Yusof's first swim meet that never was

I don't know whether yours truly or Yusof was more disappointed over what happened this afternoon! If at all I was upset was because Yusof had been looking forward excitedly to this swim meet ever since he was short-listed (read here) to represent Gombak district and later earned, quite deservedly, himself a place for the meet.

This was his first swim meet ever. He's been calling my parents and my sister almost every other day reminding them to come along and support him. Yes, my parents came all the way from Muar two days ago so that they could form a "mini Yusof fan club" cheering him all the way! LOL.

I took half day off and so did my sister!

We arrived at Shah Alam Aquatic Centre about quarter to two and the meet was scheduled to kick off approximately two p.m.. Yusof was with his coach registering at the secretariat when we arrived but was still in his sports attire. As the teacher and coach from Yusof's school were still new to the scene, the chaotic and frenzied activities at the poolside was quite overwhelming for them! The p.a. sytem was crap - we could barely hear anything; to make it worse, the crowd was a bit noisy . The information on the data board was flawed. In all this confusion and cacophony, Yusof missed his heat! He was to be in heat no. 3 but his name wasn't there! In his place was his friend's name who was not supposed to compete!

We went to the secretariat, we saw the referees, we met the officials - you name it we did it. Alas it was not meant to be!

Yusof was visibly upset when we broke the news. He put on a smile that only his dad knew that he was not ok deep inside. His coach was very apologetic over the incident and rgretted that he could not compete. But that's God's will!

I consoled him and told him that this is the beginning of many great things to come along his way!

His coach promised him that she will train him for the next meet which is against the sister school, International Islamic School.

No it was not time wasted...He had the exposure of a swim meet of quite a big scale; this "failing" will defininitely shock his ever laid-back attitude towards life.....That's what I call life-education!

Sleepyhead - sent Yusof to school so that he could attend classes before the swim team left for Shah Alam Aquatic Centre.


Frantically changing as all of a sudden his coach realized that his preliminary heat was being called. Bad p.a. system and incorrect information on the data board did not help either. His name was not on the board!

Putting on a fake smile when he got the news...He was visibly (only to me) upset when he realised that our appeal was not successful.

Jumped in to the high-dive-pool which was very deep to lighten his sadness. He realised it was very deep before completing his lap..Ha ha ha ..trust sanguines!

Emotionally eased and back to normal after the swim!