By Ian Chew
Royson Quek of Peirce attempting to hook a shot past Jabez Su of Catholic High. The South Zone all-star team boasts a stellar cast of players including Ng Zhao Feng of Gan Eng Seng and Wang Jia Cheng of Raffles Institution. (Photo 1 © Ian Chew/Red Sports)
Catholic High School, Saturday, March 14, 2009 – Despite missing key players like Ng Zhao Feng of Gan Eng Seng Secondary and Wong Kam Seng of Catholic High at their only training session, the South Zone all-stars are the team to beat at this year’s zonal all-star basketball championships.
Newcomers to the all-star scene Wang Jia Cheng of Raffles Institution and Chong Ming Xuan of Catholic High combined effortlessly with their South Zone teammates in a formidable team line-up which also included 1.95m tall Fong Jia Jun of Queensway Secondary. This resulted in an impressive average height of more than 1.8m for the team!
This year’s all-star basketball competition promises to be more exciting as talented foreign students are included in the zonal teams for the first time. Fans can now look forward to non-local athletes like Lor Weng Siang of New Town Secondary strutting their skills on the highest competitive stage alongside local ones. The combined schools selection committee will then select a maximum of two non-Singaporean in the final draft of twelve players for the combined schools squad.
Yet winning the competition seems to be the furthest thing away from the mind of South Zone teacher-in-charge Teo Siang Yang.
“My aim for the squad is for everyone to have adequate opportunities to showcase their talents fully on the all-star stage and for the selection committee to choose the best twelve players possible for the combined schools squad,” he said.
Similarly, the selected players seemed to have differing aims apart from winning.
“I hope to be able to make new friends through the all-star competition!” said Jabez Su of Catholic High School, who was also designated as the captain of the South Zone all-star team.
The all-star competition will on 18 March (Wed) for the girls and 19 March (Thu) for the boys. All matches will be played at CCAB, Evans Road starting from 8.30am in the morning.
List of selected players for south zone all-stars (boys)
1. Jabez Su Ming Rong (Catholic High)
2. Dominic Lim Wei Jie (Catholic High)
3. Wong Kam Seng (Catholic High)
4. Goh Kong Tat (Catholic High)
5. Chong Ming Xuan (Catholic High)
6. Ng Wei Sin (Gan Eng Seng Sec)
7. Ng Zhao Feng (Gan Eng Seng Sec)
8. Lowell Leong Jia Hao (Peirce Sec)
9. Royson Quek Qi Hao (Peirce Sec)
10. Jeremy Ng Quan Wei (Queensway Sec)
11. Fong Jia Jun (Queensway Sec)
12. Johann Yeo Zong Han (Queensway Sec)
13. Wang Jia Cheng (Raffles Institution)
14. Wu Shurong (Yuying Sec)
15. Yeow Yong Chin (Yuying Sec)
An average height of more than 1.8m makes the south zone team a formidable opponent for the rest. (Photo 2 © Ian Chew/Red Sports)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxMIm6RkXCs
Hey guys, let me clarify some issues here…
The combined schools selection is separate from BAS, since it’s a team to represent Singapore Schools. The selection committee, as well as the inter-school sports tournaments, is formed and organised by officials from the MOE (CCAB) and schools assist as convenors. So no need to bash BAS over this.
There is also no reason to exclude foreigners, since they are already studying in our schools. On the other hand, i think that a cap of a maximum of two non-local players for the team is fair. In any case, it helps by raising standards and adds excitement to the local scene.
As for the selection, (addressed to boys), to be fair, everyone has a different opinion of who should be selected into the team. Your opinion will most likely be different from mine and ours may be different from the committee. Thst’s the way it is.
However, on the bright side, good players will be spotted sooner or later and they will get their chance.
I do agree with you that there are some outstanding players from RI. The good news is – they are still in sec 3 and if they continue to work hard, they will definitely get their chance to shine on a higher stage next year.
As for winning or losing, the key aim for the zonal all stars is a platform for the selection of combined schools players. All players in the team will be rotated so that the selectors can have a good idea of their skills.
Of course, it’s a good thing for players to always approach a game to win, but no one is going to attach blame on the coach for “losing” an all-star game, since that is not the purpose of the all-star competition. So on that note, you can be rest assured and not worry for the zonal coaches!
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Relax Guys 🙂 Since The Decision Is Make .
Give Your Support To Your Respective Zone Team . Sometimes luck is important too , & i don’t think with adding foreigners players there are aiming to win . They should add because this is call a all star game .
anyway Jabez goodluck for the all-star game , hope you will get in combine school again 🙂
for east all stars . look out for khairul from temasek . kenneth from manjusri adam from dunman sec . woo (: