LawMed 2018 Roundup (Part 2)

Handball

Most Sunday mornings entail snuggling in bed and waiting for the alarm clock to drag you up. But not this Sunday morning. By 8.30 am, the team was already warming up under the scorching sun. Having beaten Medicine the previous year, the team was quietly confident it could repeat the feat, especially with IVP player Tomoyuki in the team this year.

And so, the game began. Perhaps it was a lack of coffee or a late-night mugging session the night before (most likely the latter), but a sluggish start saw the Law team falling behind by 3 goals within minutes of the first half. The team was missing former sports director Josiah Tham, who this time around had the excuse of being on exchange in Canada (but still put his name down to get a free LawMed shirt). But with the experience of 5-year veteran Nic Lee and the commanding presence of Marc Leung, the Law team shrugged off the lethargy quickly. However, crisis struck when Marc was viciously “struck down” by the Medicine defence, twice in quick succession. A tactical substitution was made to maintain the intensity. Thankfully Marc did not suffer any serious injury and left to ply his trade as the star of the Law soccer team.

By halftime, superstar high jumper, 38^th Law Club MC Sports Director, 37^th Law Club MC External Events Director, Steven Low and Clarence “Shoots from 25m” Woon scored some stunning goals to claw back the deficit by halftime.

Tomo and Captain Wen Qi decided to change things up during the break and introduced advanced IVP handball tactics that would perplex even a Justice of Appeal. Law started off brightly during the second half with Captain Wen Qi smooth with the distribution of his the ball (as he is with the ladies). Members of the Han dynasty Khe Han (Y1) and Weng Han (Y1) were in control of the wings, splitting open the Medicine defence like Genghis K(han). Tomo made it look easy by rifling through blistering shots that left the opponent’s goalkeeper rooted to the spot.

Ex-FOCC Chairman Ben Ted put Medicine on the hot-seat, with his numerous rejections (of the medicine players, not girls) and backdoor cuts, while also trying to pick a fight with people twice his width. Our big boi pivots (centre-forwards) Krishna and Shaun Sia took a Black Panther and Incredible Hulk approach (respectively) to physically bully their Medicine counterparts into submission, shutting out their offensive threat.

It was an offensive and defensive masterclass. By the final whistle, after 2 draining halves of 30 minutes each, the score was tied 19 all.

This only meant one thing — penalties. There was little for the Law team to be worried about, with the ever-reliable Jyh “Jai Ho” Howe in goal, always ready to put his body on the line. However, the difference ultimately turned out to be the number of national water polo players in the teams, with Medicine narrowly edging out Law by a score of 5-3.

It was a bittersweet finale, especially for Nic Lee, Clarence and Marc as this was their swansong match in red. But they left with confidence that next year will be Law’s, with a team focused on youth, captained by Mr Photogenic 2017 Khe Han.

(Editor’s note: Krishna would like the school to know that he was Mr Photogenic in 2016)

Tchoukball

Tchoukball took place on 3^rd February and was actually one of the very first sports for LawMed. However, a month or so would probably have passed by the time you read this article. This, I assure you, is not due to any breakdown in the Justified system. It merely reflects the desire of the Justified team to save the best for last. (Ok, just kidding. I forgot to write an article for Jacob, apologies Jacob).

Moving on to the game itself, the Law team went into this match facing significant disadvantages. Not only were we severely outnumbered (see Exhibit 1 below), Med also held the home court advantage — the match was played at Kent Ridge.

This might seem like a trivial disadvantage given that each team could only field 7 players at a time (we had sufficient substitutes) and that no team (to my knowledge) has lost a tchoukball game when playing away. However, it is submitted that in an event as prestigious as LawMed and where teams are almost evenly matched (Med finished 3^rd overall in IFG while Law narrowly missed qualifying for the semi-finals, finishing 5^th out of our group of 6 teams), every seemingly minor factor piles up and translates into an advantage which could affect the outcome of the match.

Nonetheless, the Law team persevered against the seemingly insurmountable odds and I am happy to announce that after a hard fought match under the unforgiving sun…

 

…we did not lose to the Med team! (This may have been due to the fact that tchoukball was classified as a non-competitive sport which resulted in no one keeping score). While no scores were kept, the game remained an exciting match where new friendships were forged (in true LawMed spirit).

And as you can tell from the article, the Law Tchoukball team is pretty chill and easygoing. So do consider picking up a new sport and joining us for IFG/LawMed next academic year 🙂

Pool

There is a time to study hard, and there is a time to face our Medicine counterparts in a round of pool! This year LawMed Pool was held at Snookerzone @ Toa Payoh, and contrary to the norm (Med somehow always outnumbering the Law team two to one), we actually outnumbered the Med team this year. This time around, it was a simple 8-ball format, in a race to 2 racks per round.

From the get-go, plans were rearranged as the format was changed suddenly to include single player rounds (in addition to partner doubles), which might have affected the team’s chemistry (and legitimate expectations).

Nevertheless, Law got off to a great start, and at one point, we recalled leading 4-2 up. Credit to many of our Law friends who were only casual players (though it was clear some of them must have been secretly practising on the Lounge’s pool table).

However, Med stepped up their game and roused to win a couple of decisive rounds to lead 5-4 with one round left. If Med won the last round, it would certainly seal their victory; if Law won the round, we could have pushed for a decisive tie-break.

We were so close! With one rack won per side, the tension was escalating. Law pushed to ensure a tie-break…

… But alas, it was not meant to be, with Med sealing our fate (winning 6-4), ensuring that the Law team would come back even stronger next year to turn the tide.

After the official competition was over, we mixed up the players to allow more casual interactions between both sides (and also to exact some unofficial revenge).

The Year 4s say goodbye to what has been a memorable and exhilarating time on the team, making way for young and fresh talents (yep, we’re looking at you, current Y1s-Y3s) to overcome Med next year.

This is Part 2 of a series of posts on LawMed 2018