By REDintern Tang Rei-En

KB Cheng San Seletar Community Games bball

KB (left) of Cheng San-Seletar drives past his Ang Mo Kio opponent. His team won the 3-on-3 game 10-3. (Photo 1 © Les Tan/Red Sports)


 

Singapore Basketball Centre, Sunday, July 15, 2012 — “I play basketball every week-end when I’m free, nothing else. Sometimes I’ll swim, for relaxation,” said a wiry, 44-year-old Ang Mo Kio Cluster resident who just wanted to be known by his initials, KB.

“It’s a passion that lasts over the years,” said KB on the sidelines after his team, Cheng San-Seletar CSC had beaten Ang Mo Kio CSC 10-3 in the Community Games 3-on-3 basketball tournament for veterans.

KB, wearing the #2 jersey for Cheng San-Seletar, has been playing basketball ever since his school days.

“It’s difficult organizing. Sometimes you miss that week’s practice because of work commitments,” said KB about his team which has trained once a week for a few hours each time in preparation for this tournament.

The Community Games has allowed players to get to know each other.

“The Community Games lets me get to see a lot of ex-players. Some are pretty old, but they still play pretty well. It’s not like what the general population thinks of the older folk, that they don’t exercise. Most of them are semi-active and they still play sport,” said KB.

“Basketball is a team sport, it’s not like playing alone. You need to understand everybody and work together as a team to win. It’s not easy to get everyone to click together as one mind and work as one,” said KB, when asked about what he enjoyed about basketball.

“You not only excel by yourself, like in individual sports, but you need to play to make sure that your team mates get better. It’s a different mentality.”

“Team games are about getting everyone together in the same mind and getting to know more people,” added KB.

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