Champions at last... But it wasn't just about the hockey.

It should be about perseverance paying off, but what transpired in the NPC-Milo Inter-Media 9-a-Side Hockey & Netball Championships 2010 at Kelab Aman on Jan 23 made me think again.
Well it could be because our NST "A" team, which I led, emerged champions in hockey. It tasted so sweet that we're still talking about it in the office. It ended my personal nine-year wait since I joined the NST, to win something in any inter-media tournament, and in any sport.
Futsal is the sport most actively played in our company, NSTP, ever since we've had that court up on the rooftop. But the editorial team I represent had began as whipping boys. In the early years, it was hard to lift our spirits to wake up in the mornings and go to tournaments simply because we knew we'd be knocked out in the first round. And we were usually right.
In the inter-department 9-a-side football competition, we were just there for the fun of it all. We couldn't even begin to think of sending a team for inter-media tournaments.
But we began to pull our socks up about three years ago. I needed to shed weight and get really active myself, after allowing myself to be consumed by the job since i joined and never really bothered to go out and play for about six years. As a result, I'd become fat beyond my imagination and so unfit that the beginning was very painful.
When the company provided a gym at the office, my first treadmill session lasted just 10 minutes and I was huffing and puffing like a hungry monster. This definitely was not the kid who never had a problem jogging 10 laps or more around the school football field. This man weighed almost a hundred kilos, when his optimum weight is 71.
Well, getting active again was the easy part because I was used to it. In school we played everything. Football, hockey, badminton, tennis, sepak takraw, table tennis, handball, volleyball, basketball, simply everything there was to play.
My dad was my hockey mentor and also my opponent in squash, badminton and tennis. My mom was a hockey player too, so she loved it so much when I played that both of them would stop by the school to watch our morning training sessions before they went to work when I was in primary school.
And once I got active again, it just simply never stopped. I found the energy to do more and more and more. Life just turned exciting, even if I'm living it alone.
I shuffled between work and play so happily. I just couldn't stop this party. I wanted to climb every mountain, ride every road, beat every opponent. I keep wanting to do more. I want to get everybody to join the party.. hahaha..
Things started looking better in all the tournaments we played. In futsal, these days we at least make it past the first round in any inter-media or inter-department tournament. In hockey, last year we merely missed out on a spot in the final on penalty strokes against the eventual champions.
It was also no problem working on the organising committee for the Jan 23 tournament with a really good team, while getting the NST hockey and netball teams, as well as the NPC netball team organised for it, then play in the tournament too.
I'm telling you, that win in the final against the NST "B" team which comprised all the stars of our NSTP Inter-Department hockey tournament showed me that it pays to get your heart-rate up and keep yourself active.
Of course, the team did it, not me alone. But I wouldn't have been half as good a contribution to the team as their goalkeeper, if I'd not gone back to my old ways three years ago.
These days, I leave a competition not thinking about going home, but about when and what we're playing next. I'm no pro athlete, but I sure am enjoying this life.