Thursday, January 03, 2008

Mighty Ducks and USM Open 2007: “You Will Not Lose Until You Lose”


[Photos will be uploaded later today, but you can view KNO's here]

When we started out with Mighty Ducks in February 2007, one of the things we wanted to achieve was to give tournament experience to the boys. I guess my side has conflicting objectives with Badut’s/technical coaches’ objectives – while they were interested to upgrade the boys’ skills and opportunities to play against better teams, I was more interested in giving them the experience to bond as a team; because that memories will ensure they will come back one day to continue this.

Luckily despite the differences, actually the objectives were one of the same. And all the objectives were met during the last tournament.

It was certainly the most expensive games that we had to pay; averaging about RM800 per game (which reminds me I have not close the accounts so expect some Ah-Longs going around asking for money after this). What made it expensive was the fact we had to pay for everything – from the accommodation, food, their tickets to KK (and one guy was flown from Sarawak as we decided we should not discriminate the boy just because he happens to be a Sarawakian), the transportation from KK to Penang and back, their meal allowance and all other incidental expenses along the way. This included Panadol, Eno, mineral water, drinks etc.



But going through the cost-benefit analysis; I personally thought it was worth it though it is very difficult to quantity/monetize trust, good relationship and most importantly love. I certainly got what I thought we invested for – the kids’ trust and love; and that’s worth more than any money we can find (OK this is my personal opinion which others certainly do not share).

I spent a considerable time with Class of 2009 players because they were the most distant from the coaches previously. Lo and behold I actually settled for the hostel with the communal shower etc. in spite of the history of abandoning Safari Resort in 2004 during batch reunion 2004 for a better room elsewhere! But I thought it was worth doing – because this was the only window I had to break through with the boys before they go back to koleq. And I thought we did quite a splendid job at it – 2008 can just be focused on training with little soft issues to navigate; unlike 2007!

Wong had been in USM from Tuesday onwards and were there to receive the boys when they arrived on Thursday night. Badut and KNO drove together on the same day; Joe drove separately. My flight from KK touched down on Thursday night and I had to drive straight to Penang at midnight with Canoe, Anding and K (Class of 2008) [Correction: Canoe did most of the driving since I nearly killed all of us sleeping at the wheel while the car was put on a cruise and fast catching up on a petrol tanker!].

Again and again I cannot describe the feeling of togetherness with Badut, KNO, Wong, Joe and Canoe each time we do this. As if all the problems go away – that all that mattered to us during that short 3 days was the boys and all of us shared the same pride, we spoke the same thing about how this so and so was so good; about how that boy had such a flair at playing hockey, about how Holland had become so tembam – is one of the things I really cannot quantify and describe. But when everything else fails, so far Mighty Ducks and being on the field always managed to cheer us up; it is escapism at its best.


As for the results; well it’s a different story altogether. After all we never expected the boys to progress beyond the first round!

CANDID 1 – KENA SAMAN JADI?

Wong, Badut and KNO conspired to steal my car sticker for 10-Year Reunion in 2004 and put it on the college bus! You’ll see a Class of 94’s sticker on MCKK bus from now onwards.



NOTE: You can still see my car at the back with the door ajar, while either KNO or Badut distracted me from the crime scene. Damn!

CANDID 2 – DRAMA QUEEN

The first team was late for the match against Anderson (which they lost and sent us packing home), so they couldn’t do a proper warm up before the game (mostly were still sleeping zombies as the game was at 8 am).

Joe as the coach for the team really went off the roof. After the game we had a long maki hamun session to the boys and threatened to leave them high and dry; unless they maintain high discipline throughout.

But none of what any other coaches did matched Joe’s “drama queen of the year”:

Dengan muka bengis, macam keluar asap dari hidup, dan hampir membaling clip board after sejam maki hamun, dia cakap kat budak-budak – “Korang pikir2 lah korang nak menang ngan Clifford tak next year. Korang pikir la masak2” sambil berjalan meninggalkan padang ala-ala merajuk besar, macam nak quit.

Padahal we all know dia lapar and bini dia kat apartment dah summon dia balik ha ha ha


CANDID 3 – KUEY TEOW LONGKANG

The night before the final game, we thought we brought the kids out for a meal. Since Wong is the only person who knows Penang inside out, so we asked him to pick the place.

He said he was going to bring the kids to eat the best kuey teow in Penang, it’s called “kuey teow longkang”. Of course we were accustomed to weird names for good food e.g. mee racun, so no question was asked why it was called “kuey teow longkang”.

Lo and behold, an hour later – we realized why it’s called as such.

It’s a small gerai tepi longkang, and from the look of it kuey teow tu memang masak ngan air longkang tu pun!

Recurring mistake and lessons never learnt – Do not trust Wong when you expect good things from your accommodation or food. Wong is your Brokeback guy, only does it the Brokeback way (ha ha).

POSTSCRIPT


1) Results:

MCKK A (U-18) - lost to Anderson Tiger at 2nd round (knock-off): 4-0
MCKK B (u-18) and MCKK Jr (u-15) - lost both games at 1st round

2) All save one boy (latest update) of the hockey boys got 8As in the recent PMR. There were a series of SMS, so finally I asked what treat did they expect from us. This one is the sweetest reply from one of the boys:

"Kitrg xnk pe2 cuma nk jumpa abg2 blik cpt2. X sabar nk jumpa blik n training. Ble nk blik koleq lg?"

Oooooooooo..... (as in the "ooooo" in the sitcom when sweet moments happen)

29 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow about an hour after posting. this is so going to invite a series of comments ha ha ha

    leave me out of it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooooooooooooooo ...

    2 min after

    Ooooooooooooooooo ..

    dua dua mcm sitcom, tapi situasi berbeza

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. uihhh... mcm ni kalu ... kena


    OOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


    skali lagi ...

    ps: mcm sitcom gak

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11:39 AM

    Saudari KD,
    Blog ini amat mengalu-alukan kunjungan pembaca seperti saudari.Niat jujur saudari untuk mewarnai hari-hari kami amat kami hargai.Walau bagaimanapun, adalah harapan kami agar saudari sekadar singgah untuk membaca dan tidak meninggalkan sebarang cebisan ilustrasi diri saudari.Saya selaku AJK Keselamatan Blog2 dan wakil Yengko94 ingin memaklumkan bahawa komen dari saudari KD baik secara jujur dan ikhlas agak tidak disenangi oleh segelintir besar warga Yengko94. Pertimbangan dari saudari KD amat kami hargai. Kegembiraan saudari adalah keceriaan kita bersama.

    Sekian, terima kasih.

    AJK KESELAMATAN BLOG94

    s.k. TMP

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12:01 PM

    Salam kepada semua terutamanya AJK Keselamatan,

    Saya juga merupakan salah seorang peminat blog ini sekian lamanya dan saya amat tertarik dengan isi kandungan blog ini.

    Walaupun saya jarang meninggalkan sebarang ulasan dalam ruangan comment, tetapi saya amat tertarik untuk mengajukan satu soalan iaitu kenapa anda semua begitu anti dengan cik kawaii desu ni.

    Pada pemerhatian saya, dia tidak pernah melukakan hati sesiapa pun dikalangan saudara dan dia sekadar memberikan ulasan yang ikhlas.

    Pesanan saya satu sahaja, janganlah kita membenci seseorang dengan sebenci-bencinya, kerana suatu hari nanti, kita mungkin akan sayang sesayangnya terhadap orang itu

    Sekian

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12:29 PM

    lawaks...
    ada KD II..hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous12:36 PM

    Cik Teratai Layu di Tasik Madu,

    Sebagaimana yang telahpun dijelaskan, ulasan Saudari KD yang ikhlas itulah yang tidak disenangi oleh Keluarga 94.

    Oleh yang demikian, kami amat berbesar hati sekiranya Cik Teratai sendiri dapat menyayangi Saudari KD sesayang-sayangnya.Tiada isu kebencian dibangkitkan dalam perkara ini.

    Terima kasih atas masa tuan untuk melayari blog kami ini. Apa yang lebih baik daripada kegembiraan yang dapat dikongsi bersama menerusi nukilan pengalaman.



    Sekian, terima kasih.

    AJK KESELAMATAN BLOG94

    s.k. TMP

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous12:37 PM

    Maka saya yang tak pernah mengomen ini pula secara tiba-tiba tergerak hati untuk bersuara.

    Adab datang rumah orang, duduk la diam-diam. Apa tuan rumah hidang, makan la. Tak payah nak komen lebih-lebih. Sikit-sikit ok la lagi. Tapi kalau semua benda dalam rumah nak diulas sebutir-sebutir, mana tuan rumah tak panas? Siapa tuan rumah sekarang? Nak-nak pulak kalau komen yang tiada kena mengena dan boleh menyebabkan tuan rumah rasa tak selesa. kalau tuan rumah dah buat tak layan tu, takkan tak paham-paham lagi?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:55 PM

    aku dah memang lapar gila time tu. tapi ada la pulak sorang tu yg bebel tak berhenti. tu yg terpaksa berdrama jap.

    hahaha

    ReplyDelete
  13. ha ha it's so hot i am down to my boxer ha ha ha

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  14. Anonymous1:23 PM

    Apa lagi squash court la....

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous2:12 PM

    panas la kat sini. xde aircond ke eh? hahahahaha

    tapi joe mmg drama queen loba-loba la. heheheh

    eh x perasan plak aku masa amik gambar bas tuh kereta TMP still terbukak lagi. ini semua keje bro azman lah neh. hahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  16. 1) selamba semua SK kat aku ha ha. Aku la badut dalam semua ni.

    2) selamba je joe ckp aku berleter lama. At least aku x buat drama queen merajuk keluar padang. Pikir2 la joe

    3) selamba je KNO bersekongkol ngan abg Azman curi sticker keter aku.

    4) Selamba laa Wong jadi batu api suruh pi squash court.

    ReplyDelete
  17. hoi ni posting pasal migduck and budak2 tu la.

    fokus la sikit komen2 nya.

    nanti AJK Keselamatan Blog marah lg.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ooooooooooooooooo


    (mcm dalam sitcom gak)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous2:51 PM

    itu hanya lakonan semata-mata

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous3:10 PM

    Salam sejahtera AJK Keselamatan blog,

    Jika itulah penerangan saudara, yang saya yakin bahawa saudaralah mewakili suara rakan-rakan saudara, apa lagi yang mampu saya katakan.

    Terpulanglah kepada saudara. Tetapi tidakkah dalam hati kecil saudara mempunyai sedikit rasa simpati ataupun belas kasihan kepada saudari kawaii untuk memberi sedikit ruang kepada saudari kawaii menyuarakan apa yang terbuku dan yang terpendam dalam hati dan sanubari beliau.

    Cubalah saudara berada dalam situasi beliau, sudah pasti saudara akan rasa terguris atau berkecil hati dengan teguran serta ulasan yang saudara berikan.

    Walau bagaimanapun, saya puji sikap saudara yang tidak menyipan rasa benci dan menyampah kepada saudari kawaii. Sikap inilah yang saya suka yang ada pada kebanyakan pelajar Kolej Melayu.

    saya berharap agar saudara tidak menyimpan rasa yang sama terhadap saya kerana saya juga hanya menumpang coretan di ruangan tuan rumah.

    Sekian

    ReplyDelete
  21. kenapa laaa ambik nama teratai layu.... ha ha

    ambik la ros merah ke, kenangan cacak ke.....

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous3:45 PM

    kenangan cookkengg?? apa tu bro?..
    mung ni dah ler tadi pakai boxer..ni apa plak kenangan cokkeng nih?? terkenang apa plak?

    kenangan ke kenanga?

    ReplyDelete
  23. kenanga laaaaa...
    ala bunga kenanga yg segar kan cacak2 skit....

    ha ha kenangan cokkeng tu terlampau lucah untuk dipaparkan kat sini... it's "Return of Jaffar II" ha ha

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ooooooooooooooooo ...

    mcm dalam sitcom, tapi kali ni aku makan popcorn sambil tengok sitcom

    ReplyDelete
  25. Anonymous9:39 AM

    Tuan AJK Keselamatan Blog,

    Kita terpanggil untuk memberi sedikit komentar tentang isu Cik KD dan Cik Teratai Layu di Tasik Madu. Kita amat berbangga dengan ketegasan Tuan AJK blog memberi penjelasan yang mantap dan adil. Sepertimana Dr Chua Soi Lek meminta sedikit ruang untuk beliau dan keluarga melalui waktu yang 'sukar' ini (setelah beliau 'bersenang-senang' dengan orang lain), kita berharap saudari KD dan Teratai dapat memberi ruang kepada kita ahli gerombolan 9094 yang kurang berfungsi ini untuk meneruskan fungsi hidup ini tanpa komen-komen yang menyenakkan kepala. Tidak perlulah ehwal ini dipanjangkan, kerana Dr Chua Soi Lek sendiri telah dengan berani memutuskan untuk mengundurkan diri.

    Sekian, Terima Kasih,
    Telur di Hujung Tanduk

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous10:40 AM

    macam mana korang buleh kalah dgn anderson??

    hidop migducks

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous3:07 PM

    memang zaman2 hoki power dulu pun amat payah nak menang dengan anderson. sekolah projek hoki negeri perak.
    Selalu kalau dpt 3rd, 2nd state tu semua sebab kalah ngan anderson lah..

    apa yg herannya?

    x keeper hoki yang dah karat

    ReplyDelete