WOK Magazine Summer 2021 Issue

WHO TO ASK FOR

Kowloon Cricket Club

10 Cox’s Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong Tel 3473 7000 | Fax 2311 1432 www.kcc.org.hk

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President’s Page

Peter Fraser President

Dear Club Members

Since my last President’s Page, we have continued to be confined by the restrictions imposed by the Government due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation. Since 18 th February the Club has been able to open the F&B facilities with the exception of the Main Bar as well as all of our sports facilities, thereby allowing our Members to once again enjoy the benefits of membership. We still shudder each time the number of Covid cases increases being mindful that the restrictions could again be implemented at any time.

I would impress on Members the need to continue to abide by the present restrictions, wearing masks at all times when not eating or drinking, not gathering in groups of more than four members etc. And please listen to and be respectful of Staff who may remind us of these requirements.

Members may not be aware, but the Home Affairs Department do send officers to the Clubs including KCC periodically to ensure that we are abiding by the restrictions in place. And they have the authority to fine Members personally, as well as to fine the Club as a whole.

The health of Members and staff is of utmost importance. As always we are upholding the highest standards of cleanliness and have in place appropriate measures in response to COVID-19. All staff are tested for coronavirus once every two weeks and ensure all staff obtain a negative test result and we are encouraging all staff to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

With the restrictions in place during Chinese New Year, our normal activities were curtailed including the cancellation of the annual Lion Dance. One highlight was the success of the Poon Choi being available in the Boundary Café which was enjoyed by the few Members lucky enough to order it. Thank you for Members’ support and positive feedback has been received which we treasure a lot. With the success of the Poon Choi this year, it will definitely be presented in the years to come.

During the closure of most of the facilities amid Covid-19, The Club has upgraded some of the facilities including Sports Hall flooring and wall padding, and maintenance works of Heritage Main Building. Meanwhile, our staff have also taken this opportunity to clear up their outstanding leave.

With the restrictions having been partially lifted, many sports associations are trying to reorganize their various competitions. Cricket, Football and Lawn Bowls have already swung back into action although the HKFA matches are delayed until April. The Men’s Hockey League also restarted, but with a spike in Covid cases, matches were cancelled for the weekend of 13 th and 14th March.

In April, KCC will host the Lawn Bowls “Champion of Champions 2021” Tournament on the 3rd and 4th April and 10th and 11th April. Please refer to the details on the notice boards.

In May, KCC will host three cricket tournaments, namely, the Sarjan Group Sixes on the 2nd May, the Sky Warriors Sixes on the 8th and 9th May and the Frenz Group Sixes on the 16th May.

You are all encouraged to come and watch these events and enjoy some exciting moments at these very competitive Lawn Bowls and Cricket events.

The first Member’s Forum will have been held by the time this page is published. I will report the results of the forum in the next publication of the Magazine.

The Club’s finances are still seriously affected by the Covid-19 restrictions with all F&B outlets only being allowed to be at 50% capacity. Assuming these restrictions remain until the end of the financial year, we have budgeted for a loss of about $9.6 M in catering. However, the GC has agreed to continue to admit 10 to 15 new OVM members into the Club each month to offset the catering losses and to allow necessary maintenance projects to proceed as planned.

As always, I look forward to seeing and meeting with you around the Club!

Peter Fraser President

GM's Column

Edwin Lu General Manager

Dear Members,

It’s great to be in touch with you all here again. Wishing you all a prosperous Year of the Ox and also for good health to you and your family!

It has been a challenge for the Club as well as the whole of the Hong Kong community to deal with the pandemic in the last few months. The Club management always been strictly following government rules and regulations to ensure that we maintain the best facilities with the safe environment for you and your families.

Enhancing our members experiences is always one of our main objectives. To this extent, we have completed renovation works on the flooring & padding of the Sports Hall and Gym/Weight Room within the last few months. We have also carried out maintenance programmes for the swimming pool to prepare for and make it ready for the forthcoming warm season. Leagues of Cricket, Lawn Bowls & Tennis are resuming their energy in February as well as those for juniors’ programmes.

As KCC has been over 115 years old, we would need to upkeep and continue to uphold the structure of the building. We have started the Heritage Maintenance Project in mid-December of last year which is targeted to complete by the end of April of this year; that is in around 4 months' time.

All the maintenance work is on the right track and has been making good progress. These include the trench excavation work for sewage and pipe replacement along with the proposed manholes, masonry and surface cracks repairing works for the staff back alleyway and 1/F balcony. Besides the Heritage Maintenance Project, we have also replaced one chiller plant and one pump. Further fine tuning and adjustments works will continue in the upcoming few weeks.

I would like to take this opportunity to ask for all of your special attention and cooperation in the proper use of KCC car parking facilities. Please be reminded that our car parking facilities are for members who are coming in and using the Club facilities. For those members who are not using the Club facilities, please may I ask if they can make use of the other car parking areas instead. Otherwise, this would be in breached of the Bye-law and you may be subject to paying charges as well as being subject to other disciplinary actions to be decided by the General Committee.

Regarding to our F&B team are currently working hard on some upcoming food promotion, including:

• Malaysian food promotion at The Boundary Café in April and May

• Italian cuisine at the Grill Room in April

• Mothers’ Day Special at the Grill Room in May

• Fathers’ Day Special at the Grill Room in June

• Lobster food promotion at the Grill Room in June

Please reserve your places and make your booking in advance so as not to miss any special food promotion for you, family and your friends.

Edwin Lu General Manager

It's Hockey Time Again!

The Hockey Section celebrates the long-awaited resumption of the Men's and Women's League, as well as trainings for the senior and mini squads.

The first mini training after the Lunar New Year kicked off on 28 February 2021, and we could not describe how excited the kids were to be back on the pitch!

Congratulations to our Ladies' A team Captain Moka who umpired her first Men's Premier level appointed duty for the warm up match PAK A v SSSC A on 28 February 2021! We are happy to see our female umpires progressing and umpiring more and more high level games.

Nice achievement and keep going!

We are also excited to see Men's teams finally get to play some warm-up matches before officially getting back to the league. Our diligent ladies also got back to training to get ready for the games to come.

It is really nice to see everyone back on the pitch once again. Wish everyone good health and good games, cheers!

KCC Fitness Challenge, for Charity

By Adrian Townson

The Government restrictions and shutting of all the local sport facilities has not deterred the KCC Football Section and we have been busy keeping all our players fit and active with a series of challenges over the past few months.

The January Fitness Challenge pitted the players and teams against each other as we attempted to run/ walk or hike to Australia! All our Section Members were requested to log their daily activity via the website link with all the kilometres adding to both personal and team totals. The KCC Monarchs took an early lead, spurring the more youthful players into action. In the end our top individual, Knights Coach Baz Brown clocked up an impressive 302km and the KCC Knights also won the team honours with over 1,600km, just pipping the KCC Dragons team. Impressively the KCC Royals and Monarchs showed that age was no restriction with a 3 rd place finish. It was a very hard fought final few days by all teams and overall they managed a very impressive 5,889km combined, which would almost get you to Perth, Australia !!!

As a result of this great effort we raised an impressive $5,000 for charity with our individual winner choosing to donate $2,000 to the “Weez Project” who are a local Hong Kong community group working to increase awareness of youth mental health issues and campaigning to prevent youth suicide. Their Vision is zero youth suicides in Hong Kong and their Mission is to be there to help and support young people facing mental health challenges. This is a very topical subject in these challenging times for our youth. The Football Section also donated $3,000 to the SOTERIA Precision Medical Foundation, on behalf of the Moreno Family in loving memory of Tim. The Foundation supports a superior approach to cancer treatment, where the patient is at the center of globally curated resources. It is a non-profit organization providing access to the most relevant advanced technology and treatment options, regardless of your treating medical institution, geographic location, or socioeconomic status.

Football

Donation for Weez

Donation for Tim

In February, we concentrated on our individual player fitness with a number of organised runs (adhering strictly to socially distance rules) around the Kowloon Peninsula as well as the “Coopers Test” monitoring of our players to allow all Managers and Coaches to assess players fitness levels ahead of the season restarting. The Cooper test is a test of physical fitness. It was designed by Kenneth H. Cooper in 1968 for US military use. In the original form, the point of the test is to run as far as possible within 12 minutes. You can test your own performance using this table.

The Football Section are also enjoying a more fun “Maradona 7” Skills challenge, but we are welcoming anybody to join and share their attempts! As a tribute to one of the world’s greatest footballers who recently passed, the Football Section are looking to promote a skill popularised by the man himself, ‘the Maradona 7’ whilst raising some awareness and money for charity.

If you want to try it yourself then visit our Webpage https://www.footballkcc.com/skills-challenge-kccmaradona7

A massive thanks to Luke Schroder for this fitness initiatives and to all our managers for encouraging the players.

KCC Youth Football

By Steve Palfrey

Looking to get the kids out and back into sport ?

Looking for a great sport to unleash their months of built up energy ?

The KCC Youth Football Programme is up and running again, with mid-season rates applicable, so what are you waiting for?

The KCC Youth Football Programme has opportunities for young boys and girls of all ages (2–18 years) and all coaching is by professional football coaches from our partners at APSS. As well as the excellent training, the players have opportunity to play in both the HKJFL and HKFA youth leagues.

Visit our Registration page on the KCC website https://www.kcc.org.hk/sports/football/ or contact is on youthfootball@kcc.org.hk / football@kcc.org.hk for more details and don’t forget to follow all the Sections news on our facebook page KCC Football Teams.

The restart of the Football season

By Jean Baptiste Roy

After a long hiatus for the season with last games played at the end of November 2020, the entire KCC Football section was excited to restart training and games after the LCSD & Kings Park reopened all their venues to the public in mid-February. With the HK Gov relaxing social distancing measures gradually and working with our footballing partners in the HKFA and HKJFL we were ready to restart football training for all ages very quicky. From late February we were also able to resume league matches. The HKFA Jockey Club Youth Football Leagues for U13, U14, U15, U16 and U18 will also restart during March.

The KCC HKFA will be the last to go, but they are ready for games from the weekend of 20 March, albeit in a slightly different format. Once the league resumes, the format will be changed to a single round-robin format. As a consequence of the shortened season, the HKFA will not implement promotion and relegation for the second straight season.

While waiting for our KCC HKFA teams to restart, several adult football leagues restarted official games the last weekend of February.

In the Yau Yee League First Division, KCC Dragons restarted the season with a convincing 4 - 0 win vs Allied Colloids. After a very frustrating few months without football, the whole team was itching to get their first game back underway. The KCC Dragons started the match with a very high intensity, causing lots of problems for the Colloids defence and creating several chances. The Dragons first goal came from a great through ball from the Dragons left back Nicholas Benavides to striker Chris De Laiglesia who ran onto the pass without a touch opening himself up and slotting it away in the top right corner. The KCC Dragons continued to control the game and the defence didn’t have much to deal with. Shortly before the end of the first half, the Dragons scored the second by Chris De Laiglesia who was quick to react and follow up the shot. Elliot Haigh with a 6-yard box finish and Isak Lambu scored the 3rd and 4th goals in second half to conclude a dominant performance. They followed this up with a hard fought 2:2 draw at the HKFC, with the home team needing a lastminute wonder strike to thwart the resilient Dragons!

In the Yau Yee League Second Division, KCC Knights already had a busy restart. On 28 th February, they faced Dynamo looking to secure all three points after three consecutive defeats in the league before the football suspension. The KCC Knights went 1-0 up after a superb long-range effort but after a few more chances to extend their lead, they failed to make more of a positive impact. The second half proved to be a disappointing display from both sides, but unfortunately Dynamo managed to equalise just after the hour mark after a defensive mistake. The game ended on a disappointing draw. A few days later, the KCC Knights were back in action again, this time against the Corinthians. A bit of rain added to the dynamic and sped up the pace of the ball. The first half saw possession split evenly between both sides, but Knights created more scoring opportunities which ultimately resulted in a spectacular goal from their striker Rio Allam, who curved the ball in from the far post. The second half intensified with Corinthians and Knights both missing a few more opportunities. One of the Corinthian players was sent off after a second yellow cards with about 10 minutes left to play, but the Knights couldn’t capitalized on the 10-man advantage. Still it was a good performance and great feeling to keep a clean sheet and secure all the points with a 1:0 win!

On March 1st the Legal League resumed and the KCC Royals came out 2-1 winners against Krauts with goals scored by Sam Trayford and Legend Luca Merlone. In the other game, the KCC Cavs had a more difficult restart with 5-1 loss against Wan Chai Spartans.

The Monarchs O45 will resume their league Monday 8th March and Monarchs O35 will resume the following week on Monday 15th March.

To get the latest updates on fixtures and results of the KCC Football Section, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram and check out all our news on the KCC Noticeboard.

kcc_football and kcchkfa ( for specific HKFA results)

KCC Football Teams and KCC HKFA

Home Grown Talent

The Lawn Bowls section of our Club currently has around 130 members. Bowlers have come to the section in various ways, with some taking up the sport because another member of the family have shared the sport with them. Others have joined as elite sportsmen and women via the Sporting Subscriber system.

Our Men’s A team have been performing well, having already won the Premier League. A number of the team are Junior Members and Sporting Subscribers who have attended the HKLBA Youth coaching scheme, so the future performance of the section is looking promising.

There have been more KCC members who have expressed an interest in learning to play the game. Beginner and intermediate courses have been successfully run by Coach Issac Ng, with a beginners course currently running with twelve members. Following the courses, some members have decided to play on a regular basis entering the Club and National Competitions.

New Section members Allyson Ko, Alkey Shum and Evangeline Ma are rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with on the green and their enthusiasm and energy is a credit to the quality coaching and their determination.

We would encourage any KCC member, regardless of age, to look out for the advertisement for the next beginners course and come and join the fun. We look forward to seeing new and old faces on the green soon, with the new season beginning in the middle of April after a long hiatus due to Covid restrictions.

Isaac with from left to right, Evangeline, Alkey and Allyson

Wine of the Month

May to July 2021

Chateau

A full-bodied wines with a deep, dark colour. Their complex bouquet is usually dominated by black fruit aromas with a touch of minerality and wellintegrated, elegant oak.

$85 per glass

$360 per bottle

The highly expressive and succulent nose gives an initial glimpse of intense, crisp, red berry fruit, then opens up with airing to reveal oak, slightly vanilla notes with a hint of almond.

$95 per glass

$420 per bottle

Sociando Mallet 2012

Pastourelle de Clerc Milon 2013

Regular Favourites and Promotions

Daily Set Lunch

Served Monday – Friday excludes Public Holidays. Changed daily and just $90 per person.

ItalianCuisine - Aprilat Grillroom

April to May

Father’s day special

Malaysian Food Promotion at The Boundary Café

Lobster Promotion

June

photo for reference only

photo for reference only

photo for reference only

Member Achievements

By Monte Wong

With everyone hanging up their racquets during extended court closure and preparing for Holiday Festivities. Our Super Senior Shui Wing Poon was in Nanning, China competing in a team tennis event. His team got first place out of 29 teams from across China and Taiwan. Congratulations to Poon for his outstanding achievement.

Re-opening of the Tennis Courts

After 2 months of tennis court closure, the government announced tennis courts re-opening in early February which was fantastic news for tennis section players. As you can see our members cannot wait to get back on the courts!

Tennis on the Grounds

Our Tennis Representative Jessie Rao received GC approval to make tennis courts on the grounds temporarily for member use on 14-15 th February. Thank you to the GC’s for making this happen.

Poon 6th from the left

League & Tournament Updates KCC TENNIS

SCAA Open 2020

As courts re-open, SCAA Open 2020 will resume and best of luck to all KCC players entered in the tournament.

Mixed Doubles League 2021

Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA) announced Mixed Doubles League 2021 will commence after CNY in mid-February. This is wonderful news to all clubs and league players. Best of luck to KCC Mixed Doubles team playing in Division I.

Veteran’s League 2021

Hong Kong Veterans’ Tennis Association (HKVTA) announced the Veterans League will commence in early March. KCC has teams entered in Combined 80, 100, and 120 divisions. Best of luck to all KCC veteran players.

Summer League 2021

Hong Kong Tennis Association (HKTA) announced Summer League 2021 will commence around mid to late April.

Prudential Hong Kong National Tennis Championships 2021

The most widely participated annual tennis tournament in Hong Kong is back and details as below:

Tournament Date : 2 Apr - 9 May 2021 (Fallback: 10-12 May)

Venue : Victoria Park & Hong Kong Tennis Centre

Entry Deadline : 18:00, 1 Mar 2021 (Mon)

KCC Junior Tennis Hot Shots of the Month

Join the KCC Junior Tennis Programme and become a KCC Junior Tennis Hot Shot!

Work and develop your game with our club pros, and strive for Gold in our skills competitions in November and May each year.

Name: Shreya NANDWANI

Age: 9

Years of playing tennis: I have been playing tennis for 1 year.

Favorite shot: Forehand

Why I like tennis: It teaches you different skills and it is challenging. I like playing with coach Jesse and Saara.

Favorite player is: Serena WILLIAMS

Other interests: Ballet, Piano and Reading

Wine Society 2021 AGM

The first calendar event for the KCC Wine Society is the January AGM followed by the brunch, which is generous with food and wines from the cellar. Time to bring out the magnums. Despite the COVID restrictions on dining, we had a full house.

WineSchool

Continuing with the introduction to wine knowledge, we present a few Q&A:

What are the top 5 wine producing countries?

Italy, France, Spain, United States and Argentina. (followed by Chile, Australia and China)

What are the types of wine?

Still (Red, Rose and White); Sparkling (Champagne, Cava, Prosecco); Fortified: Port (Ruby, Vintage, Tawny) and Sherry.

What is the pH or acidity of wines?

Wines are usually pH 3 to 4 (pH is a scale from 0 to 14 with 0 being Acid, 7 neutral and 14 Alkaline). FYI, Beer is also acidic about pH 3.5.

Upcoming Tastings

April – June 2021

There are some interesting events coming up with the Chateau Musar (16 April), Bordeaux (21 May) and Chinese Food Pairing (18 June) in the coming quarter.

As the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic is still fluid with social distancing and restriction placed on bars and restaurants, ALL KCC Wine Societies events (Cellar Tastings, Wine Dinners etc) are being organized as per Government regulations and the Club’s operations. Please provide us with your updated eMails and mobile number (for whatsapp group) so that we can keep you updated by eMail / Whatsapp / Notice Board.

Convenor Danny Gohel

Dead Arm Shiraz

The next event in February was the Dead Arm Shiraz tasting postponed from last year. Dave Parkin guided us through this excellent Saturday afternoon on 20 February. This vertical tasting from 1999 – 2009, showed the finest winemaking qualities of the wine. It was a difficult to judge but there was only Good – Better and the Best. Consensus was 2000 vintage was favoured and drinking well currently, followed closely by the 1999 vintage.

The Game of Pétanque

By Georges W Beau

Pétanque (pronounced pay-tanque) is France’s favorite competitive activity. It’s an enjoyable game that anyone can play, requiring minimal athletic skills other than the ability to throw a ball a short distance. It is sometimes perceived as a French version of the equally enjoyable game of lawn bowls. However the two games are quite different.

In lawn bowl players roll hard plastic biased balls as close to the ground as possible on a bowling green so that they stop close to a jack. In Pétanque players throw upwards or lob steel boules in the air so that they will hit their opponents' boules away from the small target ball, called the cochonnet (the piglet) or land their boules as close as possible to the cochonnet, compared to that of their opponents. The game is normally played on hard dirt or gravel.

The two basic pétanque play options are called tirer (to knock or shoot) and pointer (tossing the boules closer to the cochonnet).

The best and most difficult shooting play is “Un carreau”. It is a shot that not only knocks an opposing boule away from the cochonnet but also replaces it (in very nearly the same spot) with the thrower's own boule. Basically, the perfect shot.

The best pointing play is described as “Boule devant, boule d'argent” which can be translated as “A ball in front is a money ball". This maxim reminds players that when pointing, the most valuable place for a boule is in front of the jack. In that location, it prevents opponents from throwing directly toward the jack, and hitting it will push the boule even closer to the jack.

Boules can be thrown in any way that the player wishes, but the traditional way is to hold the boule with the palm of the hand downwards, and then to throw with an under-arm swing of the arm ending in an upward flick of the wrist. Throwing this way puts both upward and forward movement as well as backspin on the boule and gives the player the maximum amount of control and flexibility when throwing. There are also no rules in pétanque preventing a player from using both arms to throw the boules, but of course not together!

The boule can be rolled, thrown to a moderate height, or even thrown to a great

height (a high lob or portée). Players can throw the boules standing up or squatting. In both cases players throw their boules while standing in a circle. Traditionally, the circle was simply scratched in the dirt. Today plastic "prefabricated" circles are used in formal games.

The game is played by two teams. Teams can be singles players (tête-à-tête), doubles (doublette), or triples (triplette). In singles and doubles, each player gets three boules. In triples, each gets two.

A game consists of several mènes (rounds). Each round consists of the throwing out of the cochonnet followed by the teams throwing their boules. After all the boules have been thrown the team with the boule closest to the cochonnet wins the round. The winning team scores one point for each of its boules that is closer than the opposing team's closest boule. As the game progresses, each team accumulates points until one of the teams reaches 13, the winning number of points. A team that does not score any point is said to “fanny” ("il a fait fanny”). Today the losing team would have to buy a round of drinks for the winning team, Pastis preferably. In the past there was a different quaint custom that I am too modest to discuss here!

Hundreds of pétanque videos can be watched on YouTube. Below are two interesting videos that are good illustrations of the game of pétanque.

The first video shows two teams throwing amazing shots that change the lead with every throw. The second video is a training video devised by the English Pétanque Association that is a very good introduction to the game of pétanque and how to play it.

(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL9fUJOnlrE

(2) https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=EPA+Petanque+Training+Video

Profile of C.M. Mak

CM, also known as PGAAA, “Plays Golf Any time, Anywhere, and with Anyone”, has been a pivotal figure of KCC’s Golf Society for many years, since about 2005, and he has been kind enough to share with me some of the secrets of his enjoyment of the game of golf, which it gives me great pleasure to pass on to all readers of this profile. Indeed, CM would like me to focus on this aspect rather than his distinguished career as a senior operative with China Light and Power (CLP) for no fewer than 38 years, but I need to make a brief mention of this, so that you have a full picture of CM’s considerable modesty.

During CM’s career with CLP, he rose through various posts so that by the time of the handover in 1997 he was appointed as CLP’s System Operations Manager. In that position he was responsible and accountable for the safe, secure and efficient operation of the entire power system of CLP. Apart from that, which must already have kept him extremely busy, from 1998 he has been actively engaged in promoting the application of clean and environmentally friendly electric vehicles. Between 1998 and 2000, CM was Honorary Secretary General of EVAAP (Electric Vehicle Association of Asia Pacific), contributing to the organization of an important Symposium in Beijing in 1999 and another in Shenzhen in 2010 to promote the development of electric vehicles. He was also appointed the Head of Electric Mobility Development of CLP, responsible for establishing the EV charging infrastructure and the application of EV in Hong Kong, until his retirement in 2011. In short, CM has been a leading light in the HK and Asian electricity industry, and at the cutting edge of the move towards the use of electric vehicles in Asia.

Now, I turn to the aspect CM would like me to write about, his love of golf.

CM describes himself as a very good table-tennis player in his younger days, the champion of his school, and then part of the Hong Kong University team. His first encounter with golf was when he was attending a course in Idaho, USA in 1992, when he was invited to take part in a Texas scramble. CM had some practice beforehand with a friend, but the first nine of his ten attempts to hit the ball were air shots, so he realized that the game was more difficult than table-tennis. Later on, after a rather fruitless lesson at the Tuen Mun driving range, he had 10 lessons at Kau Sai Chau, which resulted in his obtaining a golf pass.

CM started to play with the KCC Golf Society in about 2002, and he joined the Committee in 2003 when Terry Greene and then Richard Tinlin were the Convenors. Since about 2005 CM has been responsible for all the liaison with the Golf Clubs across the border, negotiating the playing arrangements, booking,

transportation, in summary all the logistics to enable us to enjoy all the different courses in Southern China. Modestly, CM would not seek any special recognition for doing all of this, but it is true to say that his input, running everything like a smooth electric car, merits a huge thank you from us all.

CM would say that he does all of this for the love of golf, and he would like to share five points about why golf is such a unique game:

1. CM finds the best philosophy in golf, which is different from all other ball games.

At all times, you are responsible for your “own ball”, doing your best to direct it around the course, not beating an opponent, enjoying playing and also appreciating the efforts of others as they direct their balls.

2. Golf is played in a natural setting. Unlike other sports, which are played in an artificial setting, in a field or on a court with a net, on a golf course you are close to nature.

3. In such a natural setting, because of the variations of season, weather condition, wind strength and direction, every time we play the environment and condition is different, including the way the ball behaves and lands. There are so many variables, just like real life.

4. Golf is full of philosophy, there are 18 holes just like 18 pages of life. You play a bad shot, you have to forget it and move on, not blaming yourself and lingering with it, as the most important shot is the next shot.

5. The standard is par, challenging not only your skill, strength and speed of swing, but also, due to the time you have to think, challenging you to make decisions and work out your strategy. You have to take full personal responsibility for your decisions.

Convenor Sanjay Nainani golf@kcc.org.hk

CM has been a keen student of the game since he started to play, and he showed me a very well-thumbed copy of Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons which has been his “bible”. Indeed, on one visit to the USA he bought 12 copies which he then distributed to his friends upon his return.

CM’s wife Margaret has also been a regular player over the years in our Golf Society outings, and it has been good to see them playing together, enjoying the game which CM loves so much.

So, thank you, CM for all that you have done for our Society, and continue to do, and we hope that before long you will have the opportunity to resume all of your connections with the Golf Clubs in Southern China, upon our return to cross-border outings.

Report of the KCC Golf Society outing to Kau Sai Chau South Course on 6th March 2021

Mist shrouded the South Course for our first outing of 2021, and our groups generally had to rely upon the sharper eyes of the youngest member to spot the trajectory of the balls.

On the other hand, our first use of the app Golf Game Book enlightened the proceedings, as we all knew (at least the four flights out of six who mastered the app knew) how the other players were doing, and this added to the excitement of the competition. Thank you, Sunil Hemnani, for introducing this new dimension and educating us on the use of the app, not forgetting Matt Stiller’s earlier advocacy of this technology in committee.

For example, we were well aware of Ravi Sujanani’s flying start, net four under par after just a few holes. It later transpired that Ravi birdied the first hole,

his drive leaving him 75 yards to the pin, a pitch to about 7 ft., and he then sank the putt. Ravi maintained the pace on the front nine with 4 more birdies, but came back to the chasing pack on the back nine. Ravi finished a very creditable 4th in the stableford competition with 35 points.

Another front runner was Duncan Paul , again well into the red on the front nine and he also garnered 35 points with a gross 87 score to finish 4th with Ravi.

We were unaware of Rita Leung’s progress as her group were not using the app, but we knew that she would be in the running, as it proved. Consistency was the hallmark of her game according to her playing partners, and she also accumulated 35 points, 4th equal with the other two above.

Excitement rose as we neared the end of the round, as my group which included Matt Stiller and Matt Collins , knew that Rahul Sharma had likely finished on net 4 under par, and as we stood on the 18th tee the two Matts were both net 4 under, with all to play for. Unfortunately for the Matts, they both double-bogeyed the challenging final hole, and ended one point behind Rahul in the stableford competition. Thus, Rahul was the worthy winner with a gross 81, and the two Matts the runners up, with gross scores of 82 and 89 respectively.

Matt Stiller was also very accurate on the par 3s, being nearest the pin on three of the four short holes, but was selected for nearest only on the 11 th hole. Gabriel Lam , with a three wood on the long 16 th, came closest there, Eric Golani, delighted to be playing on short notice, was closest on the 2nd hole, and Vivek Chandiramani , playing in his second game with the Society, won the prize at the postage-stamp 5th hole.

Tim Chong and his group had an interesting experience on the 16 th hole, when his drive ended up on the Ladies’ tee, so he joined his wife Selina and Rita there, then pitched his 7 iron onto the green. A new strategy for playing this hole, to avoid the water.

Special thanks to Barry Melbourne for the many hours he spent arranging all the players, groupings and logistics for the event, including his creation of nearest the pin markers, with golf society picture on one side and space for names on the other, a masterpiece. Peter Lowther has undertaken to add waterproofing.

The results

The Stableford Competition Winner : Rahul Sharma (37 points)

1st Runners-Up : Matt Stiller and Matt Collins (both with 36 points)

Nearest the Pin

2nd hole : Eric Golani

5th hole : Vivek Chandiramani

11th hole : Matt Stiller

16th hole : Gabriel Lam

Report of Kau Sai Chau East Course Outing on 14th March 2021

The second Stableford competition of the season eight days after the first, again produced some exciting golf in a closely contested finish, and a very enjoyable day all round in very good conditions for golf, on the demanding East Course.

This report is compiled mainly from following the Golf Game Book app, and it was fascinating to see the ebb and flow, as some players had fast starts, others were slow off the blocks, and in the end the performances over the last three tricky holes determined the order of the leading group of golfers.

The fast starters included Duncan Wong who was net -2 after 6 holes, and Peter Wong who was net -1 after 5 holes, with 2 pars under his belt. Peter also later secured nearest the pin on the short 13th hole. Peter Shum, the defending champion of last season, did not take long to get into his stride, with 3 pars in the first five holes, and he completed his front nine in 45 strokes. Matt Stiller was also no slouch, securing 5 pars in a front nine of 42. CM Mak was going well, notching up 12 points on the first 6 holes, which included a birdie 2 at the short 5th where he was nearest the pin. Chi Wang Leung and Rita Woo were also going steadily at net +2 after 10 holes, by which time they had each secured 18 points. After 9 holes Barry Melbourne and Peter Lowther were level pegging at net +3 with 15 points.

The back nine showed a lot of changes in the standings. The most dramatic move was made by Simon Scanlon, whose nearest the pin on the demanding 8th hole presaged what was to come. Simon’s gross score over the 10th to 14th holes was one over par, with two pars and a birdie. He played the last 4 holes steadily, and accumulated 20 points on the back nine, and 31 points overall, thus finishing 4 th equal with Barry Melbourne. Barry also parred 2 of the first 4 holes on the back nine, and scored reasonably well on the remaining 5, also for 31 points overall.

Duncan Wong fell back somewhat after his fast start, but was able to add 14 points on the back 9 to the 18 he scored on the front nine, for an overall total of 32 Stableford points and third place in the Stableford competition.

Rahul Sharma, playing in the first group with his daughter Inara, took the back nine by the scruff of the neck, with 5 pars, a birdie and 3 bogeys, only requiring 39 shots. He set the clubhouse target of 34 points, which included a par-birdie finish. This enabled him to jump up from 27 to 34 points. Rahul’s daughter Inara Sharma more than matched her father on the back nine with 5 pars and 2 birdies for a gross 38, and they both birdied the demanding final hole. Great going!

GOLF

There were seven players with some holes to play who had the chance of matching or even overtaking Rahul with a good finish, but one by one they were unable to tame the final three holes. The two Peters, Shum and Wong had respectively 28 and 27 points after 15 holes, Matt Stiller and Simon Scanlon had 28 points after 16 holes, and Barry Melbourne, Rita Woo and Duncan Wong had 26 points after 15 holes.

Of the above, Peter Shum had bogeys on holes 16 and 17, so as he stood on the 18th tee he needed a par on the final hole to overtake Rahul or a bogey to equal his score. He managed a respectable 7 on this difficult par 5, thus closing on 33 Stableford points for the runner up spot. Rahul Sharma was thus our Stableford winner for the second week in a row, his remarkable second nine and storming finish giving him the well-deserved prize.

Two other nearest the pin prizes came to Stephen Chau at the 3rd hole, and to Vincent Yuen at the steeply downhill 15th hole.

The Golf Game Book app has transformed our collective ability to follow the progress of our games, and for us to derive full benefit from this great technology it is important that we all learn how to use it. Sunil Hemnani, Matt Stiller and others on the Committee would be very happy to give guidance to any who need assistance.

The results

The Stableford Competition

Winner : Rahul Sharma (with 34 points)

1st Runner-Up : Peter Shum (with 33 points)

2nd Runner-Up : Duncan Wong (with 32 points)

Nearest the Pin

Hole 3 : Stephen Chau

Hole 5 : CM Mak

Hole 8 : Simon Scanlon

Hole 13 : Peter W Wong

Hole 15 : Vincent Yuen

KCC Snooker Society - March 2021

Our covid ravaged season continues, albeit we are currently back on the green baize again and have recommenced our Handicap and Handicap Masters Tournaments. In the latter we have our first winner in 2021 as MC Young beat Eddie Chiu in a closely contested Final. Don our new Tournament Director, is now rescheduling the In-House Tournaments for the rest of 2021 Season, which will run to middle of June, but we will have to postpone a few again like last year. Details of the upcoming tournaments are being posted in the Sanctuary and on the WhatsApp Groups, so please sign up and ensure we have a big finish to the end of the season.

The Inter-Club League remains suspended, but our new Team Captain Simpson, is now busy arranging the fixtures ready for the re-start and Don is contacting the Hong Kong Club to find a new date for the long overdue rematch for the coverted “Marshall Pot”!

Finally a date for the diary, the AGM has been tentatively booked for Friday 9th July and details will be finalised and shared to all our members in due course.

Look forward to seeing you in the Sanctuary over the coming months and please remember that whilst the Main Bar remains closed, we can access via the back door, at the bottom of the stairs, where you access the Cricket Pitch.

Recovering of the table cloth

We have used the downtime in the Sanctuary to get our annual recovering of the table cloth’s completed. All 3 tables have been re-levelled and re-covered with the Hainsworth “Match” Cloth under the watchful eye of Albert our trusty marker and the Snooker Sub-Committee. We have also had new pockets installed longer rails and new leathers. Some pictures of the works are included below.

Convenor Adrian Townson

Indoor Sports facilities reopened at KCC

By William Shan

On 18 Feb 2021, indoor sports facilities reopened at KCC after a hiatus of 10 weeks and life returned to normal, plus or minus a few pounds depending on the individual. Society members returned en masse to play table tennis and to regain atrophied skills.

Convenor William Shan

New Flooring

The first thing people noticed was a completely renovated Sports Hall. The flooring was new, as well as the protective side-panels. The colouring scheme is somewhat darker overall but makes the flight path of the ping pong balls easier to track for the players.

New Table

The second thing people noticed was the addition of a new table. With the trend of increasing participation at TT sessions last year, the Society applied for an additional table to accommodate the increased number of players. The General Committee of KCC graciously approved the application and so we can now set up seven tables during sessions of high demand. Waiting times have been appreciatively decreased overall.

Children’s Hour

To encourage junior participation, a Children’s Hour has been set up exclusively for juniors at Saturday TT sessions whenever Sports Hall booking allows. Announcements ahead of time will be made in our Society chat group to remind people as to when and if the event will occur.

HKTTA Club League Tournament

With last year’s glorious undefeated season behind us (please refer to the prior WOK Magazine article to relive how the stupendous result was achieved), we return this year to Division 3 seeded 5 th out of 8 teams. This year’s league is scheduled to start in mid-March and end towards the end of July.

Fun Night

By Vicky Daryanani

We held a Fun Night on 4th March, 2021 and overall it was a success where many members from the 10-pin bowling society were able to attend and play in groups of 4. We all got to meet after a long break and the society provided complimentary food for the enjoyment of all.

TEN PIN BOWLING

KCC Ten Pin Bowling is sponsored by:

Bowling Ladder

Convener: Satish Alwani

Team Captain: Jeetu Shivnani

We continue to encourage healthy competition throughout the entire team via the Bowling Ladder and are happy to add on new members where they will be put onto the ladder via lucky draw and accordingly assigned a handicap based on their most recent 2 games in order to make it fair and open to everyone.

We always welcome new Society members so please do feel free to reach out to myself or any one of my fellow committee members for further details.

Sports & Recreation Apr - Jun 2021

Prices shown are for KCC Members only.

PRIVATE COACHING

Personal Training

FREESTYLE with Island Dance

$2,400 (4-9 yrs)

Total 12 sessions

$2,640 (10-14 yrs)

Total 12 sessions

All participants need to pay for whole month classes

Enquiries: Sylvia 3473 7181 sylvia.lam@kcc.org.hk

YOGA with Sujal

Kundalini Yoga

$200 per member per lesson

Hatha Yoga

$180 per member per lesson

All participants need to pay for whole month classes

Enquiries: Sujal 9040 9776

PILATES with Riny

$200 per member per lesson

Enquiries: Riny 9046 5134

(Total 12 sessions)

Aged 4-6 Aged 7-9 Aged 10-14 3:30pm - 4:15pm 4:15pm - 5:00pm

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Monday Tuesday Saturday

7:00pm - 9:00pm (Kundalini) 10:00am - 11:15am (Hatha) 10:00am - 11:15am (Hatha)

Monday Wednesday

11:00am - 12:00nn 9:30am - 10:30am

Anyone participating in any activity or sports should consult a doctor prior to commencement of such activities and all participants are responsible for their own medical/accident insurance coverage

Application forms are available from the KCC Reception General Enquiries: 3473 7161

Enquiries: Tony 9837 3739 Kenny 6543 0802 Riny 9046 5134 Bryan 9462 6668