Hey athletes,

Did you know that you can nominate your coach for an award? The deadline for a nomination is 30 June 2007. You can check out more details at www.ssc.gov.sg/CRA2007.

After attending countless games, I now have a list of things that coaches will say (or rather, yell) at their charges in the heat of a game. Here is my list of the silliest things we heard:

1. "Can you see where the ball is going?!" (Should have had his eyes checked before you picked him, coach.)

2. "Do you want to play this game or not?!"

3. "What kind of pass is that?! You want me to slap you?!" (This one is verbal abuse.)

4. "Did I teach you to throw into the defenders hands?!" ("Now that you mention it, coach …")

5. "ni shi pen dan!" (Translation: "You are stupid!")

6. "Do you hate your opponent?! Do you hate your opponent?!!" (That’s one way to motivate your charges.)

The only reason why I have a list of quotes is because the coaches YELL AT THE TOP OF THEIR VOICES at the game. When you are sitting at one end of the court and you can hear the coach from the other end of the court, that qualifies as yelling.

So, if you have a good coach, please, please, nominate him or her. You’d be doing Singapore sports and your juniors a big favour.

Red Sports. Always Game.

Les

Editor and photographer

p.s. I’m not putting up pictures of any coaches in case you think one of the quotes came from that person! If you have experiences to share, good and bad, regarding your coaches, leave it in the ‘comments’ section. And please, if it’s something, negative, NO NAMES, ok?

Les shooting

I get the same constipated look too when I hear some of these coaches yelling at their charges. (Photo © Lai Jun Wei/Red Sports)