Cheering

Sorry saudari cybercafé, anda kena marah sebab saya. Opss..

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Sorry kepada semua, cerita hari ini masih pasal sekolah saya.

Back in 2005 when I was Form 5 we had a dispute with the Administration about cheering. It started out because of how we conduct the cheering practice; the same way it has been since I was in College. Some manja boy told one teacher that we are torturing them so the whole cheering practice was revamped.

Here's the thing. I used to loathe the cheering practice too.. why was it done in the TAR Hall with all the fans off? Why are the form fives at the back always harassing us? Why why why?

Here's what I've learnt. The reason why its hot is to emulate the field.. Kat padang tak ada kipas kan? The form fives? They're emulating the opponent's supporters. After 5 years in College I've seen Budak Koleq got beaten by King Edward's supporters, harassed and mocked by Clifford's supporters and got helmets thrown at. So practice is a good thing right? To prepare for all these threats. The hall? Simply for control and acoustics. Make sense? It does to me. Cheering practice is more than just learning how to sing the songs, how to clap and how to cheer. It teaches how to behave, how to act and how to respond.

So anyway, we really kena by the Admin. They accused us of abusing the cheering practice as a 'jeering' practice so the whole thing got banned for a while. Only later after series of negotiation did they allow us to continue the practice, but the venue was changed to the Prep School field and with Mr. Fairuz supervision.

Then after settling for that rather than nothing, another obstacle crossed our path. The Admin wanted us to end our cheering at 6.30 pm, regardless of the fact that the game was not yet over at that time. Again, we fought about this. Are you out of your mind? Leaving your team on the field to struggle while the hundreds of us march away back to our dorms.. We couldn't accept that. Still who are we to say anything against the Administration. Instead we the form fives decided that okay, let the juniors go back to their dorm early, but we are staying until the game is over. Yes, there were intimidations from the wardens, their rotan armed and ready but we stood on our grounds and cheered for our team. I am very proud of my batch because of this.

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Fast forward to 2008. I was at Dorm 18 West Wing. It was Sunday morning of the Old Boys Weekend. It was 8.30 o'clock. The game is about to start in a few minutes. I look around and my juniors are still on the bed, dozing off. I remember hearing Hariri asking my junior:

H: Kau tak pergi cheering ker?
M: Ah, malas la..

Ah, malas la.. There it was, coming from a kid who was in form one when I was form five. I just looked away and felt sad that all our efforts to preserve cheering turned to vain. Still these boys are wondering why we never passed down our song to them and kept on asking us for it to this day.

Ask yourselves why.

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Budak Koleq, always the rebel. Always against the status quo.

About this entry

You’re currently reading “Cheering,” an entry on pelangi hitam putih

Published:
Monday, April 28, 2008
by amerhadiazmi