" Dear Kismis United,
Time has finally caught up with my fun and I have to resume my responsible duties as a student in Australia. The time I went back for 3 months was great; but playing soccer with you guys every Saturday made things awesome. I’ll always treasure the soccer moments, and the bonding within our brotherhood.
I would like to take the opportunity to say sorry first and foremost. Sorry for the hard tackles, the foul play, sometimes the selfish play, the criticism for other players on the pitch, but we all know it is part and parcel of the game. I thank you my brothers for being understanding.
I also like to thank you guys for so many things. The most important was turning up every chance you can to play soccer with me. I understand my schedule was a lot emptier than most of you, but you guys still took the effort to come down early on sleepy Saturday mornings; rain or shine. Thanks guys. Another thing was that you gave me the opportunity to coach this special team. I tried to bring back some experiences from Australia, and by managing the team when I got back, it has really added to my pool of humble experience. Thanks for the chances. In general, I thank you all for teaching me so many things, on and off the pitch – may you guys continue to learn from each other when I’m not around.
Understandably, Kismis has a lot of work to do to become a great team. We have good players, good guests players too, but something has to be done to make this club an established one. We need more consistent players. I thank the core players – JonDavid, Eric, Ahhao, Syafiq, Syadiq, Shawn, Tong, Shahin for being there every Saturday. Justifiably, there are more important things than just soccer, so I thank you for making every effort to drive the club forward. I hope you can find players who are willing to come down week in week out, who are versatile to play both on the field and the court. Admittingly, we are a better side on the court; but soccer competitions are made for the field. Perhaps, we could introduce field trainings? Just a suggestion that came across my mind. But seriously, we have to find quality players – okay need not be quality – but players who have commitment. Players who would put soccer before sleep, before time and distance they have to travel, before other commitments they know can wait.
I’ve given my contacts to JonDavid and Eric – contacts of the people I usually contact from my side. Shahin and Karl are thinking of becoming regulars. I forgot to mention this to the (unofficial) “committee” before I left. But they are interested in getting the jersey and become players of Kismis United. Maybe not so much Karl, but Shahin certainly showed up many more times compared to some of our so-called Kismis members. So please help me see into that. Contact them and make them feel welcome to the team, that’s the only way to get players. (Which I dare say, we mind as well come out with an “official committee” to help organisation – sadly I can’t be part of it as I’m not around most the year.)
As for scouting, I see Jon’s effort in trying to bring people down to play on Saturdays. Now that I’ve passed my contacts to him, he has an even harder time. But he did approach someone at a public court to ask him to come down to Kismis. I called that guy lousy and uncomfortable on the ball; Jon chose to see it as someone that passes has team-work. I suppose there is always another angle of looking at things. But how come we are approaching players like these? And no one spoke to those at Tiong Bahru who were unquestionably good (and friendly) players? I know it may sound a bit ambitious for a lot of you, but I really hope to see Kismis as more than a club playing knock-about on Saturday mornings.
I hope what I’ve done when I was back helped the club – calling my soccer contacts to be more involved, arranging games, and doing the mass-messaging any given Saturday. I will do what I can to help the club from here. Improve my coaching, maybe find Singaporeans who play here, or maybe do up the Kismis blog site?
Well, however things work themselves out, I thank every one at the club for a great experience, and may I take the opportunity to work towards this project we undertake – to build the club. Most of us will be working (yes I heard Hao’s business is going well) soon – and maybe – if we are willing to spare the cash – with a bit of extra funds we could steer the club onward.
I hope this idea can move forward and achieve the ambitions of all of us. Maybe continue this blog site for updates and references. I’ll pump in the ideas when I think of them. For now, I just thank you all for everything; and may we all improve as players before we meet on the soccer pitch again! "
- Chris Chau (Num 9)
