World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 3

Another great day of volunteering! Our team worked for three matches in that 2 matches simultaneously.We positioned each one of us in each corner,that means 2 guys per court.Lots of Australian and New Zealand supporters were there.

Australia Vs Northern Ireland

When i entered into the court Australia was playing against Northern Ireland . By far Australians were the best i have seen.They are energetic ,flamboyant and wonderful passers.Their game made huge impact on me.I think that's the way Australians play all the games.Very impressive performance by them.

Cheerful audience..

The Australians showed remarkable sportsmanship, they mingled with the supporters and with the opponent players easily.Very rare to see these characters in Australian Cricket team.I came to know that the Australians are the reigning World Netball Champions.I hope they will be having a good outing this time also.

Singapore Vs South Africa

After the Australia match there were 2 more matches to be played in 2 courts.So we were pretty much busy for the 30 minutes.And the matches started on time .The first match was played between Singapore and South  Africa in Court 1.Both the team had last their previous match.Singapore started brilliantly,everything looked perfect- passes,shots on goal,goal defense. But they started to loose their grip on the lead in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.Again their passes were not accurate and they did not run as they should.South Africa on the other hand played better and their passes were excellent.South Africa won the match quite easily in the end.

Play in progress in both courts

In court 2 ,Malaysia and Malawi fought out. Malaysia from the beginning did not play well and their passes were erratic.Malawians covered the court quite beautifully -they ran and ran.Malawians won the match hands down.
Day 3 Results:

Match No	Team1	Score	Team2	Winner
9	Trinidad&Tobago	58-40	Fiji	Trinidad&Tobago
10	England	74-42	Barbados	England
11	Samoa	57-53	Srilanka	Samoa
12	New Zealand	91-21	Wales	New Zealand
13	Jamaica	74-23	Botswana	Jamaica
14	Australia	75-33	Northern Ireland	Australia
15	South Africa	70-33	South Africa	South Africa
16	Malawi	65-35	Malaysia	Malawi

World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 2

Second day of the championship.Our shift started on 6PM , i was little late to the stadium.When i reached the court 1 ,i saw England playing against Malawi. I was posted near the Malawi team bench.

England Vs Malawi

Regarding the match,The english  played far better than the Malawians.It was a easy win for England. For the next match we had almost 45 minutes ,we refilled the water and ice cubes.Unfortunately water spilled out from the water dispenser while dragging it to refill.so we moped the floor for almost 20 minutes.Again quick response from our team and ably supported by our manager .

Barbados Vs Malaysia

The next match was between Malaysia and Barbados.I was very pleased to see the support the Malaysian team received from the locals.I thought that the match will be a good one but Barbados won it easily.I can not say anything about the techniques of the teams play but what i found was that Malaysian same like Singapore did not run and pass and shot the ball well.These 2 teams needs to lot of hard work to catch the top teams.

After the match ,we took all the water dispensers and ice holders back to the water collection area. We arranged the chairs for the next day's play.We stood down at 10PM.

Day 2 Results:

Match No	Team1	Score	Team2	Winner
2	Jamaica	72-45	SouthAfrica	Jamaica
3	Australia	81-23	Samoa	Australia
4	Trinidad&Tobago	51-48	Wales	Trinidad&Tobago
5	New Zealand	80-25	Fiji	New Zealand
6	Northern Ireland	65-56	Srilanka	Northern Ireland
7	England	65-33	Malawi	England
8	Barbados	62-40	Malaysia	Barbados

Another great day of volunteering!Still 6 more days to go..

World Netball Championship 2011 - Day 1

I never heard of netball till 2009 ,through some contacts i registered as a volunteer for this event some months back.Once i went for orientation at Netball Singapore  near Singapore Stadium, they showed and explained us the plan for the WNC2011 and volunteers work.

Last month i received a mail from Netball Singapore stating that my role will be FOP i.e Field Of Play assistant.I was really happy to know that i will work near the playing court!!.The sad part is that i don't know the rules and regulations of netball .On 2nd of july we had a briefing session, our manager explained our duties. Great ! Everything ready!

3rd July 2011

Dragon dance...

   It was a wonderful day, great sunshine.We reported at Singapore Indore stadium around 3PM immediately we started our work.It was real fun to mingle with so many different personalities at a same time. The opening ceremony commenced at exactly 5PM . Honorable President S.R. Nathan presided over the function, he was accompanied by IFNA president,local associations dignitaries and Mission food executive. The entertainment begun with Urban drummers and NUS dance ensemble .

Team flags were displayed on the court using lights

President Nathan declared games opened at 6:30PM.we had only 30 minutes to arrange the court and we did well on time.Great team work.The first match was played between Singapore and Botswana.The match started on schedule.

President Nathan(gray suit)

The Match:

Botswana players singing their national anthem

I was curious to know how they will play the game.Interestingly it was similar to basketball but in netball they are not jumping and shooting the ball to basket,just pass the ball to GS i.e Goal Shooter who will stand and shoot the ball.Its not point ,its called goals.The game is played in 4 quarters 15 minutes each with interval of 3 minutes between 1st and 2nd quarter and 10 minutes between 2nd and 3rd quarter (half time) then another 3 minutes between 3 and 4th quarter.

before the mach:Singapore Vs Botswana

Botswana played better.Their passing was immaculate and they scored at every turn.Singapore on the other hand missed many opportunities and their shooting was not upto the standard.Atlast Singapore lost the match.They have to work very hard to bounce back from this defeat,hope they will.

View from the Workforce area

After the match ,we prepared the court for the next day, this time we prepared 2 courts.We finished the day with 3 minutes meeting.Still 7 more days to go.

Final score!

For more information check out the official site  : click here

Mr Popper's Penguins

Two reason to watch this movie:-First , a different Jim Carrey.Unlike his comedy performance in previous film , Carrey did a wonderful job in this movie. Second , CG Penguins, they are simply wonderful, i liked  them so much.

The story is based on the classic children book with the same name written by Richard and Florence Atwater. Popper, like his father did not spend much time with his children,he is divorced.His children and wife lives separately. His father was explorer who never spent his days in home.

Story is based on this book

His life takes a turn when his father's penguins arrive at his store step.First one arrives, due to miscommunication  five more arrives. His children loves the penguins, once again he is getting closer and closer with his children and wife.Mean while the zoo keeper is pursuing Popper to send the penguins to the zoo where they will be given proper care.

One of the penguin's egg did not hatch as Popper expected, so he ask the zoo keeper to them to zoo.When his children asks him about the missing penguins he told that 'those are birds and they dont have love'. They were angry on him for giving the birds to zoo. While searching something he noticed the letter sent to him by his father with the penguin , his father wrote about filial love and the love shown by penguins.  He decided to get the penguins back from the zoo.

He call his wife and kids and visits  zoo and to get those penguins back.The climax shows whether Mr.Popper got his penguins back or not.There is a side story of Popper pursuing the old lady to sell the restaurant but the old lady refuses until she understood his love for his family and the penguins.

Feel good movie, can watch once.

F1 Nature Run 21KM Trail Challenge

After Sundown marathon, Nature Run 2011 was my first run.I have not practiced much,ran only 3 or 4 times after marathon!So i knew that i have to be very careful with my body specially my legs. For the first time i took fuel belt with couple of Power gels and a analgesic cream.

The race was held at MacRitchie reservoir, i should say that this route was one of the best i have ran in Singapore so far, better than ECP.Wow!! What a greenery ! The race was flagged off exactly at 7:30AM.I started briskly, i felt better.After around 600 meters we reached the MacRitchie trail .The real trail begun!

MacRitchie -Scenic Route

The route was peppered with stones,pebbles,wet leaves,sticks,wet sands and in couple of places sticky mud.I liked the whole view as i progressed.Till 8 KMs i was running in a consistent pace but after that there was a vertical muddy slope, i walked and crossed over.I did not stop anywhere till 17KMs , i was back to my normal pace.The official drink was Pokka sports water, i drank it at the water stations.

I felt pain in my right knee when i crossed 17km mark,luckily as i mentioned before i had a heat rub with me , i rubbed it , felt better and i crossed the finish line without any other physical problem.It was a good run.For most part of the race i ran in a consistent pace.Below are the finisher medal

Then came the surprise ,I won a heart rate monitor in a lucky draw which was held after the race.Wow! I never owned a heart rate monitor, now i have one! Have to learn how to use it.

My lucky draw prize-a heart rate monitor

Special thanks to the volunteers , you were awesome!On the whole , a great day to remember.