This posting is long overdue; I guess I was just waiting for the right moment for everything to be put into place and run well to come before having it announced here.
I am officially a player for the UNSW Basketball Team that plays in the Division 2 in a local league. Nothing really great, but good enough for me. There are of course the Division 1 and Premier League teams whose standards are higher, but I guess Division 2 is not bad at all, in fact much better as far as most of the tournaments I used to enter back in Malaysia are concerned. How I managed to get into the team is another story, but one thing for sure is it took me through a hard way.
The transition in playing position from being a big guy to one who does the running and a lot of ball handling for one is never easy. You see, I had been playing as a center, traditionally the tallest player in a team for like five, six years, and now I am shifted to a forward position, a center’s total opposite down to the size factor, obviously. And yes, if you have just been guessing, I am among the smallest man in the team. Another hard part is definitely one that is dealing with communication, but I guess I prefer to see it more as a way of building up my oral fluency rather than a reason to grumble.
Anyway the team has been through 5 round-robin games, one each week, the earliest two of which I missed because I was not yet in the team. I did not fare well in the first couple of games I featured in; in fact they left me pondering as to whether I am good enough to play at this level, and frankly I even had a slender thought of giving up. I did not, nonetheless, and into the third game which was yesterday I was back to the old me. I did the things I know I am good at, and eventually got that confidence in me built up. I owe a huge portion of that to my supportive teammates.
As for the jersey number, of course I would love to pick up 41 or 10 at first. The latter, in fact, was my number in two consecutive glorious years back when I was with the Cagers. The sad news was my coach brought with him only three jerseys for me to choose from before one of the match; with options of 3, 9 and 50 as the jersey numbers. So there I was, bidding farewell to the dream of wearing number 41 or 10. Anyway, thinking that I was nowhere as flashy as Dwayne Wade or Allen Iverson wearing number 3, and the fact that 9 is a bit too common, I settled with 50. One good player I could recall wearing that number was David Robinson, so I guess it is not that bad a choice at all.
I should say that this thing keeps me a little bit busy especially towards this end of semester, with final exams and stuffs, but I reckon I have come a long way to get this chance, and it is my choice and I am happy with that.
13 comments:
jersey numbers are nothing. it's the person wearing it that makes it a legend. push ourselves to be the best and to Allah we leave the rest. good luck bro!
Congrats mate! Don't give a damn which Division you are in, whatever it is you are playing international! Haha.
I agree, the number on your jersey is just a number. It won't matter. People know the players, jersey numbers are just arbitrary. It's better being a great player with lotsa numbers rather than a great player with just one number aite? Haha..
Do your best bro.
PS: Jersey Koleq lawa lagi.
I used to have this superstitious thinking that I would't play well if I don't get to wear no. 10. Haha. I guess I need to trim that down, slowly.
Jersey koleq during our year was a total mess; the product that we got was nowhere near the design sent by Geto. Miscommunication somewhere. But yeah, if you're comparing it with jersey koleq in general I must say it's quite true. Dah la mahal jersey ni. Haha.
Anyway I forgot to mention that the team's name is UNSW Whales. Cool isn't it? Haha.
Congratulations.
Ooh when You have cool matches tell me!I'll be a groupie!
Congratulations. I'm very happy for you. WE might not know each other well but if there's a few things that I know about you, is that basketball is your passion and pursuing it indeed makes you happy.
Uni life shouldn't be all about studying. Glad again that u have other things to 'spicen' up your life there.
On the hamilton issue, I can't say that I'm not jealous. I keep thinking about 'age issues' as well. How people like him, Michelle Wie, Ian Thorpe or even those singers like Rihanna, Hillary Duff(sad but true) or even the Olsen twins accomplished so much at such a young age and we're still struggling to leave a mark on this world. And for that, I am jealous.
p/s: jersey numbers makes me think of 'Slam Dunk'
Ow man, that is so cool! XD are you the only malaysian or what? lagi bangga!
next year kena main masca la. hahaha!
Aiseh lupe pulak...
tahniah ceper!! XD
congratulations.
Whales? Are you sure your team is the Whales? Haha.. Wow.. Whales can jump now eh? Hahaha
tak terkejut pun.
Nadee, Matt: Thanks!
Aijud: The game is on every Tuesday night at Alexandria. It isn't easy to get there, but if you really want then I have no problems.
Afifah: You might not have realized, but out of all the things that inspired me to get to this point is, one that I will definitely not forget is your suggestion during one of our conversation long time ago to give a serious thought at the prospect of playing along all those Mat Salleh. And guess what, among the first people I thought of after finally making it into the team was you. For that I would like to say thank you.
Danial: I'm not the only Malaysian. There's 3rd year senior of mine playing for Division 1, a Malay as well in fact. He used to play in the Petronas Cup back then, so perhaps representing uni doesn't seem to be that surprising (aku jealous sebenarnya haha). MASCA? Will definitely try.
Hadi: Haha. It sure can.
Am: Can I take that as a form of compliment? Haha.
congratz cepe
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