Hockey, a word that means everything to me. I don't know why i love to share this story in this blog, but i just love it. It was all started when i were in Form 1 in SSAS. Ada satu petang tu, tetibe je Piee, which is my dormmate, schoolmate and teammate, ajak aku join training hockey. Tak tahu la kenapa dia ajak aku sebab ada 174 orang lagi dalam batch dia, dia pilih aku gak. Maybe sebab time tu aku down sebab tak dapat masuk 1st team rugby kot. That's why dia nak aku try kat hoki plak. Bila dah nak start training, a lady, who was i didn't really know (but the face was familiar to me) came and told and asked everyone that were there during the training to do everything. I mean 20 rounds track jog, 50-times push up, star jump, 'jalan itik', sit-up, etc that related with fitness. Aku dah macam dah nak mati bila dah habis fitness tuh. Takde la. Aku dah la baru join training hari tuh tapi dah suruh aku buat training macam aku dah join hockey malaysia je. Serious aku tension dengan pompuan tu. And then ada pulak training basic hockey. But this time not bad la sebab tak payah nak lari and jog lama2. But still penat  and sakit belakang. Mana tak nye kena bongkok je dari start training sampai habis. At the end of the training, the lady said that the end of the week she will tell who will be selected for the upcoming tournament. Time tu aku macam, "Laa.. ada tournament.patut la training macam nak mati je". The whole week aku turun and join training hockey dengan target nak masuk team hoki. But at the end, aku tak terpilih untuk masuk team. Tak tahu la aku kenapa. Maybe xde rezeki kot. But i still felt very disappointed. Rasa macam menyesal giler join training time awal2 dulu. After that i realized, it's only the BEGINNING !

A year after that, i decided to join the training hockey again. It had been almost 1 year i left the hockey training. So mesti lepas ni susah nak pick up balik semua basic hockey. Tapi aku dah nekad, aku nak join team hockey tahun ni. Sebab aku ingat lagi, setiap kali perhimpunan, pengetua SSAS mesti highlight Rugby team, "Ragbi telah menjuarai bla bla bla. Pasukan ragbi amat membanggakan sekolah bla bla bla..". Time aku frust gile sebab mesti ragby yg selalu kena puji. Memang rugby selalu menang but how about the other sports teams especially HOCKEY. Aku rasa time tu la, i told myself, " Before aku keluar SSAS ni, aku nak hockey dipandang tinggi oleh sekolah dan aku nak semua orang tahu pasal HOCKEY TEAM SSAS !"

When i was on Form 2, i were selected to join the hockey team for a tournament, Kejohanan Hoki Sekolah-sekolah Premier Peringkat Zon Tengah 2008. Bangga gila kot sebab terpilih masuk team. Sebab time tu aku seorang je junior, yang lain semua Form 4 (my senior laa). Nak dipendekkan cerita, masa 1st game tu, Teacher Nik Norie, the lady that i said earlier, who was actually my coach, marah giler dengan perfomance seorang senior nie. " Kau ni takde attitude langsung dalam game! Lain kali jangan masuk hoki! Aku dah meluat tengok muka kau!" teacher aku marah senior tu. And then straight teacher tanya sub player (ada aku dengan 3 orang senior lagi), siapa nak main ganti mamat tu. Dengan spontan, aku seorang je yang angkat tangan. Yang lain macam, "la la la la". WTH diorang ni! Ingatkan nak main sangat. Tapi penakut, boo. But then aku tukar ngan senior tuh, baru aku sedar yang i were in the REAL hockey game. Takuutt gila kot. Tapi nak tak nak, i must go through this. Habis je 1st game tu, kitorang terpaksa mendengar leteran and kemrahan yang meletus dalam diri teacher. Tapi 1st game tu kitorang menang 7-0 kot. But dia still marah sebab kitorang tak main style game dia. Tapi part yang best nye, teacher ada cakap, "Baik bagi im je jadi first team, better dari kau (senior yang kene marah tadi)". Time tu aku bangga sorang2 kot :P

 And for the next day and for 2nd game, i was surprised that i were selected to become the first-eleven of the hockey team. Setiap game kitorang menang sampailah final. Final kami diketemukan dengan High School Setapak (sekolah project hoki). Time final kitorang main gila-gila sampai ada yang patah gigi kena bola. Nasib baik aku tak kena pape. But at the end, kitorang kalah 6-1 dengan Setapak and got the 2nd place for the Premier Cup tournament. Bagi aku, this was the special moment yang aku tak akan lupakan. First tournament aku main, first medal yang aku dapat :)

Nak dipendekkan cerita, almost every tournament after the Premier Cup kami menang, sama ada as a champ or first-runner-up until aku Form 5. Banyak training yang aku dah buat, even di-coach kan oleh ex-player malaysia, Megat Azrafiq Megat Tarmizi pun pernah (thanks abg megat). Honestly, banyak yang aku belajar. It was not only about tactical and strategy in game, it was also about my life as a hockey player.Cara aku bawak diri aku bila tournament, pemakaian, etc. Bila aku dah Form 4, it's the time for me to become a 'coach' for my junior. So, in order for my junior to feel what i fell when i were the same age like them, to feel and to know what actually WIN means, i must train them like i had been trained before. Tapi effect nye, ramai junior yang keluar hoki sebab tak tahan dengan training yang 'hacko' tuh. I was like, " Apa masalah korang nak keluar hoki. Memang la penat training tapi bukan mati pun. So kalau korang nak menang game, buat la gaya nak menang. Kalau asyik nak skip training je, sampai bila2 kau akan stay as a LOSER!". Serious time aku frust giler. But then i realized junior sekarang dah tak sama macam junior dulu. So aku kena tukar style training aku and finally they accepted my training style. Day by day, aku train diorang and dapat tahu tournament yang diorang pegi, diorang jadi champ. Oh, thanks ALLAH for the wonderful present and memories :)