Sunday, March 14, 2010

Ahoy, The Competitive Coach!

It is a well known fact about me that I am extremely competitive and I strive for the best in what I am passionate about. All my friends even said that they would never participate in Amazing Race with me for the mere fact that I would drive them crazy with my constant pushing about. However things are not going that well for me lately and “I am sick of being the loser”, would the phrase I would like to shout out now!

Story is we participated in a somewhat prestigious debate competition for certain types of school recently and have managed to prove to everyone that we were able to put up a fight. We beat 4 out of 5 schools in the preliminary rounds and Suhail (woaaahhh, it’s the first time this name is ever mentioned here…) won the best speaker in the 5 aforementioned preliminary rounds.

Come semi-finals, was up against one of the schools that did quite well in the SPM 2009 results and the motion was:

This house believes he who controls the Information Technology controls the world

Our position: Opposition

We nailed it, ladies and gentleman. We sealed the deal but because of the presupposition by some rather narrow minded people, it came across as if we did not deserve to win. Our points were solid and we set plus controlled the motion on that day. No POIs at all from both the first and second ministers of the government and their points were supported by mere sweeping statements with neither facts nor data. We provided data and facts plus reports from United Nations, USA and whatnots while they spoke about Facebook and top-up cards. It was a clear cut win for the Opposition with poor rebuttals from the Government. Call me biased but I do know what I am talking about as 12 years of experience at different levels does come in handy now. Though Suhail was the best speaker, alas, we lost!

The only thing that saddens me is Suhail could not make it to the national levels because of this unjust treatment. If there is a good reason why I want to win this, it would be for him rather than for myself. The guy debated for 5 years, for goodness sake! I think, as his teacher, I have failed to bring him to a better level probably due to my inability to put together a good team for the debate which brings me to point that it is very apparent that my students have a chronic inability to think critically and they are also afraid to live up to the expectation. I had debaters pulling out of the team when I only had a week to go and had to train another girl in that same duration.

Everybody in my school keeps shoving everyone else except for themselves into the team and they would cringe if we identified them to be a debater as if being one is like slitting your own throat. I hate to admit that most of them are cowards who keep putting themselves down and not believing in themselves. I remember when I was in school, we fought for the part to be a debater and being in a community where we had a lot of Chinese and Indian friends, the atmosphere becomes competitive and everyone puts in their best. To be a debater, you really had to debate your way in and such was the practice that I had to succeed in life.

I am going to miss having a Suhail in my team next year and I would hollow out the earth if I have to in order to find someone even half as good as him. It might have been destined that we lost but I am happy that he would be acknowledged as the BEST SPEAKER of the whole competition (you’re just too good, dude!). You did win something and you owe it all to yourself. Anyway, Thank you and congratulations to my debate team who made it to the semi-finals and a heartfelt appreciation for Suhail who made all of these possible. Although I screamed and shouted at them because of my drive to win, they stood by me. Even when I scolded them severely, they smiled at me. Thank you for putting up with the competitive b***h in me and for not turning away when things were at a boiling point. I Love You Guys

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought so. Biased

Rosyada said...

which competition was that ana?

i went to one last fri-sun and i met elynn!

wouldn't it have been great to see u too!

Casuarina said...

i would say it was biased too ..
but at least they weren't the champions ..
now,we badly need your help ..
maybe we can give something in return if we get the chance
aina and danial is still READING text
we need to find a way to force them to be like suhail ..
i hope ur willing to help


sincerely,
najmir maliki
(3rd speaker Semsas)

Ana Shirin said...

it would be a great pleasure to help our brother. now it's for the east zone ;)

let's meet up often. then, we'll create wonders.. alright, najmir?

Casuarina said...

actually,
im having one problem..
i might be going to south africa for the world cup(yahoo!)..
the problem is that the tickets might be during or before the national levels .. huhu

teacher rapidah plans to meet my mom this sunday and wanna bargain as much as possible ..

i do hope Allah will give help as He did during the zone levels ..


and teacher ana,we owe a lot to Intek,,trust me...

THANKS!
see you guys when school re-opens

Ana Shirin said...

you're going to south africa?? whaaaaaaaattttt??!! Can i take your tickets if you don't get to go? muahaha

On a serious note, sometimes we have to make difficult choices in life. I guess this is one of it for you.

You owe us nothing, we're brothers ;)

Casuarina said...

my mom clearly state that i have to go to south africa with the family (as you can see,i got my debating part from my mom)

she said that its because there might not even be another chance in the future .. huhu

surely,its a big decision..

thx~

Anonymous said...

wah ... im not going to world cup .. huhu .. hua!! have to debate .. =(

Ana Shirin said...

najmir: you should say yeay! i can debate and i can give my tix to see the World Cup to Miss Ana

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