sepak takraw!

for the first time in my life, i played sepak takraw during my standby duty in SOC yesterday. it's not a very popular sport in singapore, but it certainly is among my squadmates, who were very kind to teach me the rules of the game, as well as the roles of each player in a team.

it's actually a game consisting of 3 players in each team, a server, a feeder and a killer. (that's if i'm not wrong). so a feeder feeds the takraw ball to the server, who serves over the net to the opponent team. they are then allowed to control the ball before juggling it back to the other team by the 3rd hit. any parts of the body can be used to control the ball, except the hands. a killer's role is to kill the game with a strike using his head or his legs.

it was very amusing how i struggled initially to adapt to the rules of the game and how i caused my team to lose points, but they were very patient with me. as the game went on, i grew more confident and at ease with the flow of the game. whenever i scored a point for the team, it gave me a sense of mild achievement. and according to my friend, it's a tradition of the game for teammates to always give high fives and low fives to one another in between games as a motivation.

to me, it's more than a new sport i've learned: it's something that teaches and advocates strong teamwork, communication, and understanding among team members.

i can't wait to get back to the game! heh.