The Spirit of WINNING (Johor, 29 November - 5 December 2008)

I'm back from Johor, Malaysia. Thank God I'M HOME safely. I spent a week in Johor to perform my duty as Chaperon ("Shapron" as pronounced by Eezlyn (not HIS real name)) Taking care of the Girls is our job, me and Mel (my colleague) were well informed but things went on different from what we had been told. Looks like our job was more to secreterial work than chaperoning. The list of jobs: we have to collect all the athletes' data to be filled in the M01 form, collect their passport sized photos, collect their photostated ICs, getting all the required signatures, check the airline tickets, check in at the airport, medal carrier & certs carrier. Thats quite a lot for a chaperon to do and thats way out of the job description for a chaperon isn't it. That particular work usually being done by the Manager of the Team, but unfortunately, our bad luck conquered the good luck..our manager, Mr. Anthena (not HIS real name) isn't efficient enough. It's kinda bullying to pass all his works to Us the newbies right? Well he IS the bully. We had no choice but to fulfil all assigned jobs although unwillingly. Despite hard works, nothing is perfect, lots of mistakes happened. Newbies are usually bound to make mistakes. Thats the stressful thing that we experienced throughout the one week in Johor. The REST was amazing and worthy although we were all tired and 'sun tanned' but I really enjoyed chaperoning the girls, especially when they were tryin to WIN the GOLD and also WINNING the GOLD. *applause!!!*

Beforehandedly, we blindly accept the offer to chaperon the girls to the Sports Carnival. We have no idea who the girls would be. 29th November, the fateful day, we all meet up at KKIA, checked in, board the MH plane, landed at KLIA, boarded again MH plane *now with lots handsome stewards*, landed at Senai Airport, Johor. Took bus to our destined lodging, kinda nervous & scared to get-to-know it. Alas, we were 'dropped' at ASRAMA SEK. MEN. (P) SULTAN IBRAHIM, JB. We were 'amazed' by how OLD the rooms are. The dorm was complete with double decker beds and mattresses but we all felt uncomfortable there, plus, the girls were separated with the boys, not by a building, by a ________kilometres. After we 'checked in' into the hostel, all we did was whining on the 'poor' lodging and wishing we could be re-lodge to UiTM where the boys and their coaches stayed. This is how the dorm looked like:

Despite all that whinnings, we managed to stay here for a week safely. Guess what? It's NOT that bad after all, after staying there throughout the week and actually we like the place. Some of them felt sad to leave the 'memorable' place. The first 2-days was a boredom. The athletics event only started on Tuesday. So, we have nothing to do. On Sunday, they went to their *battleground-to-be*(The Stadium) to do the penyesuaian thingy while me & Mel escaped to cari makan. HaHa. After that, there was nothing to do. That's was the most bored day of the week. But, on Tuesday until Thursday, the days were spent mostly on the battlegroud which is at Stadium Tan Sri Dato Hj Hassan Yunos, Larkin:

The Carnival was participated by Sekolah Sukan for every Negeri in Malaysia. So there are 16 schools participated. SMK Datuk Peter Mojuntin is the SSN for Sabah. It's like the contigent from Sabah going for SUKMA feeling lah...hehe all are wakil SABAH, carrying the NAME of SABAH on the battleground...
We watched our athletes doing their best to Win their events. Although we hate to be under the sun & later get tanned, but still we sit and wait patiently for every event participated by our athletes to end. Surprisingly, as expected from Sekolah Sukan Negeri Athletes, they were actually really GooD! On the first day, Sabah's first GOLD was won by Agnes Lescoin in High Jump event. Celeste won Bronze for Lempar Cakera. Equinna won SILVER in Merejam Lembing.While later in the evening, on the track, Cinthia & Gemma both won GOLD in 100 metres event (under 16 & under 14). WOW...they were that good. I'm sure their coaches were very proud of them. We were also felt the same. But, the guys were not shining as the girls, dunno why..but, we were very happy cos on the 1st day, Sabah's medals are: 3 GOLDS, 1 SILVER, 1 BRONZE.

On the second day, the athletes performances were a bit weak. First, Auf won GOLD for 1500m. Next, we watched our 4 x 100m team of under 14 lost the GOLD, instead won the BRONZE. We were nearly to win the GOLD but upon reaching the finishing line, something unexpected happen which forced Gemma, the last runner, to slow her pace and ended up winning Bronze. They were very disappointed. But things went on well when the 4 x 100m team of under 16 won GOLD *menebus kekalahan under 14, 4x100). The picture: the 4 x 100, combination of Cinthia, Agnes, Graziella & Zanalee, team under 16, are bitting their GOLD medals...sign of 'victory' kunun..haha

On the evening, we watched again Sabah lost it's GOLD in Hurdles as Agnes fell unexpectedly nearly to the finishing line. She was on the verge of winning the GOLD with nice and beautiful leap on each hurdles but unfortunately, she fell and injured. What a day...it's so 'soi' oh that day. Anyhow, at the end of the day, Faizal won BRONZE in Long Jump and that ended the battle day. During the night, tidak payah cerita la, bikin panas tu Antena!!!!!!! Because of him, the athletes didn;t get enough sleep for their battle on the next day...!

Third day, Last DAY!!!....we witnessed another joyful moments and also some disappointing moments. Cinthia won her 2nd individual GOLD for Sabah in 200 metres, while, Brenda won Bronze in 200m for under 14 category. In 800 metres, another GOLD was won by Auf and a SILVER from Jeccanny. The half day was ended by another 2 GOLDs won by Faizal in High Jump and Triple Jump..surprisingly, the two events was held on the same time so he had to walked from one location to another, to high jump and to triple jump.. and still, he won GOLD for both. Bravo Faizal! Later in the evening, we witnessed the 4 x 400metres. Sabah won Bronze for girls team under 14 and Silver for girls under 16..boys won nothing but it's okay, as long as they are not the last team to reach the finishing line..*hehe*..the day at the Stadium ended with the rain pouring heavily.

So, overall, the medals for Sabah: 9 GOLDS, 3 SILVERS and 5 BRONZES and Sabah was in the 3rd place out of 16 schools participated. Jeng2x...these are the medals..........pardon the messy surrounding...hehe---I'm so happy & proud that among 16 schools, our school managed to be in the Top 3!!!! Yeayy!!! SABAH BOLEH....UP UP DPM !!!

Later at the Malam Penganugerahan, 2 Sabahan Athletes were acknowledged as the Olahragawati (bawah 16 tahun) and Olahragawan (bawah 14 tahun), and they are Cinthia & Faizal. We ARE very proud of them. Tidak sangka begitu hebat dorg ni!!! I'm sure SABAH also are proud of them, if only this event was being shown on TV..pictured below is Cinthia, the cheerful girl whom being acknowledged as the Sportsgirl of the Year. Faizal was nowhere to be found so couldn't snap his pic.

5th December, we left Asrama, Senai Airport and Lastly KLIA *boarding an Airbus* with an experience which are as valuable as the GOLDs won by efforts of the athletes. Watching them, as I said, inspired me to not to be afraid to do things with effort and the willpower to win. Although we do not win, at heart we are the winner. Their spirit to win is the most mesmerizing & inspiring things ever watched. I'm PROUD to be there even as a chaperon. Also, I felt like I'm more of a learner & not a teacher during the 1 week with them. I did learnt something from them. At first, I felt regretful agreeing to accept the offer to chaperon the athletes, but I remembered Bunny said that things happened for a reason, and, that is the reason for me being there at Johor for a week, and those regretful feelings had totally gone and I now felt thankful that I WAS THERE! THIS IS SIMPLY UNFORGETTABLE...

Gosh...I miss the girls already..I hope that they are enjoying their 3 days of inactive rest before turun padang again on the 15th..!!!! wahh....upon hearing these words from their coach..I was surprised to discover how 'tough' life of an athlete would be...kweng2x...they'll need continuous training in order to prevent the body to be in ZERO energy *as mention by their coach*...WELL...good LUCK all of you!!! I'm now hoping to enjoy the HOLIDAYS while waiting my temporary tanned skin to be back to normal..~~~(^o^)v


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