School sports: CHIJ (Toa Payoh) back on top

School sports: CHIJ (Toa Payoh) back on top

CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) regained their standing as netball's top school at Jurong East Sports Hall yesterday.

Both their B Division and C Division teams lifted the national title, beating the Singapore Sports School and Dunman Secondary School, respectively, in the final.

CHIJ finished second in last year's B Division competition, and vice-captain Averil Poon admitted they used it as motivation as they strolled to a 31-16 win over the Sports School.

Speaking after the match, Averil said: "We also kept reminding ourselves that it's our last year in IJ, so we just had to go all out and play our best.

"We simply built on the passion we already had for netball, and used the extra motivation to go one step further."

CHIJ coach Kok Mun Wai praised her girls for their ability to keep cool, despite all the early nerves.

"The occasion probably got to them in the beginning," said Kok, who has been coaching CHIJ for 19 years.

"But they managed to relax and gave their best performance in the last quarter, so I'm very happy for them."

Kok's charges have enjoyed a stellar season, with both teams clinching the zonal titles earlier in the year. The C Divison team's 34-15 win over Dunman yesterday also handed CHIJ their third consecutive National C Division title.

Kok insisted that the hard work and training have to continue if the girls intend to hold on to their titles next year.

"Most players of the B Division team will be graduating this year, so we'll need to train the next batch of girls to prepare for next year," said Kok.

"They'll be fine as long as they train hard and play their usual game."


This article was first published on April 22, 2015.
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