Prelude to School Sports 2009

Can you imagine having Sports on a field like this? The field feels so hot that you feel the heat burning through the soles of your shoes. I think the grass will catch fire if you throw a burning stub of cigarette on it. And the earth has lost its bounce because it's so dry.

And the surrounding paddy fields looking as though it has gone through an inferno. The ashes and smoke are everywhere. A haze envelopes your surrounding all throughout the day. We read about the Australian bush fire... but here in Alor Star, this is a yearly phenomenon, the paddy field fires, much of it done at night; illegaly. The authorities are aware of it but they close an eye to it. And we have our sports with this kind of burning going on... God-knows how much pollutants we coat our lungs with.

And the heat is enough to burn your skin. Standing in the middle of the field is likened to being slowly baked, grilled, cooked. Kinda takes the fun out of something which should be fun.

We've been holding some of the events these last couple of days. This morning we had the 4X400m across the board. Cannot believe that many of the girls, especially those from Class 2 and 3 did not finish the race, resulting in disqualifications of their teams. In both classes, only 2 out of the 4 houses completed the race. Our younger gen is not fit. If the same pattern is observed everywhere else, then our nation will be looking at huge health bills in years to come... not forgetting the economic cost as well as we'll be looking at many work days missed as well. The effects are far reaching.... socially and economically. So who says sports is not important?

Anyway, sports is just an eyewash these days. Teachers and students go because they are required to...each by different sets of rules. School administrators can't wait to get the sports season over and done with so that they can start the 'kelas tambahan'. I wonder why we even bother having it.

Sports and co-curricular activities have lost most of their purpose in schools. These are activities which are supposed to train the young in the soft skills, leadership, responsibilities, commitment, teamwork, etc, etc.. These are also activities where the less academic inclined find their niche in school; it makes schooling meaningful to them. Sad to say, the chase for academic results have eclipsed everything else. Another reason why our school system is in such a sad state. My two sen today.