Scotch College

Hockey players visit Raffles

Fourteen Scotch hockey players visited Raffles Institution school in Singapore from July 2 to July 10.

The team consisted of players from Years 7 to 12, eleven of whom were from Years 7 to 10. The boys experienced boarding house life in one of the Raffles boarding houses. The visit was during Singapore term time and the boys shared a boarding house with Raffles students.

Raffles Institution was generous with their hospitality and we were all extremely appreciative of the effort they made to ensure our visit was an enjoyable one.

The team played 6 games, on water-based astro turf grounds. The team was undefeated during their visit, with victories against the Singapore U16 team and Si Ling Secondary College, a leading hockey school in Singapore.

The team was lead by James Black Yr 12, and Charles Fedderson Yr 11. Their enthusiasm ensured that the boys put their greatest effort into all of the matches. Charles scored more than 20 goals during the tour.

The weather conditions were demanding and the boys were playing in temperatures of 32C and high humidity.

It was necessary to carry 20 litres of water to each of the matches to ensure that the players could sustain their efforts for the seventy minutes of each match.

The team had a very full programme, including a day tour of Southern Malaysia and Malacca, an opportunity for yet more shopping and a visit to the first European settlement of the Malay peninsula.

There was also a night cruise around Singapore harbour, a visit to Sentosa and night visit to Singapore Zoo.

The tour proved to be a valuable experience for the boys as they saw the Singapore school in action. They played as a team, giving good young players from several year levels the chance to combine together.