Dear all,

At one of the most recent SMC meeting one day, Chin Wei asked each of us to comment on Eusoff's prospects for the remaining days of IHG. When it came to my turn to comment, I said that I felt pessimistic and that victory may not be within our grasps as easily as we had predicted.

We were sweetened by our Track team's performance on the first day of IHG. Wai-Mun's spectacular performance gave me, and I believe for many as well, a feeling that she along with a lot of other outstanding sportsmen would lead Eusoff into victory once again. Then the hockey guys brought in the first gold medal and the rugby guys' astounding thrashing of RH, made us optimistic. It was like things are just going to turn out so right that TH would have to hang their heads once again this year.

Then things started to look bad. I shan't bring you through the agony of stating what defeats we have suffered. I am sure the nightly SMC reports have done their jobs. This week was starting to look especially bad and painful. The softball guys, the carom girls, the road relay guys and the squash girls… all of them were defeated. It dawned upon me all of the sudden that losing was beginning to hurt real bad. Is there a way to redeem ourselves while the season lasted?

I believe there is. And one incident today (3/2/99) convinced me that we can. Even if Eusoff may not be the champion this year, we can leave this season with our heads held high, with all our sportsmen saying 'No regrets'. I am going to tell you about this incident, and I hope that it would inspire you the way it had inspired me.

When road relay ended, all I could hear were cheers from TH coming from the squash courts. I went in and I had this mega shock coming out of my eyes. Benjamin, our squash captain, was playing against this TH player with a majority of the supporters coming from TH. I thought about how disgusting it would be to play with so little cheers from your own people. All of the sudden I really did believe that the only way Ben is going to thrash that guy was playing with the assurance that his hall, his friends were behind him. I am glad that I hung on to this believe and those who were there to cheer for Ben, I am sure they felt the same way too. When I arrived, Ben was playing his third set. TH had beaten us 2-0. He was frustrated and tired. Having a referee from TH wouldn't help matter much. But we cheered. We encouraged him. And what do you know… Ben won the TH guy 3-2. We have one more match to play before we know who is going to emerge champions for squash. The lights turn off at 9pm so the last match was postponed.

I am not sure if you get my point. What I am saying is that I am sure that being Eusoffians, you would feel a certain burning passion for this hall. And even if we do not emerge as champions, let us show the other halls that we lose with more dignity and with more pride than any of them. We will cheer our players and make sure that they never have to face the enemies alone. This is an appeal for all Eusoffians to not give up yet. We will fight hard as a hall. Please go down and support ALL the crucial matches. For those of you who still have to play on.. PLAY ON… Play with the assurance that we are behind you and that the fight goes on until the whistle goes. Cheering and supporting the players CAN turn the tides and I hope you would believe this as much as I do. The joy of winning a battle together can never be sweeter and it's how you fight that matters. As long as we fight, as long as we persevere as a whole… EUSOFF WILL NEVER BE THE LOSERS.