MPOC 1 2010

“Once you’ve played Xball, M5 seems like a waste of time”

– quote I heard last weekend.

I have to agree because I love the M7 /xBall format and the Red Sevens have take to it like ducks to water. MPOC1 was not the first time we played the M7 format but it was the first time we played it in the MPOC in Malaysia with a race to 2 format. It was shorter and yep faster.

I went to MPOC1 expecting to be trashed by the other teams who have been in D2. However much to my surprise and everyone's excitement we won our first match ever in Division 2 beating last years D3 Champions which was no easy feat. We actually took 3 wins and missed out on the quarter finals by just one match. I would have been happy to win single match but the team exceeded my personal expectations.

It was down to the experience we had in Taiwan and passing on the knowledge to the new guys on the team who have not played in M7 before. I also noted that a few of the other teams were not used to the M7 format yet. However I think by the next leg they would have settled down and gotten used to the new game play.

I'm sure that one of the teams we played will remember that the main point is to hit the buzzer to score the point. We had a one on one situation and it was close but Ivan managed to hit the buzzer while their last man was still looking to shoot him. That would have been a bitter pill to swallow. It was a lesson well learnt by us in Taiwan where we had a legendary 2 min one on one situation before Jane hit the buzzer to send the crowd into a frenzy.

In another game we had already lost the point and they had 3 guys alive and they hit the buzzer but they were still looking to shoot our last man.ITs point over but they didnt know it. That clearly showed lack of game knowledge. I was looking to throw in the towel to get my team in to turn around and was surprised that their 3 guys were still posting up and shooting at my last man - despite already scoring the point. That could have been counted as playing on.

It was great to have Azlan back on the team - the new guys Ivan, Paul and Hiro has improved remakably in a short time and I think they are already comfortable in this Division.

It was a shame that the snake was not in one straight line or we'd have a even better kill ratio from the snake side. Paul was good at shooting his mirror off the breaks.
Ben pulled off a great Ollie move running from the back all the way into their midfield shooting 2-3 guys out and break the game wide open to score the point.

Special mention must go to Hiro who is really our O.Lang because we can just about play anywhere and perform any job we give him. We tell him where to go and he'd say yes and he'd be good too. He is certainly the most versatile, dependable and improved player in the team since playing for the first time last June at the World Games. I must mention how proud we are of Hiro's improvement in the game and to have him on the team.

Thank you to Arthur Chang for coming all the way from Taiwan to play for us - even though he only played 2 matches on Sunday it was as always a pleasure to have a teammate like him around.

The team came home with renewed excitement - everyone wants to play Xball again and Pattaya is the next tournament for us. Personally I had a great time coaching and crewing not only or the Red Sevens but for XFox in Division 1 as well. They also have a bunch of new guys and are trying to work things out in the team.

Working with XFox has as always been a fun and educational experience. I always learn new things when crewing for senior teams and this ia invaluable when I impart them to my teammates. Hopefully we can prepare better for MPOC2 and make it to the next level.


Thank you to the MPOC for listening to my suggestions- we got what I asked for 2 tables per team and pits by the side of the field with air inside. I give infrastructure a B+. Something should be done to leviate the walk ways and some team areas from getting muddy.