Myself and another guy from England have been working with a girl's football team at a secondary school during our stay in Singapore, and today they were playing a friendly match against a team from a junior college.
Had to leave the house 'nice' and early, and it was still depressingly dark outside when we arrived at the MRT Station. We weren't actually having to travel that far on the metro network, but we did have to change twice and use three different lines (there's only four available!) The college we were playing at was in a place called Kovan which is just down the road from Serangoon which is the location that the college is named after.
I had volunteered to referee the game whilst the other coach would prepare the team, sort the substitutions out and do the warm-up, I definitely think he got the better end of the deal.
Although I haven't spent many an hour playing, watching and talking about football, officiating my favourite sport is not something I have endured a great deal of time being involved in.
I'm not one to berate officials when I am playing as from the few times when I have had to do it, usually in kids games as well, I've found if very difficult! Referees have my sympathy (most of the time!) Thankfully I wasn't needing to make too many decisions during the game although there were a few handballs that I let both teams get away with.
Pretty sure that I did more running than either of the two teams put together, and after being up so early in the morning I was well and truly tired. The girls lost the game 4-2, but to say they were 0-4 down at the start of the second half they did really well to come back and at least claim some pride against a team who were are least two years older than them.
Heading back on the MRT I think I must have dozed off and woke up just in time to get of the train in the right place, but after a shower and some dinner I felt a lot more refreshed.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on the computer looking at and drawing up some session plans that I had managed to 'borrow' from various sources, and then this evening I was out again to actually play football myself this time.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I had been in touch with a team of expatriate players who play fixtures in and around the area. I'd been in contact with the manager a few days ago and he had mentioned that they were training this evening between 8-10pm at a Futsal Centre in Woodlands which is very close to Sembawang.
Seems strange that it is now two weeks since I left England to head to Singapore. Which also means that I am halfway through my time here. In some ways it has gone remarkably fast, but in others it has also gone quite slowly.
So far most of it has been an enjoyable experience. I am loving being immersed in a new and vastly different culture, it makes a change to constantly be too hot rather than too cold, and it's a nice change being in a foreign country where the locals speak the same language as me! I can definitely say when I return to England that my time in Singapore was well spent regardless of the outcome of whether I end up staying here long-term or not.
I have learned so much whilst being back in Asia, and I would definitely consider spending some time in Singapore again in the future!
No, he's not a stranger. He's just strange.
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