sand back in their face — and the ability of every single Ultimate player I have met to do that has all the more convinced me that even though this year was not ours, sometime in the near future, we’ll be able to get a hand — both hands, in fact — on the gold medal.

Until then, we’ll run hard, jump high, and go all out, as I know every single member of our Law Ultimate team will, in preparation for Law Frat, Justice League, and — you knew this was coming — our annual glory Law-Med match.

See you in the opponent’s endzone.

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