When you mix fire and spears..

..you get flaming spears.

...................

okay nvm ignore that, just read the report:


And so it was time for the clash that was touted as the match of the league, Spearhead being the only contenders that stood a fair chance against fireBRANDS' run to the gold medal (on paper at least).

Both teams are 100% male driven (as far as players are concerned), but one had more experience and training than the other. Spearhead on the other hand were fresh, new and had a few promising talents.

Warming up:





With a full tank of petrol and the engine revved up and ready, time for one more briefing from Coach Jason:


And so the match started on even ground:

Only one thing left to do: sound the horn.

The reds and the whites started off strong with Spearhead doing admirably well in keeping up pace. The fireBRANDS definitely launched more attacks but the shots just weren't getting through (or the slaps just weren't hitting the ball). Early on Vern Sern was sent out for 2 minutes, leaving the favourites one man down.

But as soon as it looked like the power play would manage to fend off Spearhead's valiant efforts, captain Daniel Boey sent a drag shot past Bryan into the goal, just as Vern Sern was stepping into the court.

1-0 to Spearhead.

But well the match is 20x20 so there's plenty of time left. After what seemed like ages, Daniel Tan finally equalised for the fireBRANDS and things were looking up.



Half-time, even ground, 1-1.

Team talk.

While the voluntary ballpicker waited patiently.

So again the game kicked off with both sides spirited up.

Breaking the drought, Indy then took advantage of a fumble at Spearhead's defense and scored a beautiful top corner once the Spearhead keeper dived out. So the pressure on the fireBRANDS eased a little and their play visibly improved.

Taking the lead.

As the pressure lowered, their play stepped up and the one-hit passes were quick and accurate, paving the way for teamplay which led to more opportunities to score. The crowd didn't have to wait long as Daniel Tan poached another goal, widening the goal margin and it definitely seemed like this match belonged to the fireBRANDS.




But no, Spearhead weren't going to go down easily and had a few stabs at the goal, but none penetrated. They provided a few heart-attack moments for the crowd as their quick counter-attacks forced fireBRANDS' defenders to backtrack lintang-pukang.

So after a lot of ball-feeding to the forwards, and more shots taken, the final goal was scored by Daniel, completing his hattrick.

Final score.

So that was it. Spearhead, good game. Although new they definitely put up a good fight, and both teams gained valuable experience from this match.


Another step closer to the goal: gold.

Defense of the Floorballers

DotF anyone? Yes, I meant DotF and not DotA. If you've missed today's DotF, not to worry! A summary of the game will be posted here. So, enjoy this match report.

Saturday, the DotF for fireBRANDS as both teams; seniors and juniors will be going against Spearhead and Frontliners 300 respectively to fight for first and avoid being last.

warming up

1, 2, 3, PATRIOTS!

fireBRANDS Patriots vs. Frontliners 300 was a match to decide Patriot's fate in achieving the vision. At the stroke of 9.30 am, the whistle was blown. Minutes into the game, a miscommunication led to a 2 minutes bench penalty taken by Donovan. As the game runs, it was a tensed match as both sides have not reached the back of the net. Joyce, Patriots impressive keeper did superbly well in saving 5 shots after 5 minutes into the game.

free-hit in the relatively big court (compared to PBSM..)

For 5 minutes, it was a defensive game for them. Frontliners' attack kept Patriots at bay as Patriots kept struggling to get the ball out of their zone. When the ball broke loose into the opponents zone, soon later, Frontliners' attack gave a counter attack and score their first goal of the game in PFL '10. Patriots' defense was loose; and hence Frontliners' took the opportunity.

Running 300, static patriots.

After 12 minutes into the game, the on-form Donovan gave great shots in the opponents zone. Shot after shot, sadly it didn't enter the net. As Frontliners' ran down and took their shot, Joyce saved yet another vital goal to keep the score at 1-0. Beverly's defending helped her team block 2 shots which were on target on goal. With a minute and half left, Frontliners' shot was stopped by Joyce. Just before half time was over, a one-on-one with the goalie failed to save it. 1st period score : 2-0

Second period, Donovan's impressive form gave Patriots a goal to keep them running for the win. Within minutes, Frontliners' scored another goal to give them a 2-goal lead. It was power play that went wrong for Patriots that made them suffer a goal.

Coach Gary Lee offering someone a can of Revive ordering the players about

Into the game, Frontliners' effort into putting the ball in the net succeeded again. With the score now 5-1, Frontliners was eager to keep on pushing. They succeeded in scoring yet again. 6-1. Patriots regained possession of the ball and went up for the attack but failed to succeed in reducing the goal difference.

19 seconds to spare, another blow to Patriots as Frontliners scored. In the end, the score line was 7-1 to Frontliners. They have really got fireBRANDS even after being thrashed 4-0 with the seniors in the previous PFL '10 meeting.

Fight of Our Lives

It all comes down to the next four days of our career. Are we ready to go for it? Are we ready to clean up our acts of failure? Are we going to give our best? It all depends on you, fireBRANDS Floorballers. You make the decision, either to be the light or the dark; either to struggle or to triumph.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Four days to the first match of fireBRANDS Patriots; and fireBRANDS' most crucial and important game. The details are as follows :

Venue : Balik Pulau Indoor Stadium

Time : 9.30 am - 11.00 am (please be there by 8 am)

Match : FireBRANDS Patriots v. Frontliners 300

Attire : Red Jerseys

Venue : Balik Pulau Indoor Stadium

Time : 11.30 am - 1.00 pm

Match : FireBRANDS v. Spearhead

Attire : White Jerseys

so, fireBRANDS Floorball Club, are you ready to go? Are you prepared? Use these spare four days to do so. Mental kuat, fizikal pun kuat!

It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

John Wooden

Non-Stop Floorball

Spending 3 hours of floorball training with a low attendance is not fun at all. A total of 11 players came for HK's school training. It started off with the usual warm-ups and then the stretching. Next on, it came to V-passes where we used our back-hand and fore-hand. Then it came into gathering 4 people in a group to do short and long passes among the 4 players. Starting off with passing to the side, then to the opposite direction and vice versa. After a series of passes, physical fitness was put to the test. Playing a unique game where a person is carrying another person holding the stick. Then, we had different kinds of exercises to gain endurance. These were preparations for the upcoming YouthWave competition. Further on, it was 4-on-4 game. Tired, wore out and sweating like rain was the outcome of the 3 hours session. Next, seniors' training!

"ask u come train u say dont want, play time u want;

now ask u come play, u dont want also, aiyoyo"

anyway, many did not turn up on the last-minute-informed-one-hour-only-game-training due to work and school while some were too tired after Hamid Khan 3 hours long training. as for those who came, KUDOS!! game time was short but i bet each and everyone of you enjoyed.

here are some of the pictures, u can see the 'empty-nessssss'

and then penalty shots:




Okay moving on to the 3-hours' worth of training for the girls and juniors, mainly made up of the Patriots. As usual, the same warm-ups, then snakes, then 2-on-1s........

What deserves a special mention here though..

1. Push-ups
Plenty of them, as a healthy way to drill into your mind not to high-stick and to listen to Coach Alex's instruction.
Push-ups pave the way to a team of Patriots with toned triceps and strong pectoral muscles:)

ooh. triceps.

and your pectoral muscles.

2. Killers/Suicides
When you hear Coach Alex saying,"okay, one line there..", then you know.
It's good for building leg muscles. Also benefits two vital organs of the human body, the brain (mental strength) and the heart (to pump more efficiently and transport more oxygen to rapidly respirating muscles).

Finally, the must-have end to all trainings, game time. Thankfully with a not-so-empty court.

Three blows and it's over.

Bored?... Day-dreaming?... Stuck at home?...

so... fireBRANDS Floorball Club is here to help!

there will be TRAINING tomorrow! details are as follows :

Venue : Red Crescent Headquarters

Time : 9am - 12pm (be there by 8.30am)

Attire : Sports

Who's involved : Hamid Khan players

Status : Please pass RM 50 to Wayne for the jerseys

this is then followed by :

Venue : Red Crescent Headquarters

Time : 12pm - 1pm (be there by 11.30am for warm ups)

Attire : Sports

Who's involved : Seniors

Status : COMPULSORY!

followed by :

Venue : Red Crescent Headquarters

Time : 1pm - 3pm (be there by 12.30pm for warm ups)

Attire : Sports

Who's involved : Juniors

Status : COMPULSORY!

so, please make it and if you're reading this, please inform the whole team. Communication is REALLY needed for this event. THANK YOU! and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

When There's No Facilities... you get...

... Delima Basketball Court!

As the few next Saturday trainings might be at Delima, lets just get intimate with nature. Under the scorching sun, we're lucky that we're not sick and still healthy to play floorball. With 2 weeks of rest till our next match against Spearheads on the 27th, much improvement needs to be amended so our goal for this year will be achieved. Rest was much called an intensive training.

Coach Jason gave drills after drills. Started off with snakes led by Gary. Some of us had nature calling, so we were excused from the first drill. As the squad regained, Coach 'J' came up with a drill to encounter our poor finishing in our previous match against Frontliners 300. Runs after runs, shots after shots, things looked better and better. And what do you get from all the hard-work? water-break! Frequent calls of water-breaks were issued due to the hot sun and the water we lost.

Leaving with just 30 mins before training ends, a short game was called. As training was about to end, Coach 'J' called for the squad to run 3 rounds around the field. Days are flying, are you prepared to go in to get that goal? 'Division 1!', lets stick it in our minds.

And even as the girls & juniors came in, the Sun remained the basketball court's best friend, baking it till you could probably fry an egg there if you tried hard enough (and didn't mind dust all over your sunny-side-up). No egg? Well there's still the baked floorballers there.

Warm-ups then an unusually long break due to Coach Alex talking to Coach 'J', until finally we started with snakes. No goalkeeper meant a makeshift goalpost (one small goalpost on top of the other, held up by our very own Coach 'A' - the brave man he is). It was kinda like shooting into a loudspeaker as Coach 'A' shouted comments and commands alike from where he crouched.

More shooting, then killers/suicides. Call it what you like, it all ends in a near-death experience for your leg muscles. Add in the Sun's generous helping of heat, plus running back and forth four times.. and as usual, last 3 to do 10 pushups.

So a few more drills then it was game-time as we played in our respective lines, and (hopefully) in our set positions as well. But soon the Sun fell prey to Rain, which came as a drizzle then a good shower, so it was finally called a day.

Socceroos received 4 roars from Three Lions as visiting gift

Our first Penang Floorball League Division 2 kicked-off with a bang of 4-0 against Frontliners 300.

At the stroke of 10, the whistle blew to signal the start of PFL Division 2 2010 Season. Within seconds to the game, a 2-minutes penalty was issued to fireBRANDS for improper uniform attire. An early disappointment to the team as we were down to 4 men at the start of the game. As the team regained their 5th men, performance was back on. Our forward, James Tan scored an early goal to put fireBRANDS to their first ever goal of the season. Hence on, struggling to get the ball into the net was frustrating. Many shots were taken but to no avail, the ball kept being 'stubborn' to enter the goal. Good saves from Frontliners 300's keeper kept fireBRANDS at bay. As the first half came to an end, the score was still 1-0.

Seconds into the game of second half, our impressive forward, James Tan got his name into the score sheet by an assist from Daniel Tan. It was a solid important goal to keep us at a safe line. Minutes into the game, a great run by Samuel Tan from the defensive area to the offensive area made him into the score sheet. With the score 3-0, it wasn't enough for fireBRANDS as we kept on attacking and moving in forward. A supposed goal by Steven Ong was denied as the ball got reflected back to the court from out of the rink. Further disappointment came when Sherwynd's goal was ruled out for a high stick foul committed before the ball entered the goal cage. Minutes to the end of the game, fireBRANDS captain, Gary Lee listed his name into the score sheet with a great finishing.

At the end of the day, we did well but not good enough. Bad finishes was one of our problems. Can we overcome it? Can we end our frustrating finishes? Lets learn from this day and overcome it. We are fireBRANDS and we can do it! ole ole ole... kita boleh... kita boleh!

A good athlete always mentally replays a competition over and over, even in victory, to see what might be done to improve the performance the next time.

Frank Shorter