This 30th and 31st
August, Malaysia will host the Malaysian Inline Hockey Tournament (MIHT)
at Arena PJ for the 5th year, pitting our country’s top inline hockey
team (last year’s 2nd runner up) against some of the best teams in the
Asian region. However, when I asked some friends to come support the
event, many replied, “Why are you supporting?” or “What is inline
hockey?” Obviously, the second question can be answered by an invention
called the search engine, so I will focus more on answering the first.When I was 17 years old, like many teenagers back in the mid-90s, I fell in love with the sport of ice hockey. Due to the lack of ice facilities back then, the only thing we could pick up was the inline version (back then it was called “street hockey”), using cheap Taiwan skates, and whatever equipment a tiny shop in Ampang could supply the kids back then.
Since then, many of the pioneer players of the sports persevered and have led the movement to convince corporations to support the sport, culminating in Sunway Pyramid integrating a smaller-scaled ice rink to be used as a venue for the current amateur ice-hockey league games and youth training camps (among other ice-related sports) that are available till today.
Unfortunately, this ice transition somewhat cannibalised the inline version, as inline hockey players slowly converted to ice hockey, leaving the inline scene scarce and eventually, along with my own involvement in the sport, all but disappeared.
A few years ago, as I was shopping for a new pair of skates to “revive” my skating workout (most likely caused by the onset of an early mid-life crisis), I was blessed to cross path with a guy named Steve. He was a helpful, humble young man who tolerated my bizarre noob-level questions about hockey equipment in the skate shop he was working in.
He told me about his team, the Underdogs, which he claimed was one of the only two teams still competitively playing inline hockey in Malaysia. And like any typical mid-30s burnt-out executive, I thought “competitive” was not what I was looking for. Instead, i opted to play for their recreational team in that year’s MIHT (2011), which was captained by a film director slightly rounder than me (nothing but love, Maurice). Of course, our “rec” team ended dead last.
But yet that competition 4 years ago did change my life. As an outsider to the core circle of people, I witnessed the true joy of playing, organising and standing up for the sport. I even dare say that I may have witnessed a real-life example of my favourite Margaret Mead quote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Why? Because the truth about these guys I met four years ago is that all they wanted, was to develop a sport that no one else would help them develop.
Contrary to popular beliefs out there, Malaysian inline hockey players today are not high-income yuppies or rich kids that have spare cash to spend thousands of ringgit buying fancy NHL equipment. Instead, they are comprised of a ragtag bunch of 20-somethings that mostly grew up in the poorer parts of PJ who have become decent middle-class employees and businessmen that just wanted to play the sports they loved as kids. And together with some retirees, foreign lecturers, and university students and the support of their families, friends and the local community leaders, they not only formed a team to play consistently, but actually organised competitions just so that they could “lose and learn” from the best in Asia.
In short, the team/organisers of MIHT would invite the best teams in the region to come to Petaling Jaya, just so that they would get to play high-level hockey with them. Often times, this also meant they would lose most of their games. But that was four years ago.
Since then, although retired as a player, I am still active in the development of the sport and last year, I was asked by the inspirational leader of the Underdogs, Craig Matthew Lee to be the President of the club he founded years ago, and simultaneously became Head of Inline Hockey of the Malaysian Association of Roller Sports, led by another visionary, Idroose Tamrin.
In that short span of time, I’m proud that I was able to witness their meteoric growth as a semi-professional team, through their own perseverance and hard work, culminating in winning bronze in last year’s MIHT, and becoming champions at the Indonesian Inline Hockey Tournament this year.
So now back to the question right at the beginning, why do I do this? Why support a fringe activity that may never get the funding from the government for being perceived as a “a rich man’s sport” for yet another gruelling year?
Because, I believe in what these guys dream of. Because after so long, I truly believe this year is going to be their year. That even though the teams participating may be better than last year and many of the players reaching the tail end of their peak conditions, this year I believe the Underdogs will be champions of the largest inline hockey tournament in South East Asia that started from a simple dream to be able to play with the best. This year they are ready. And this year they will no longer be Underdogs, but true champions.
Why will I be there at MIHT 14? Because I want to be there when these guys succeed. If you have friends in the team, I suggest you make that your reason too. Still not convinced? Then maybe some of the other info on www.mihtmalaysia.com may excite you to attend as well. I hope you will be there. Salam.
Article from Facebook/ZaneAmri
Dedicated to Craig Matthew Lee Steve Santhana Team Underdogs Malaysia Idroose Tamrin MIHT-Malaysian Inline Hockey Tournament MARS - Malaysia Roller Sports Association KSHI-Kelab Sukan Hoki Inline
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