The first time I held a hockey stick was back in 2004. This tough game has been a part of me ever since. It started off like this, at the beginning of 2004 (when I was in primary 4) students had to pick a few curicular activities in school. There were a variation of different sports which included hockey, athletics, netball , badminton etc, uniform bodies like Red Crescent, scouts, police army etc, and societies like the music club,chess club,  science club and what not. So obviously being only 10, you'd want to enter the same  sport/club/uniform body with our other friends. 

We discussed what club and society we wanted to enter and signed up for those. My initial club was netball since my mum suggested I try it out. Little did both of us realize that netball was not like basketball at all and I wasn't happy with it. I was actually scared of the ball and I thought that my hand eye coordination was pretty bad so I went to Ms Low's room the following week asking her whether I could be switched to the athletics from netball and she allowed me to.

One of my friends, Farina had  willingly joined the hockey club and asked me whether I wanted to tag along that weekend for training at St. Johns. Not knowing any better, I was on with it. My parents and I went to this sports shop near Sogo and bought my hockey equipment. My turf shoes and socks, shin guards, hockey bag and hockey stick. I just bought a cheap wooden stick cause we just wanted to see how it goes. I remember that we bought a McGills wooden stick which costed us only RM 200. Pretty cheap....

That weekend, I went for my very first hockey training and totally got freaked out by the coach. His name; Coach Mohd Noor. He was so firm and scary and not forgetting loud. Despite all that, I kept on going for the training sessions the following weekends. I went to Ms Low's rooms again to ask her whether I could be moved to the hockey club. Since there weren't many people in the club she let me in. There were some familiar faces at training. Amirah , Hazlynn , Hanis and Farina who were my classmates back then were there and I met a few new friends from the other classes. 

The first tournament we ever played in was The USM international tournament held at USM, Penang. Sport schools, state teams and international teams from Sri Lanka to Australia participated in that tournament. The first team we played against was Penang's state team and we were trashed! 5-0. The weather was hot and we were not prepared for this. It was like going for war but not having any equipments for battle. It was that bad.

After our "gracious" lost. We trained even more for our Keramat Zone tournament held at Stadium KPM, Bangsar. We won our very first game with the score of 3-0. All goals scored by Ati of course. We won some and lost some till we managed to get to the semi finals against SRK Pengkalan Tentera Darat. Yup, even the name of the school sounds tough. They looked like boys! All of them. Our team consists of different sizes and heights and capabilities however their team just screams D-E-A-T-H. We eventually lost to them; 3-0 and was awarded second- runners up. Though we didn't manage to be the champions, but we were qualified to play in the Interzone tournament where all 1st 2nd and 3rd placing teams from all the zones in Kuala Lumpur would compete for the title of the best hockey team in KL. We were pretty psyched! Not only us, our parents and coaches too. Due to that, we had to increase our training hours and days. We practiced four times a week till the day of the tournament. 

That was the tournament where I scored my first goal. ( BTW, by then I had upgraded to a new stick. A fibre stick called TK) We played at Stadium DBKL, Bangsar. I remember someone passed the ball to me as I ran toward o top of the D. I wasn't confident on hitting the ball but I tried anyway. So i pushed the ball in and took a few steps before I hit the ball. Suddenly, BAAM! It was a goal! I scored my very first goal! My team mates and I were beyond happy! Not only that, we also won the game. We only managed to get second runners-up on the tournament but we were proud to have achieved that.  We won 3rd place in the USM Tournament that december (2005).

We started being the champions and winning the best goalkeeper and best player (no names mentioned here) award in 2006 onwards. Everyone started to envy us because we were an ordinary school, but we could play so well. I played for my state in 2005 and 2006. It was a good experience but we didn't win. I believe that,that we didnt have any "team understanding". In order to play for the state team, you'd have to o for like an audition thing. I met different people from different schools. Playing for my state was never the same with playing for my school. To me its because of the team mates. Over the years, we were the champions of the Keramat and Interzone Tournament from 2007-2011. Premier school champions from 2007-2011, Premier Kebangsaan runners up from 2009-2011. There were other tournaments as well, but if I were to type them here, this blog post would be too long like my wedding post hehe

Nevertheless, I have been with the same old people ever since I was 10. I spent most of my time with them. My weekdays, my weekends, and my holidays. We spent so much time together that we even know each others habits, we could read and finish each others' sentences, we shared secrets. Every time we're on the hockey pitch and we start playing, I don't know... we sort of have this chemistry. It's like we know or that we can sense where to pass the ball or who to pass the ball to. There will always be someone there. We weren't just team mates or class mates, we were best friends. From being an only child, I felt like I had 17 other sisters, both big and small. Though each and one of us can be annoying and though we fight a lot, we always make up and find our way back to each other. Even when we were in different cliques, we still managed to find our way back. Took me quite a while to realize what I have missed the most. Its not the game, but playing the game with my team mates. I am proud to say that hockey made me who I am today and if weren't for hockey, I might even be timid and shy like before. Hockey has really taught me a lot o life,friends,family. This wonderful sport lead me to friends that I can count on, and the ones who would have my back no matter what.

Picture taken in 2005 after receiving our second runners up medals in the Interzone Tournament

at Stadium DBKL, Bangsar.

Sitting: Adiba(Kak Long), Hazlynn ( Alynn), Sara (me),Hazmira (Yamaz), Idya,Putri,Syakirah, Tasha

Standing: Amirah,Fatimah, Hanis, Farina (Captain) , Ati, Azzah, Lily, Amalina ( Ama)

Last picture of us taken at Stadium KPM,Bangsar

Champions- Interzone Tournament in 2011.

SJY