It was something I looked forward to every single year when I was in secondary school. It was the thing I trained hard for and I knew I was going to experience first-hand, the results of my training. The only difference this time around was that I was going for the championships not to compete, but to watch others unravel their talents.
The days leading to the District Level Athletics Championships (MSSD) had me thinking about how I was feeling a year ago. I knew how some of the top athletes would have felt the intense pressure as the day loomed nearer as expectations were high on them. And the fake smile was an effective way to conceal all the fear.
I missed the first day of MSSD as I had driving class in the morning and had to settle a few things at home (I'll talk about it in my next blog post). On the second day of the championships, I was all prepared in the morning. I donned my favourite white T-shirt with red borders. Somehow, I just felt excited to watch my favourite event that day.
I went for MSSD as a spectator to watch 2 people in particular. One of them was a girl who trained under the same coach as me. I was really hoping for her to win as I knew the sort of determination she had in training plus her unending dedication. The second one I wanted to watch was a guy who had beaten me in my 200m race last year.
As I reached the stadium, a sense of nostalgia filled my heart. Memories of the previous year filled my head. The jog before warming up, the sound of heartbeat in my head while stretching, that fake smile and laughter that I used to cloud rising tensions-everything seemed so real.
I met my ex-school teachers at the stadium first. Then, as I was walking to the main grandstand, my training friends called out to cheerfully. Honestly, I was delighted to meet them and have that small chat with ongoing translations. A few minutes later, I met my coach who was at another side of the stadium cheering on one of her athletes.
The main track event of the day-or at least for me-was the 400m. While the heats were going on, I was helping my teacher to make sure her athletes have reported themselves and are doing their warming up and striding properly. The heats weren't really the main meal of the day. The rivalry was usually present only during the semi-finals.
Oh ya....I forgot something. Before meeting up with my training friends, I met my other friends who were also ex-athletes of SMK Raja Mahadi. We became friends when I was still in my first primary school. At that time, we never thought that all of us would turn out to be athletes. Today, athletics is the reason we still see each other.
As the semi-finals approached, my coach asked to take a seat and watch the races as she gave my temporary job to another person. To be honest, the competition wasn't as intense as it was last year. The semi-finals were kinda boring. After that, it was time that girl participated in the triple jump.
It was close. All her rivals were in their top forms. One of them had already broken the championship record. That girl was getting nervous. Then, in her last jump, she knew she had jumped over 10m(which could have gotten her the gold medal) but her jump was disqualified. When she complained to my coach about the unfair disqualification, the field assistants leveled out the sand and erased her mark. It was disheartening to see her breaking down to tears. She did manage a silver medal that day.
After that, it was time to watch the 400m final for all 6 categories. There was a huge quality dip in some of the categories. In the boys under-18 category, the athlete I came to watch managed a 53-second plus time. I was actually expecting more from that athlete who had run a 11.2 100m the day before. And that concluded day 2.
I only watched the evening session of day 3 and 4 as I had driving classes in the morning. During those 2 days, the boys Under-18 1500m and 4x400m relays were the only events interesting to watch. The athlete (boy) who I came to watch managed 4 gold medals (100m, 200m, 400m, 4x400m) during the championships.
It was truly a nostalgic moment to watch others give their 101% on the track. I was there once but didn't make it big. I was pretty happy that some of the athletes really made use of their chances. I just hope the 2 athletes whom I came to watch will make it to the National Level Athletics Championships......
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