In America, track teams train for months on end and compete
in multiple meets and tournaments over the course of several months. In
contrast, in Malaysia, students train for approximately two months for one,
four-day district meet. Then, the track season is over.
When the male track coaches discovered that I was athletic
and liked to run, they reached out to me to help coach the team. I was absolutely thrilled. At this point, I had only been
at the school for about seven weeks and the students were still intimidated by
me. However, at the track meet I simply hung out with the athletes, spoke to them in
English and Malay and encouraged them.  |
| Team huddle after the meet! Of course, it was in Malay, but I got the gist of it! |
Four days on a track, in the heat of the Malaysian sun was
tough. In fact, I am pretty sure I sweated out my body weight. However, it was so interesting to compare and contrast track and field in Malaysia versus America. For
instance, Malaysia’s high school track teams do not have pole vaulting, but they
do have speed walking. I was in awe as I witnessed over thirty students speed
walk sixty laps around the track in the heat of the day. In addition,
another aspect of Malaysian track and field that caught me by surprise was that
many track athletes choose not to wear their shoes. They have them but simply choose to compete without them.
It was a fun few days of running in the sun. Although I
finished the week with some rough sunburn and a particularly sweaty wardrobe,
it was one heck of a memory. And, the team even presented me with a team polo during awards on the closing day of the meet!
Way to go SMK PNZ!
Way to go SMK PNZ!
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| The SMK PNZ Track and Field team! We walked away with quite a few medals, and I got an official team polo! |
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| The girls' relay team! |
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| The athletes hanging out after an event! |
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| Team huddle on the track in the bright sunlight! |
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| Hanging out under our SMK PNZ tent! |
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