The POWER of cheering. HCI Version.

I have not really thought much about Hwa Chong's cheers when I first entered Hwa Chong. During the SOO (Secondary One Orientation) I always ignore the "Group ** squeeze!" and the OT (Organizing Team)'s effort to foster the Hwa Chong spirit in us. I even came to the point of disliking the seniors when they forced us to repeat the cheers until we have learnt it, memorised it and until they were satisfied. To be frank, I was throughly disgusted by their actions. I still remembered the time when 2 OTs witnessed us doing a "weak Rock You" and then forced us to repeat it so many times until we were rather late for our break. At that time I was the top 1 introvert guy in my group. (though someone would pass me off as "acting cool" and "emo".) Therefore I wasnt doing the cheer properly at all. However, I was not caught, instead I went for my break with my group and that's it. I didn't understand the reason behind in learning the cheers. I didn't get to feel the real Hwa Chong spirit. I didn't used the chance to expressed my pride of being a Hwa Chong 子弟. But nothing is too late. I still have years to enjoy the bonds and spirit of Hwa Chongians. So now, I am going to share with you all an event that will be significant in my entire Hwa Chong life.

We were a bit early for our B Division match. So we settled down in Clementi Town Secondary School and watched the match that was before our B Div's. It was Hua Yi VS Bukit Panjang. It was a B Div match. That means it would be a nice one. However the real thrill in watching this match was that both teams were rather significant in relation to our B Div. Bukit Panjang was the only team that has won our B Div in this year's West Zone so far. And Hua Yi have just lost to our B Div recently. The first round was a rather plain victory for the Bukit Panjang but the second round was a very tight match. The scores were very close throughout. It could be possible that Hua Yi would win. That would be quite humiliating for our seniors as they won Hua Yi which won Pukit Panjang which won them. In other words, it could mean in some percentage that our B Div won Hua Yi because of luck or Bukit Panjang won our B Div because of luck. (Its rather confusing, isnt it?) My C Div captain, Hong Sen, said that he would jumped off the building if Hua Yi lost. It was rather extreme but he was a confident man. I too believed that Bukit Panjang was too stable and consistent for Hua Yi to win. I also have no doubt that if there is 1 team who could win our incredible B Div, it would not lose that easily. I was correct, in the end, Hua Yi lost.

Soon after, Mr Tok beckoned us to go outside while the B Div were warming up. The first question he asked was, "Why have you come today? To watch the match or to support the seniors?" Honestly, I was surprised. From the start, everybody has been saying, "We are going to see the match." Nobody said, "We are going to support the seniors." From the moment onwards, I kinda changed my purpose of coming here. It's not to watch, it's to support. Mr Tok continued by saying that this match would be extremely important as it was a match that would decide whether the B Div would be able to get champion. With that he entered the indoor sports. When we followed suit, the B Div already started warming up. The standard warming up sequence was personal team warming up, then free spike followed by serving. One could pictured it like an ancient war. My famous senior Zhengjie thundered down a ball with a "bpoom" and we followed up by cheering. The ball was just like the catapult and the cheering were millions of arrows fired. The opponent suffered morale damaged but their notorious Oliver smashed down a nearly-invisible ball that went "BPOOM!" So on and so forth.

The players down there were the catapults and the supporters up here were the archers. It isn't a real blood and flesh battle. It was a battle of morale. Even the best player would have fear deep in their heart when they saw that their strength was on par with the other.

The match started. It was long before it ends.
Clementi scored 1 point. Hwachong scored 2 point. Clementi scored 2. Hwachong scored 1 point. The differences in their scores never exceeded 3. It was a battle of equal strength. But we lost. It was solemn silence during the timeout before the 2nd match. The 2nd match started. The situation is similar. But, they did not have a value we practised. 自强不息。When the scores were nearing the twenties, HCI scores surged and won. For Clementi, it was probably a defeat of underestimating us since our morale seems low. The 3rd match was swift and thrilling enough. HCI took advantage of their sudden defeat and their scores skyrocketed. However, Clementi started to crawl back in pursue of us. And within a short amount of time, the difference of 10 points was reduced to only 3. It served as a tremendous blow for HCI but the supporters did not give up, neither did the players. We believed in our seniors' victory. We yelled our lungs out on every ball that was served till our voice was hoarse and coarse. In the end, we won. In spite of facing such a strong team. In spite of losing the first match. In spite of the sudden increase of scores for Clementi town in the third match. They won. We won. That really showed me the real POWER of cheering.