“It’s good to play with them than against them.” — Jini of Nee Soon East

Nanthini (left) and Ranjini (right), sisters who play for Nee Soon East Team 1. (Photo 1 © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)

Kallang Netball Centre, Sunday, May 13, 2012 — “Quite fun!” said Nanthini Visvalingam, 23, when asked about the Community Games netball tournament.

“It’s good to play with them than against them,” said her sister Ranjini, 19, referring to her other teammates.

“We are come from different clubs — Bedok Kings, Zenith, Extremem, Speed, SCC, Lab 10. Last time, we just knew their faces but not their names,” added Jini, as she is known to her friends.

Both sisters, who also represented Anderson Secondary and Republic Polytechnic during their school days, were playing for Nee Soon East Team 1 and they finished second behind their sister team, Nee Soon East Team 2, in their cluster. They now both play for the Singapore Cricket Club and were asked to play for Nee Soon by Eric Lee, 31, their SCC coach.

“This is more fun, no stress,” agreed Stella Tan, 24, the captain of their team. “We’ve never played with each other before and it’s good that we can get together and have fun.”

When she still in school, Stella represented Northland Primary, Woodlands Ring Secondary and Nanyang Polytechnic.

“The Singapore National Games will be more competitive. But all of us are still busy with the Energizer Netball League, so we’ll come back together to train after it’s over,” said Stella.

Eric Lee was the man who put together the two teams for the Games.

“I know a lot of players in Nee Soon and thought to ask them to play in the Community Games,” said Eric, who is also a umpire and recently won an MVP award for umpiring at the recently concluded Netball Super League.

“I coach three of these players for my club, Zenith. They all want to play. Then friends got friends. The Cluster format is easier to get players,” said Eric, who managed to put together two teams to play in the Games.

“Nee Soon used to be top four in the inter-con games,” he added. The Inter-Constituency Games are the forerunners of the Community Games.

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