Strong multi-ethnic look for Singapore school girls' basketball team
Strong multi-ethnic look for this year's Singapore school girls' basketball team
Over the next week, a Singapore girls' basketball team of multi-ethnic origins will be aiming to show the same strength in diversity that propelled similar sides to victory.
Aged between 15 and 18, they will be representing the Republic at the Asean Schools Games in Kuala Lumpur and Shah Alam, Malaysia, from today to next Friday.
Last year's team consisted mainly of Chinese players, but this year, the multi-ethnic flavour has grown stronger, with the 12-strong squad featuring basketballers of Nigerian, Philippine, Chinese, Malay and Indian descent.
They started training together less than two months ago, but face hardly any issues communicating or playing as a team.
Even when there is a need for translation, Lim Esther Akinfiresoye Damilola readily steps in to play the role of unlikely interpreter.
The 16-year-old, who has a Nigerian father and a Singaporean-Chinese mother, was born in Singapore and came through the local education system with Mandarin as her mother tongue.
She told The New Paper in an interview last Saturday: "There are some players who are more comfortable speaking in Mandarin, and then sometimes I translate."
She added candidly: "It's pretty cool. People do get shocked when I start speaking Mandarin."
Teammate Patricia Orenza, who moved to Singapore from the Philippines with her family when she was seven, said the diversity has not hindered the team unity.
The 17-year-old Raffles Institution student, who was also in last year's team, said: "Nobody really sees it. They don't go, 'Oh, you're Filipino' or whatever.
"We kind of just put everything aside and now we play as a team."
Assistant coach Vanessa Liu echoed similar sentiments, saying: "They didn't really bring in these differences, partly because they are all part of Singaporean schools.
"In sports, we let the ball talk. It's not so much who you are but how you play."
The team have been gelling well, winning four of their eight friendly matches in preparation for the Games, a number of them coming against older opponents.
INEXPERIENCE
Going into the Games, they will be looking to better last year's bottom-placed finish.
With only two players retained from last year's squad, this year's team will be hoping that their relative inexperience will not count against them.
However, Liu remained coy when asked about the team's chances of a medal finish, saying: "We don't really set any goals to set pressure but, of course, we'll try to get a medal.
"We need to win at least two games to win a medal, which will hopefully come against Malaysia and Indonesia."
Besides Malaysia, whom they face in their opening match on Saturday, and Indonesia, they will also be taking on defending champions Philippines and last year's runners-up Thailand .
This year's Games will feature 1,000 student-athletes under the age of 18 from 10 Asean nations.
Singapore will be represented by 190 student-athletes in 10 sports from 40 schools.
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