Kung Futsal

Alright guys this post Im about to write has nothing to do with Kung Fu and all about Kung Fu, martial arts and figthing. What I'm trying to say is that what I'm doing is comparing Futsal the sport we love with actual fighting. Futsal is an important element in your sporting life. Not only is it a modern idea of outdoor football it is even harder to play for strikers a smaller goal, for easy scorers no offside, for defenders no sliding and for keeper smaller playing area which means opponent can get close to the goal and score easier. Futsal is like a way of fighting itself. This does not refer to real fighting when there is tension what it refers to is the way we play, the way we kick the ball, the skill and the acrobatism involved in doing the sport.

SHADOWLESS KICKS
This envolves all the people who uses their abilities to shoot,cross and take last minute blast. Players who I can recognise with this abilities are Benjamin, Austin,and Daniel Mok. They use their full force and deliver the ball and if anyone of you who have been blasted before you would understand this kicks are lethal just like in Kung Fu that uses the shadowless kick you have seen are mostly based on sending a kick that can hardly be seen and also a chain of kicks attacking a target. I feel that powerhouse players are the same as those martial artist who practice the shadowless kick because of the ball they kick that can hardly be seen because of the speed and sometimes if you notice players like Benjamin's style, they would continue to blast the ball until the target is achieved slowly breaking the defends wall wherelse Austin prefers using a surprising blast to score a goal from a long distance when the keeper's view is blocked or distracted, he would take advantage and blast it in just like the shadowless kick that was believed to be invisible or uneasy to be seen. Daniel however uses his uses the same technique but with a different angle of shooting as his kicks are closer to a goal which means it goes directly at the mid point of the keeper. POWERHOUSE= SHADOWLESS KICK

Freestyle Showman.
This technique has been talked about in this blog for so many times that it may seem boring but this skill is remarkable. Not only do you need the mind to control it, you have to have the correct footwork or you would end up stepping on the ball and trip on it. What intrigues me is the reason this futsal players use it on the sport why can't it be use as a way of combat the more I think of it martial arts use to be something regularly practiced by people from the past. So would the showman technique slowly end up like Kung Fu itself with only certain experts being able to use it. Comparing Roderick's style to Ju Ping's would they be both able to out-trick each other and would their skills combined make a better one. If you notice the way they play Ju Ping play he works more with keeping the ball grounded and moves it with his leg and the front of his shoe slowly rolling it futher and catching it back to go through people. While Roderick chooses to take the ball that is crossed to him and take it aerially which means using the ball that is in the air using the back of his shoe to chip it right to the front and blast or passes it to someone. He uses his prediction and control of his hind legs as well as the ability to juggle the ball which is commonly practiced by showmans like Ju Ping with his cousins Benjamin and Brandon.

The Art of Defence.
This are the common rules of defenders in futsal most importantly the Canaan teams tactics that I observed. Jump,Head,Tackle,Resist,Pass,Mark and Clear. This are the basic rules that have been used by defenders like Yee San, Brandon and Jeffrey. Personally if anyone remembers I started out as a defend myself before I decided to turn keeper and defending is not and easy task at all. It would be the hardest job ever. Important jobs are that all these seem to sound very martial artistic to me because of all the knowledge you need to follow. The ones that I mentioned earlier are all basic defend methods. I remember there are stronger and more advance methods like the ones Manager Ju Yuan mentioned before like moving back with opponent with the ball, strong marking leaving no empty space and player and most importantly court knowledge. What could be compared to real martial arts in this is the way we play, the rules and knowledge that takes time to gain and is quick to be lost if not practiced.

6 Elements of Keeping.
Goal keepers are the ones that are probably closest to real martial arts seeing the way they play that envolves resisting pain and mostly acrobatism in futsal. The agility of goal keeping is very important just like martial arts . Hands, Body, Slide, Stance , Legs and Arms. This are what I observed mostly used by Canaan keepers and myself which I feel should always be followed. The usefulness of this things are without anyone of this elements you can still be a good keeper. Most keeper could use their hands but never their arms and some prefer to slide or use their own stance. Hands refers to using your bare palm , fist, fingers and gloves when you save a goal. This relates to Kung Fu because of the way we control our the strength we put in wether by punching with force , slightly touching to save high shots or even by depending on gloves to catch the ball. Body refers to our ability to resist pain and acrobatism in jumping, rolling and most importantly the speed we use to enforce the moves. Sliding is the most efective yet dangerous way of playing when you try to tackle an opponent in one-on-one situation. It takes much practiceto perfect and also needs excellent prediction of the time the player chooses to blast. Stance is the way keepers use. Joel uses his height to his advantage by covering the goals with his long arms making sure no empty space was left. While I prefer croaching slightly with gloves on saving position to be able to jump or slide. Daniel however prefers to wait and take shots by predicting the opponents shooting area which is a very effective way of keeping. Legs is the way keeper tackle or take low shots and arms is the way certain keeper like Joel uses to catch long shots.

VBS...Those Were The Days...

The best part of my life in 2007 is during the end of the year where God gave me the most greatest opportunity which was to serve him in VBS. Since I was a young little boy, I attended VBS watching the teachers serve and until now some of the teachers I remember serving are still as active as ever with more new talents coming to serve Him. I remember from the first meeting, to the first musician practice, to the decoration day in which we helped build the soccer goals and to day 1. All the great memories. For people who are interested in serving God , don't hesitate to serve because what your planning to do is something thats wonderful. You have to request and not expect the people to read your mind that you want to serve (DONT WORRY ABOUT YOUR AGE OR ABILITIES).

Decoration.
This would be the part of serving thats the easiest as it seems and funnest in doing. I remember the decoration day which was a few days before the GAMEDAY where me, Weng Kit and my brother went to help out. They were assign to build a basketball and soccer goal post while I walked around to help out. It took them quite a while to do it as they have to measure and go and buy better material. Their original plan was to build it with some plastic pipes but then Kok Keong decided to use some wooden poles. So Pr Siew Teng drove us to a hardware store to buy it and we also got some soft drinks. I helped a teacher to paste some pictures and decorations as well as hang the poster really high up(scary). As well as tying the flags .In the end the soccer goals was made but the basketball one was made by just a simple poster stand and paper board. Despite the hard work the important thing was that the job was done. Other teachers like Teacher Sonia ,Teacher Terry and Aunty Annie came as well all to help do the decorations. Even Yee San came too. We had the funnest time. Other things I did was going around passing soft drinks to everyone . That was important too because dehydration could bring someone down!.

Meeting.
The meeting was the first launch of the preparation. It was when we all discussed about the preparation and assigned jobs. For those future people who want to serve. The meeting is the most important thing for your recruitment. It was really exciting as many people came all eager to serve God. All group leaders have to give a speech. I remember Weng Kit who was assigned as PA leader was so nervous he kept asking me about the full name of APD, PA and all those short forms. But in the end he did really well just like the others did. God was always the captain for the whole thing. I remember during the meeting we all agreed that the true leader was God himself. Everyone served including the new young ones like me(musician), Yee San(PA), Angela(performance) and others who were ready. We had a simple briefing than we separated into groups. Overall VBS was really fun.

Musicians .
I think this is the one I enjoyed the most. Its like serving God and doing what I loved at the same time. We did our practice possibly a month before Gameday. The first meeting was on a Sunday. Timothy, Yi Bing, Brian, Peter, Daniel ,Pr Siew Teng, Teng Teng, Faith,Phoebe and all the PA personel and other musicians came on that day. We practiced the theme song. The first practice I remember was disastrous. Not only that we were not sure with notes and chords we were also not sure about the role each musician played. The second one was better as Teng Teng leaded and we understood our role. In the end the jobs were certained Cliff =Bass, Ju Liang=Lead/Electric Guitar, Me= Rhythm/Acoustic Guitar, Teng Teng=Keyboard, Phoebe= Piano and Joel on drums. Many new talents served we had song leaders and back ups like Daniel,Yi BIng, Faith, Peter, Teacher Pei Ying among others and dancers like Yen Lynn, Ei Wei, Teacher Patricia,and some others. It went really well as the songs we did were fun and pack some great meanings. We were told we were the first church to use a live band! and that year we had a full band with well practiced song all for the purpose of educating the kids about God, the ABC and also giving them a fun holiday.

Gameday went really well in the end and let me tell you guys and girls that theres nothing better than serving God when your free during the holidays. You are more than welcomed to come and help serve in VBS wherever you feel comfortable in and trust me your memories would be there forever. Age, Skills and Personality doesn't matter it is all in your level of commitments and most importantly who your doing it for which is GOD.

GO BOYS GO GIRLS.

Top Five Moments In Canaan Futsal.

Number Five-Joshua's Scores!
On of a simple and rarely talked about is this goal that Joshua Lim managed to score putting him in the same category with his piers Weng Kit and Jhow Weh as the best easy scorers in the game. This moment happened in the futsal arena in Carrefour when some Canaan members had to use that arena instead of Score Arena in Kuchai Lama. One of the defenders passed back a goal to me and in a scary moment when the strikers where coming I blast the ball away in fear. It seemed obvious to everyone that the ball was going out on the right side but suddenly Joshua who was standing in the position near the goal managed to hook the ball in with his left leg making the surprising moment of the time.

Number Four-Keepers Fury.
These are one of the funniest yet admirable moments in Canaan Futsal. Most keepers like Daniel, Clement and sometimes Austin would prefer getting blast in order to save a shot. This moments of the time are shot saved by causing excruciating pain to keepers like a famous goal Daniel Mok saved getting blast in which saved three shots at a time. Another moment was during a penalty kick that Benjamin Khor was taking and the keeper Clement was almost prepared for. Benjamin uses his blasting ability and sends a full range shot and keeper Clement jumps a step to the front and oddly "face the ball" literally. He ends with an almost broken nose that was bleeding on one side briefly. Other players escorted him out. Keepers have to go through a tough job depending on the keeping style they used.

Number Three-Cliffords Volley.
This is the goal scored during a score arena competition when Canaan faced a Malay team that was considered the match of the times. The team where fighting a tough game where neither scored then suddenly one of the defenders either Brandon or Yee San blast a ball straight up after following manager Ju Yuan's instruction and Clifford who was dashing straight towards the ball's landing position leapt slightly and kicks it in mid-air in to the goal(volley) bringing an uproar of applause . Many considered it as a influential moment for Canaan.

Number Two- King Austin's Power.
This remarkable talk is considered the best of the blast for blast-king Austin Hii. It was during a Church friendly match where Emmanuel had managed to score the first goal. Austin who was the defender was given the ball when he suddenly blast it high above the air in an intense speed that shocked the crowd. Opposing Keeper was not ready for such a high shot that he had to run backwards to try to save it but the ball managed to get in that created the greatest blast ever for Austin and a great moment for Canaan . Blast-king was standing close to the D-box of his own team but managed to score so far away.

Number One-Waiting For Suggestion