"Berjalan Biar Ke Depan, Jangan Ke Belakang"

Words of wisdom from Wong (plagiarised from PETRONAS' TV commercial).

There was a lot of heated debate with the Bapak Itiks, as the fall out from what had happened during the weekend continued to rage for a while. Understandably some are still pissed off, that despite all the planning, all the official communication, the majority of the boys did not stay back though they had promised (at least to the captain and that was passed to us). There was a lot of wastage as we had to pay for their ration throughout the weekend, not to mention the frustration of putting everything aside only to find out we could not carry out most of the plan.

Even on the night itself, because of this unexpected turn of events, we had to shuffle many things that in the end resulted in a huge confusion and miscommunication - an error that those who work in the HSE like Wong would not have tolerated ha ha.

Naturally there was a tendency to point fingers albeit very subtly. Most of all the need to vent off the frustration and finding out where the breakdown was - if we were to take the immatured and arrogant approach, even to question how come we were treated that way in spite of all the things we offered to the school and the boys?

But I was pleasantly surprised with Wong's simple reply to my plea to move ahead and put everything that happened last weekend behind:

"Walaupun aku sakit hati mcm nak mampus ...but I'm still in!

Kalau sekarang dah teruk....kalau kita lepas tangan lagi teruk.... turning back is not an option... Berjalan biar ke depan jangan ke belakang....."

This is the guy whose crimes in koleq include the break in into the HM's office to tap the telephone line and made expensives calls to Japan, amongst others.

In the end, what binds all the Bapak Itiks - despite our differences, egos and tendencies to shout at each others on top of our lungs - is the genuine and sincere hope to see these kids go far in their life, because all of us remember where we once came from. It is the love of talents and their innocence that binds us to Mighty Ducks, and after last weekend's fiasco I take even further comfort that this will survive tests after tests that will come in the future.

At the time when our anger, fuelled by our tiredness and hectic life threatens to overwhelm reasons, we fall back to that one particular reason we all gave our words to this - that the kids will come first before us.

This week they have honoured it again - and I cannot describe my own feeling of being honoured to have been amongst them.

So all is fired up again, next stop:

- Next tactical training is on 8 and 9th September
- Mighty Ducks Cup in November 07
- USM Open in December 07
- F2-F5 team building in February 2008

Busy months ahead.

And if any of the boys is reading this - it has never crossed our mind to quit on you.

Footnote

I come across this posting by a junior from Class of 2002 (I think). We should not let opportunities escape the boys the way it did him, because of adults' neglect. 10 years from now, we hope anak-anak itik will reflect their time in the hockey team as one of the best time of his life, the way we reflected on our own days in koleq doing all the crimes we were so good at:

koleq managed to get da 4th place for da u-16 inter sbp national level. n it was something that should be proud of!!! koleq n hockey is not synonymous as koleq n rugby or koleq n debate. i still remember back in my days, da hockey team kinda being neglected. we got no special attention from da admin. it was supposed to be one of da major game. even there were no cheering squad to cheer us during da game. =(

as a fellow budak koleq n a hockey player, i would like to congratulate da team n batch 9094 for mighty duck project. hope dat da mission can be accomplish. district champion in 2008, state champion in 2010. c'mon stickmasters!

Last Weekend's Combined Training

While there were things that did not go as planned, there were others which were beyond our own expectation.

The boys had fun, so did we. Although the tactical training for hockey could not continue for many factors (which I do not want to divulge here), we switched the whole weekend for team building purposes. We even went out for dinner (and I have never seen teenagers that hungry before, it was worth every penny since they cleared everything) and from the little deeds like getting them their tickets, making sure they boarded and left safely, ferrying them back to their parents even - they would understand that we really care. And that's a good start for everything.

As for the debaters, it is the best indication I have had for so many months. We discovered a near prodigy for the English debate, just as I was struggling to plan for next years when the current generations leaves (we have not even recovered from Haqqa's and Buck's departure). It was really like something sent from Heaven, what remains to be seen is whether he has it in him to be what he should be. That requires the right attitude and I can't assess that until later. But talent wise - I was staring at a future legend.

The BM boys were as upbeat and consistent as ever. Aslam and Aleng stayed back to begin their stint at this side of the fence - as coaches. Aslam still has difficulty accepting that he is no longer a debater (so we joked) having had the most number of caps as a koleq debater in recent memories since 1995, but I was glad that he finally let his hair down and was giggling and laughing all along. Gone were the stressful days of PPM. Ed and Nab could not join because of family matters.

We nearly had to stay in NH since all rooms were booked in Kuala Kangsar, but after a tour of NH's shower room I told myself quietly that I am no longer a 17 year old and would never be able to put up with school hostel - so we changed our minds at 1 am, driving around looking for a room to sleep.

We did find one, but it's really fit for a brothel and prostitute den - who was I to complain at that hours. At least it did have an air-cond and en suite hot shower (with a broken shower head that sprayed water all over the place you really risked getting eletrocuted).

At the end of a long day at 3 am, trying to finish the planning for the next day - we asked ourselves why we do what we do.

I was having doubts at that hours, but the next day I met Sherry, Cikgu Umi, Ustaz Ishak and Cikgu Badri who were us for the training.

The pride they had in their eyes for how these boys have changed, for whatever little improvements they had had - is a sea of comfort to tell us that it was worthwhile. It reminded us that together with the teachers who care, we really touched these kids' life.

And what's greatest satisfaction can you have in life, but to touch the lives of others.

A good weekend well spent though very tiring.

Bapak Itik Kena Tipooo Dengan Anak Itik (Roast Ducklings Anybody?)

Satu e-mail di pagi buta:

"It is 2.22 am and aku rasa compelled to write this email.

As aku tengah sibuk giler babi nak prepare everything including for games, video, packing belum lagi... information mula lah trickle from KK.

Latest no: 14 orang je, from the original 50+.

F4 8 orang
F2 5 orang
F1 1 orang

And F1 10 orang ckp nak keluar main hoki. After all the trouble to persuade them. F3 tak de sekor pun.

Ha ha ha (gelak insane)

So yang kita bayar makan tu memang burn saja too late to cancel.

Badut you have to tell Athens, change all the training plan. Now gear more towards tactical, less on basic.

Parachute game aku x sure boleh buat ke tak, x cukup orang. Sia2 aku break all IP laws.

Aku tak sure ini namanya ujian - or a sign from God that we have no business doing this and trying to make good with anak orang! Maybe if the parents were not bothered in the first place, the school is not bothered (aku dpt quite a heart wrenching news even today), why on Earth do we bother?

This is the time I am in great need of sex and incapable of even contemplating one, since all the energy is drained. Not to mention we all have to be in office early in the morning and try to be a model employee.

Idzam apa kau nak ckp kat anak kau ha ha ha.

And as I am typing this - PC aku slow giler burning all the materials planned for this weekend's training.

Ha ha ha (gelak makin insane)."

Joke Paling Kejam Bulan Ini

Mattop nak buat joke bangang.

Soalan dia:

"Mee apakah mee yang terberat".

Jawapan Chamat yang sangat instantaneous and spontaneous:

"Syam HakiMEE" (Nota Kaki).

Sungguh kejam.

Jawapan sebenar, menurut Mattop, adalah mee wanTAN (you know, one tonne mee...... pergilah off dia banyak2).


NOTA KAKI

Syam Hakimi adalah seorang atlit rumah Ahmad yang sangat hebat - footballer, rugger, sprinter. Legendary dengan gaya sprinting nya yang condong apabila ambik corner (alaa macam mana nak explain ni, you know bila ambik corner body dia tak the best mechanical position to optimise the wind resistance, gravity etc.)

Kalau tak kerana Zadin lagi handsome dulu (aku tak kata kau tak handsome Syam, aku kata Zadin lagi handsome), sure Syam dah menang Victor Ludrum bertahun-tahun.

Tapi the good life has gotten to Syam a bit lately. (And I stop there and the photo describes it better, sebab tu lah Chamat sangat lah kejam).

Bagi pihak mamat2 hilang leher satu batch, aku pun tersinggung Chamat. I could feel for Syam. Curse you Chamat.



ps: Aku cari gambar terkini Syam tak de lah pulak, even gambar dia datang Open House Zulkaedah aku. Yang ada gambar Aiwa. Syam kira slim skit by a few kg compared ngan Aiwa, so gambar Aiwa pun OK lah.

Bila Senior Kena Sound Dengan Junior

Haji Bochap, our PTD in JB had a rude awakening when his innocent request to change e-mail address for MCOBA-Net's subscription, was met with some rather stern comments from a junior. Even more so when the junior was really close to Mpro - so Mpro was quiet all along.

This is dedicated to Haji Bochap

Haji Bochap:

Tuan moderator, harap dapat ditukarkan address sedia ada kepada shashamarba@gmail.com

Shahrul Shari
fv94ms

Junior:

Another request to change or unsubscribe accounts. Bro, I attach my previous email on the same matter:

You can DIY by following these steps:

1. Just visit the MCOBA-MALAYSIA Yahoo Group.
2. Then click "Edit Membership" icon
3. Unde the Email Address, click "Add Email Address"
4. Type your new email address
5. Yahoo will send verification to your new email address, just click for verification
6. Once you click the verification, you will be redirected to your "Edit Membership" page, just choose your new email address, and click "Save Changes"
7. Process done!

Let us help our Moderator to manage our yahoo group with these simple steps. It's not his duty to change everything, as he is keeping this group voluntarily.

Idris 9296