Heartache....

From 7th -12th June I was in SM Teknik Kuantan for the national level tournament where technical school students and teachers alike spend almost the whole week of the school holidays doing many things for the schools. There were debate, football, netball, softball, sepaktakraw, rugby and inventions. There were 10 zones altogether: Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Melaka-Negeri Sembilan, Selangor-Wilayah Persekutuan, Pahang, Kelantan-Terengganu, Perak, Pulau Pinang and Kedah -Perlis.

It was no fun to be in the dorm together with students, sharing awful bathrooms with them, became the victim of hundreds of mosquitoes,( I have hundreds of small red dots on my hands and face!!), eating badly cooked food in the dining hall, walking a long way to the ironing room in the next block because the one nearby is under lock and key and not even one power point to charge my cellphone. The dorm was quite dirty in fact!

For SM Teknik Melaka, this is the 7th outing for debate. We went to Penang in 2004, Gombak, Selangor in 2005, back to Melaka in 2006, off to Pasir Mas,Kelantan in 2007 (and became CHAMPION), Sungai Petani, Kedah in 2008 and Krian, Perak in 2009. We became the first runner-up at zone level in 2010, so a hiatus for one year and this year we start another journey to national level.

Managing and coaching the debaters for 11 years and competing at national level for 7 times, gives me such valuable experience. I get to meet new friends, make some new enemies as well. I get to go to many states yet still think my kampung up north is the best. And one thing I realised is that a few schools keep coming to the national level but with different coach/manager except for ME!!! I am always the one for my school.

When will someone from SMTM take over this task of coaching/managing the debaters? I am so exhausted of doing this for 11 years. I just want to lie low and enjoy doing nothing. I just want to stop coaching debaters!!

Are they taking advantage of me?Did I allow myself to be too kind? Just because I am a debater myself, is it mandatory that I must do this every year? Why can't they give me a break before I break my spine?