Following the conclusion of the Inter-Faculty Games last year, the next major sporting event in the school calendar see the Law and Medicine faculty square off in the annual LawMed Games. Here at Justified, we seek to bring you coverage of the wide array of sports in a 4-part special.
Men’s Football
With victory in last year’s LawMed games still fresh on their minds, the Law football team began the 2018 edition in bright spirits, with Captain Benedict Tan leading the team in defence of their title. Despite the absence of shadow former captain Josiah Tham, hope was in the air as it was widely acknowledged that there would now be less ball-hogging and shouting on the pitch
The match began at a frantic pace, with both teams trying their best to assert dominance. The Law team had a few bright chances, with star striker Denzyl Ang coming close on a few occasions. Unfortunately, Medicine soon broke the deadlock after some scrappy play. Going into the halftime break, Medicine led 1-0.
Soon after the second half began, Law swiftly equalised the score, with final year student Darren Low smashing home a thunderous volley from outside the box. Playing in his final game for the team after 4 illustrious years, it was a fitting farewell gift. The team would like to express their gratitude to Darren for his contributions over the years, despite never turning up for training.
Alas, the story does not end on a happy note as Medicine soon took the lead again, capitalising on some poor clearances by the Law team after a corner. Despite their valiant attempts in search for a second equaliser, the team could not find a way past the Medicine rearguard. The game ended 2-1 to Medicine, with Law failing to retain their title.
Women’s Football
Michael Jordan once said, “Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.” That was exactly what the Law women’s soccer team did. It had been raining the entire day on Friday but the weather app had promised that the rain would stop briefly in the evening, just long enough for the match which was held at BTC Upper Quad.
Nonetheless, the light drizzle didn’t stop Law from doing warm-up while anxiously waiting for the Med team to arrive. The game commenced after much delay that, in retrospect, could definitely have been avoided.
Group pic!
Sheiffa (Y3) bravely took up the role of the goalkeeper and even managed a number of spectacular saves. Our defenders were determined to hold down the fort but were ultimately overcome by Med’s relentless attacks. The ball managed to go into Law’s attacking half a couple of times, though unfortunately, none eventuated into a goal for us.
The Med team outnumbered us in players (and subs) by almost double. Despite that, a number of players performed above and beyond. For example, Valerie (Y3) who simply dominated when she had to double up as both Defender and Midfielder on numerous instances during the game. Two Year 1s, Shu-Ann and Michelle, also fearlessly stepped up to the plate despite being unfamiliar with the sport.y
Yay! It’s over!
At the end of the day, despite knowing we were limited in strength (in numbers and physical ability), and despite the rain and muddy field, we showed up, laced up our boots and gave it our best. That ought to count for something, right?
Tennis
It was 24th February at Kent Ridge Tennis Courts (in fact it was 24th February everywhere else) when the Lawmed tennis game took place. Given the dearth of training sessions we had prior to the games, the games were definitely recreational for us (though we had previously agreed with Med to take them competitively). Meanwhile, the Medicine team looked ever ready as they drove shot after shot at each other during the warm-up session. However, we were not ready to give up just yet. Optimism was the name of our game.
As we organised the line-up for the matches, it was apparent that we were outnumbered. While the medicine side had 25 players, we had only a grand total of 5 players! However, this deficit was not solely restricted to numbers. As Abel George (Y1) lamented about a knee injury he suffered the previous day, other players began disclosing their own injuries as well. Before long, there was a whole laundry list of physical ailments, ranging from spinal injuries to broken ankles and stomachaches. In the end, Captain Kai Jiun decided to send 3 players for the singles matches and 2 players for a doubles match.
With the match’s commencement, the medicine players were cheered on by the remainder of the Medicine team. In contrast, we had only ourselves for support ): Yet, we took comfort in the occasional glances we gave each other from time to time during the games — “I know how you feel bro, I lost that point too.”
While Medicine gave us a masterclass in the art of clinical shot selection, there were flashes of brilliance from the Law side as well. In the doubles match, Joel Yap (Y4) exhibited his mercurial reflexes when he volleyed several of the power shots the opposing shots fired at him. Captain Kai Jiun was also in the zone as he pummelled forehand after forehand at the medicine side. However, the medical team was unfazed as they simply swiped away the shots that we fired. The same situation happened in the other singles matches as well. In spite of Abel (Y1), Wei Sze (Y1) and Rakash’s (Y3) best efforts, Medicine took the matches nonetheless. As the first round of games ended, the second round began not long after. Medicine was clearly getting a kick out of it.
On a final note, even though we did not emerge victorious, as we had hoped for, the Law players had enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Medicine was a great host and the players were extremely friendly throughout the course of the tennis matches.
Bouldering
The introduction of this event was a first in the history of the LawMed games. Climbers were split into 3 categories — beginner, novice and intermediate and given 2 hours to climb and complete as many of the 26 routes as they could. The Law team led by captain and professional climber Zheng Yuan fought valiantly to secure a win.
However, the Medicine team had a secret weapon of their own. It came in the form of a beginner climber who single-handedly completed an astonishing 20 routes to bag his team a significant number of points. This led to Medicine beating us narrowly.
Dodgeball
After losing to the Medicine team in the Inter-Faculty Games (IFG), the Law dodgeball team set out to redeem ourselves in MedLaw 2018. The question which must be on your mind: ‘Did we beat them?’
Well, we did… for the first game. We proceeded to lose all the remaining games thereafter. Safe to say, our plans to defeat the Medicine team is now postponed to next year’s IFG. And if that doesn’t work out, there’s always the next MedLaw to do so… and the next… and the next. At this point, you must be starting to wonder: “Why don’t we ever win our matches?”
The truth is, winning isn’t everything. After all, it’s just dodgeball. With the competitive part of the game over and done with, we proceeded to play variations of the game, where we could finally lose in peace. We had lots of fun mixing up the teams because if you can’t beat them, join them.
This is Part 1 of a series of posts on LawMed 2018.
