21st Church Anniversary Cup

July 7, 2013

Praise The Lord ! He has led our church to another year of the exciting Hope Basketball Cup !

Apart from the breathtaking matches, it is worth mentioning the willing hearts of our brothers and sisters to serve one another. The Basketball Cup Working Committee sent our faithful brothers to book the basketball courts in the early morning for this function.   Praise The Lord ! Despite the overwhelming popularity of the basketball courts, God heard our prayers and secured the courts for us!

As for the matches, Pastor Gavin kicked-off the competition by lifting up the function to The Lord and praying for the joy and unity of the church and the participants.

The first match was SD2 vs SD3 (Brothers). The two teams met again after last year’s final. After one year both teams have grown in their skills and manners, both were showing strong team spirits and contributing an exciting match to the audience. SD3 won the first match. The brothers of SD3 also defeated the SD5 team, who fought their best against last year’s first runner-up and again had a very encouraging performance. Next, SD2 defeated SD5, which meant that SD2, last year’s champion, would have to face SD3, last year’s first runner-up again!

As for our sisters, the improvement in their skills and manners was even more apparent.  While our sisters stunned the audience with their skills, they retained their gentleness towards each other.  What was equally encouraging was the cheering from the teams’ respective SDs. They were so supportive to their teams that their cheering for their teams entirely overshadowed the narrations.  One could imagine their love towards their teams. Both SD3 and SD2+5 defeated SD1 and therefore they entered into the final.

Although the sisters in SD1 could not secure the basketball cup this year, their wonderfully eye-catching Korean pop-style dancing cheering performance won the appreciation and applause of the entire congregation.  SD2 and SD3 also gave their respective dancing cheering performance to the audience. SD3’s mixed-style dance also showed the energy of the youth. For sure, the performance of SD2 also showed the team’s love for their SD. Coincidentally, the teams all stressed that their performances were most importantly to glorify the name of Jesus.  In the end, both SD1 and SD3 were announced to be the champions and won the cheering team performance award.

After the performances, SD2+5 faced SD3 in the final match for sisters.  Once again the sisters demonstrated their skills and did their best for their teams.  The scores were at many instances very close to each other and it was a very exciting match.  In the end SD2+5 won and got the champion title.

Last but the climax of the day – Final match (Brothers): SD2 vs SD3, which was the same combination for last year.  Although the SD2 team had several semi-professional players, SD3 tried to employ their long-practiced strategies to overcome their strong opponents. Both teams demonstrated great skills and tactics, and it was a very tight match.  The scores were very close to each other until the last few minutes of the match, when SD2’s players used all that they had to put the ball into the basket.  In the end, SD2 won the match and once again became the champion for brothers!

Praise The Lord for the wonderful and exciting afternoon, and for bringing us in this united Body of Christ.