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- Banyan, Binjai and Tanjong Halls are in the midst of an internal sports tournament that will take place during official training sessions
- To meet Covid-19 restrictions, the six selected sports categories have been adapted and limited to eight people; games will be self-refereed to reduce the number of people on site
Text and photos by Chong Xin Wei
The North Hill Halls – Binjai, Tanjong and Banyan – have come together to organise an internal sports competition amid the cancellation of this season’s Inter-Hall Games (IHG).
The organisers said the North Hill games will tentatively take place from Week 8 to 11 (March 8 to April 2), and comprise a series of closed-door matches among the three Halls, which will take place during official training sessions for each sport.
Unlike the large-scale format of the traditional IHG, no spectators are allowed and the games will only include six sports categories, namely squash, ultimate frisbee, table tennis, volleyball, futsal and badminton.
One of the competition’s organisers, Ho Jin Xuan, 22, said the chosen games are common among the participating Halls and can be conducted in a smaller scale in accordance to Covid-19 safe management measures.
LIMITED TO EIGHT PLAYERS
Under these measures, players will be limited to fixed groups of eight and there will be no swapping of teams to prevent intermingling between groups. Teams must also enter and leave the competition venues at designated times, added Jin Xuan, who is also Banyan Hall’s sports director.
The games will be self-refereed by players, in order to reduce the number of people on site. Jin Xuan, a first-year accountancy student, said: “We don’t need (a referee) so that we can still abide by the eight people rule. If there is any dispute, the two Halls will talk it out. ”
Sport captains and directors will double as safety measurement officers at the match grounds and ensure that participants abide by the Covid-19 restrictions, he added.
The format of some sports like ultimate frisbee and football were tweaked in order to be played in line with the measures while racket sports like badminton will remain largely unchanged.
For frisbee, only a small section of the field will be used to suit the smaller group of eight players, said Binjai Hall’s frisbee captain, Daryl Seow, 22.
Football was carried over to the futsal court, which is better suited for fewer players, said Banyan Hall’s soccer captain, Chua Cheng Leong, 22. The first-year accountancy student said: “The change in environment and the number of people playing on court will lead to faster gameplay than the usual football game.”
A BOOST FOR HALL CULTURE
Organisers and sports captains hoped the games would liven Hall culture and create more opportunities for sportsmen to compete, in the midst of a semester that has seen many school events cancelled or moved online.
Jin Xuan said the North Hill games were planned to fill the void left by the cancelled IHG. “We still want to hold some sort of games, so that our sports culture will not be left out and our sportsmen will not be just training for nothing,” he said.
Players interviewed were still eager to compete and felt that this competition could boost recruitment for their sport teams.
Vice-captain of Banyan’s futsal team, Gun Maneesri, 21, said: “Maybe through this competition we can find more people with similar interests and it will be a good platform for recruiting new members.”
Binjai Hall’s badminton captain and sports director, Nick Chia, 21, said: “I am excited for the games as it is a no-pressure competition to just have fun. It is also interesting to see the other Halls’ standards.”
“Hopefully [this competition] can forge friendships between Halls for future practice sessions and friendly matches.”
Soccer captain Cheng Leong said the competition gave hope to newer Hall communities like Banyan Hall.
“It is a good start for our cluster since we are a relatively new Hall, so there is no Hall culture yet,” he said. “This competition can help to cultivate a sense of identity and culture that other Halls may not have.”
