Recently I
joined the Dental Intervarsity Sport Carnival held in AMIST University. It’s an
annual event by the Malaysian Dental Student Association (MDSA). The hosting
university changes every year, it’s good as the students get to visit different
university yearly. AMIST planned the event in 3 days. Sadly I missed out the
first day activities as my juniors were still having their Block 3 exams on
that day. I really wanted to go for the campus tour. Sigh. We started off our 8
hours journey up north around 2.30pm. Dr.Koshy accompanied us for the event. The
journey didn’t felt long as there were a couple of toilet breaks and of course
I had a great company by my side, ever entertaining Esther Tan. I still can’t
believe she made me sing along with her when half the people in the bus are
snoring away.
(Photo credits: Zheng Tao)
We reached
AMIST around 11pm. Our facilitators were already waiting for us. After
registration, we were all taught to line up for the opening ceremony walk.
Tian Yuan then handed out the jersey and the facilitators our packed dinner
(Curry chicken and mixed veg); we retired to our respective apartment. The
apartment consists of 3 rooms, a shared living room and an attached common
bathroom. Each of the rooms can be
shared by 4 persons. Chen Wei and I shared one room.
I got up at
5.30am the next day and woke all the contestants in my unit. We gather at
6.20am at the registration area and our facilitators walked us to the sport
complex for breakfast. We were served
semi spicy noodles and tea. After that, we got ready for the opening walk. It
was sad that we didn’t have a college flag; it would be cool to walk in with a
flag. Segi College’s students were smart by making up their flag with their
college bag. As usual, there will be an opening address by the VIPs (acting
dean of AMIST) and officiating of the event. After all’s done, they started off
the competitions for the morning; swimming, futsal, ping pong.
(Photo credits: Zheng Tao)
I joined
the 50m relay swimming event, training 1 week before doomsday. The minute I saw
the pool, I thought to myself, “Rachel, you are in deep deep trouble.” The
first thing was the length of the pool was double the size of what we have in
our college, worrying about my stamina and leg cramps. Second, the depth of the
pool of which I need to enter was 2 meters; I could barely touch the floor.
Third, I never in my life jump off a starting platform. While other people were
confidently plunging into the water, I was still trying to adjust myself to the
platform 5 minutes before the competition. Esther and I had a short time of
prayer before the whole event start. All contestants were briefed prior to the
first event that day, the men’s 50 m freestyle. Hao Liang represented our
college, finishing 5th place. Next was Esther for the women’s 50 m
freestyle and followed by men’s 50 m breast stroke by our senior Jeremy. The
relay swimming was right after the women’s 50m breast stroke. Jeremy went
first, followed by me, then Hao Liang and lastly Esther. My jump off the
platform was exactly like how a thrown rock enters into the water. I tried to
be consistent, not pushing myself because I know if a cramp starts, I won’t be
able to finish. Thank God, I manage to finish the course and pass the race to
Hao Liang who was really swift. We manage to be 4th out of the 5
teams competing. One thing for sure, I’m still amazed that I swam through the
whole course without stopping. Glad I got to experience the competition.
Concurrent
to the swimming events, futsal and ping pong was going on. Our futsal boys’
team got to advance to the semifinal round without competing. However, they
still lost. The girl’s team lost in the preliminary rounds. Our ping pong teams
won the first round but fail to advance up to semifinals. We sat by the pool to
have our lunch, curry chicken and mixed veg again. The weather was really
scorching hot; we were literally cooked even under shaded areas. Badminton was
after lunch. Our team did well in the men and women singles. The doubles were
so close to win but our opponent got the earlier scoring. Later in the evening,
our basketball team also lost out in the preliminary rounds and it was a wrap
for the second day.
(Photo credits: Ping)
Rise and
shine around 6am the next day. Had light breakfast in the apartment before
heading over to the track. I joined the 4x 100 m women track event along with
Kiki, Anis and Elisa. Our aim was not to finish last. My thigh muscles were
aching badly that morning due to swimming the day before. All four of us haven’t
practice before together. We only learned how to pass the baton that morning. Our
coach Chen Wei was first to start the track event that day with her 1500 m run.
That was followed by Zuk for the men’s. Chen Wei and Sulaiman represented for
the 100m sprint and then came my turn to run. I opt to be the first runner,
Elisha second, Kiki third and Anis the last. Lucky enough, we weren’t in last
place. Our men’s 4 x 100 m was represented by Wei Jie, Sulaiman, Halim and Ken.
They won 3rd place and our whole team was so happy that at last we
won something. Our tug of war team lost too as they were not use to compete
with their shoes on. Everyone headed to the badminton hall for interactive
activities after all events ended.
(Photo credits:Ping)
For the
interactive activities, all participants were divided into 7 groups. We were made
to come up with a group name and cheer first. My team was called One Night
Stand and the cheer consists of a number of beep sounds to simulate the censor
sounds. 2 games were played ‘Catch the Leader’ and ‘Guess who am I’ over a span
of 2 hours. It a little awkward for me as we started off without knowing each
other name. After the interactive activities, we gather back again to watch
video presentations from AMIST and USM. Again lunch was the usual curry chicken
and mix veg by the pool side. We hurried back to the apartment under the
scorching sun after lunch to wash up, pack and change into the event t-shirt.
The
closing ceremony was again held in the badminton hall. Students were asked to
sit in line allocated to their respective universities. The closing speeches were
given by the vice-chancellor of AMIST, student rep of AMIST and a lecturer from
UniTem followed by the prize giving ceremony. Before leaving, we were entertained
with a jaw dropping performance by 2 cheerleading groups of AMIST. They were
tossing and flipping in the air like pros. It was around 4 pm when everything
ended. We quickly walked back to the apartments, do some final packing and hop
on to the bus for our 8 hours journey back Melaka.
(Photo credits: Bong)
(Photo credits: Zheng Tao)
It was a
wonderful experience for me to visit the University that I initially wanted to study
in. I have no regrets now for choosing Manipal. Having said that, I congratulate
AMIST for hosting the Sport Carnival with success. The events flowed smoothly
and the students all were very friendly and helpful. It was a pleasure to be
there.
(Photo credits: Chen Wei)
