The Coach

(From Personal Archives)
People say that more business deals were closed on golf courses rather than in the meeting rooms. But, big ending sometimes came from a humble beginning. Little that we realize, some of the mega business plans were actually drawn up from ideas gathered at the teh tarik stalls.
Being a teh tarik addict, I can verify that the teh tarik stalls are not just the place to chill out and satisfy your urge for some fattening drinks. It actually opens up the window of opportunity to meet people and to observe and talk about life. I was on my quest to understanding life when I met a bubbly nice guy everybody called “Coach”. I didn’t even get his name but from a glance I knew that he was in his 50’s.
After a brief introduction, we were off to a familiar territory, an open-ended, no-holds-barred chat when he started off with a statement, “We will never be good in sports.” “And, why is that so?”, I asked with curiosity written all over my face. In my eyes he seemed like your average guy but when he mentioned about his job as a Coaching staff of BAM, I forced myself to devote all my attentions to what the Coach had to say. Being an authority in sports, he deserved the chance.
He took a deep breath before answering my question, “It’s hard for our sports to evolve. Year after year, with millions and millions of money spent, we are still the same as 20 years ago, if not worse. We may have all the facilities, no doubt, but we don’t have the platform for sports to grow, to improve and to soar beyond expectation. And to compete with others seems to be an almost-impossible task.”
“Our society is never a fair society, at least, not to sports. It’s not that we discourage sports totally and directly, but the perception built around it, gives our children a different message. In our society, success is measured on how many A’s you get in your exams. Not how many medals you have and definitely, not how many certificates you get from your participation in extra-curricular activities.”
He paused, sipped his teh tarik and continued, “We are telling them that the future only opens up its door to people that are successful in their studies. Of all the thin lines or gray areas that we have, this one stands out. We have a very clear line that divides studies and sports or other extra-curricular activities for that matter. Little that we realize, in the process, we ignore the fact that human beings are different and so are their talents and capabilities.”
“In school, for example, they need the students that are active in sports and extra-curricular activities. With the little things that they do, they actually help boost the school in the Education Ministry’s popularity chart similar for those who parade their A’s. In actual fact, extra curricular activities don’t really count. It’s like these people are being taken for a granted, a joy ride for everyone else but the poor children. At the end of the day, people ask you about your A’s. The teacher would always say that there would be the bright lights at the end of the tunnel on top of other 1001 empty promises. They are telling the kids that it’s good to work extra hard, doing extra things that nobody else wants to do, when at the end, in life after school, it doesn’t really matter. Sports and the extra things don’t pay.”
Emotions were running high but our teh tariks were running a bit low. So, we ordered another round of drinks. “I salute these kids. They definitely deserve better. It takes sacrifices and tremendous amount of efforts to take up sports and extra-curricular activities on top of their studies. They are working extra hard to elevate their potentials and translate them into achievements. They sacrifice their energy training days and nights, and on top of that, their sleeps, to be able for them to be the best they can be in two distinctive worlds.”
“Of course we let them to taste the glory. We put them on top of the world. We let them feel that they are important, that they are the cream of the crop and we brag about their achievement. Two seconds later, we are back to the ‘right’ perspective and they are left with 10 cent worth of glory and RM10-medals and RM15-trophies.”
He looked directly at my eyes as if he was looking for my approval and continued, “I don’t blame the parents if they would rather choose to send their children to tuitions and extra classes rather than to enroll them in soccer academy. I don’t blame them if they tell their children not to be involved in sports and extra-curricular activities. We don’t have the admiration for the people’s commitment and ability to balance between school and other things. Why bother to sacrifice yourself if at the end of the day, your efforts are not acknowledged and you will be judged on the same terms as other people?”
“In fact, if you see closely, chances are you will find the successful names in sports here, are there as a result of strong family supports and approvals. With that comes the encouragement and understanding and in most of the cases, financial assistance, from their parents. The message that we are sending out to the rest is simple: You have to be rich to have kids who excel in sports”
I nodded in agreement. The Coach was on his roll. “I understand why being active in sports and extra-curricular activities are not encouraged. While other parts of the world offers the future for these special and talented people, we don’t.”
“What do you mean, Coach?” I interrupted and to that he continued, “Others recognize them. In US, for example, education is still regarded as the most important thing, and so are sports and extra-curricular activities. After they finish their studies, they can continue to do what they do best, not as a mere hobby but as a profession. They can be successful and they are very well compensated doing what they like to do and are meant to do. Sometimes, they can be more successful in life compares to their friends who are caught in between those thick books all their lives. Not in Malaysia, we don’t.”, he added with despair.
“But, what can we do? Like you said, sports don’t pay”, I said it openly without even a spit of prejudice. To that he added, “Well, like I said, the society has to change its traditional views and values. Don’t blame the sportsmen if we failed to win anything. We have to ask ourselves: Do we give them a chance? Do we give the sports a chance to grow? Just think about it. For all you know, all the best God-given talents have lost their ways because of our wrong emphasis. We don’t know where to look for them, we don’t develop them and we don’t allow them to grow. In the end, for all you know, we are stuck with the second bests.”
The conversations were drawn to a close at last when the Warung owner finally gave the I-don’t-know-about-you-but-I-need-to-go-to-bed-soon-before-the-sun-is-up signal. OK, we saw his big yawns and we knew our game was over. He did all the talking and to compensate the “extra-curricular activities” he had performed so well, I put the Coach’s teh tariks on my tab.
I spend the rest of the night thinking about the extra-curricular activities. A question came to my mind, if all the Bank’s staff take up the “extra-curricular activities” i.e. tasks or activities that are beyond our KPIs and Job Descriptions, where would the Bank be? And, then again, do we give them what’s due to them if they do?

Chazz-Teh Tarik Joint, Tmn Melewar