Journal of a Taekwondo referee

Remaja in Kelate

17th-19th august 2007
remaja kebangsaan

im going on fri, its been almost half a year since i last officiated and this time, i dont think i even have the chance to officiate, just sit and count points. yawn....

coming back is an issue, i needed to get back on sunday as im working on monday, but my ride is going back on monday. so its either express bus(RM30) or flight (RM200). initially i opted for bus, but after the news yesterday of a northern bus crashing & killing 20 ppl, i'm a bit apprehensive...

Referee refresher in Kedah

This was really a close shave. Was supposed to take the nite bus to Kedah on thurs nite. so i called for a cab and the stupid cab couldnt find my house and the stupid digi was down so they couldnt call me to say they're not coming. so at 11pm, i was still at home although bus leaves as midnite. panic.... called md, he couldnt help. got fed up, drove to pudu, parked at a hotel nearby.

walked really really fast to the bus station to meet up with kh. we reached kedah around 6.30am was picked up by syed. he asked if i was taking referee course too. hahahha....(was actually gonna assist kh for this course and my first solo intro lecture omg omg omg). course was held at the youth center which looked eerily like the youth centre in kuantan, and the stadium also looked eerily like stadium pahang.

so i talked on criterias to be a referee while the kedahans listened. also explained on kyonggos and gamjeoms. led the practicals, a lot of shouting and commands, which was a feat as im stil recovering frm my broken arm so hand signals did not look too firm or nice. had lunch at the stadium and practical and test around 5pm. suddenly the hall was filled with kids with ribbons and dancing, so we moved to the back of the hall for the test.

mayb its the location but the tkd camaraderie in kedah is like in my hometown. the black belts are like family and they treat each other like family. u cant find that in kl and i miss that. met nora who embarassed me cos she was malay and she spoke to me in chinese and i couldnt understand.

test went smoothly, those who were really good in practise, freaked out while testing, understandable if they're beginners .it gets better in the field. took a dinner at kuala kedah, food was delicious. bus at 9.30, reached kl the next morning almost 7am. had tosai before going home to sleep til 1pm.

a pre new year BASH (and i really mean bash!)

Due to the sensitivity of the results of this tournament, i shall not reveal the location or c/ship name.

Woke up at 4.00 am as i had to be at the meeting point at 4.45am. Turned out everyone else was late and i waited til 5.15am. arrived at destination on schedule. went for sight seeing, we walked; how tiring that was. the accomodation was nothing to shout about and the towels had bugs. ewww....also i was the only female so i had no company.

we used the manual system with 3 judges. supporters made a ruckus when their players lost. first time i saw a fight. im used to the usual swears and insults from coaches and supporters but this was a full fledged fight. interesting actually to see how narrow-minded people can be and how they are a slave to their emotions. the referees were called back to the center. match was stopped til everyone calmed down.

at night, we had a good dinner and i met sir JH. he looked like denzel washington and apparently i wasnt the first to say so. then D,V, and i went shopping for souvenirs while the other masters went to goodness-knows-where. i bought a newspaper to read in my boring old room.

we had our finals the next day and then we set back home. it was an ok trip; nothing compared to terengganu 2 years back. but it was entertaining and educational to hear the masters recount their experiences in tkd and officiating.

3rd UIA Close

Was late. arrived at 845am as I went to Bt 14 to look for my missing dog. Arrived at the Rakan Muda hall in UIA where I had my last 'meaningful' tourney few years back before i had my ACL tear. No breakfast. Hungry. 2 rings for juniors. 15-25 kgs. Haha, I could lift the tiny tots with one side of my hand. Imagine, KALYEO then lift one in each hand put them back in the middle.

First day was very relaxing, the kids were like 6-10 years old. Lucky, Im short therefore i dont have to really squat to have a view of them fighting. But their height only reached my waist. oh dear..and when i call them up and issue them to begin the fight, they have no idea wat im saying but nodded serenely. two events worth mentioning:

a cute girl who cried n cried n cried while kicking. eventually, she decided not to fight. her pop turned out to b the organizer...manja-nya.....awwww
a boy (in his teens, yeah, im old already...now teenagers also i address them as 'boy') who got kicked in the face and proceeded to bleed bright red blood. i've never seen blood so red (rich in oxygen?). counted till 5 or 6 then called medic. safety first, my young lad.
placed myself between the 2 fighters (u know those tall boys who were all arms and legs?). one decided to side step so now i was facing the back of him. then he decided to chase after his opponent to the edge of the ring. took me a while to catch up, getting slow on my feet, attention wavering too. i envy tall people like mr V and mr TC. they appear so relaxed as they tower over everyone else, a few steps left and right and they already covered the whole arena.
the width of the mats are 8m. Red on my left. Blue on my right...5 metres away. So far, how to kick la, dude?

1st day finished at 1pm, no lunch so had lunch with Mr V. Havent been to WM in quite awhile, since Justin i think. So much food everywhere, so many DVD everywhere! its like a chinatown in the outskirts. hmmm..may consider moving there, nearer to workplace.

2nd day. Thought i was late, heh, was 1st to arrive. hunted for breakfast. had macaroni. i love pasta and macaroni in UIA. when arrived at hall, organizers prepared breakfast, i guess they felt guilty for no lunch yesterday. 2nd round nasi lemak. Some slow starts, eventually picked up pace. Tourneys lately have been quite relaxed even with the males. Organizers were trying to drag out the tourney til 5 pm. So had a lot of time out and breaks.

On an eating n drinking binge:

dadih (supposed to b tau-foo-far)
coconut water
grass jelly
doughnut
macaroni
tomato rice + chicken + acar (this was nice)

The lunch was by far the best service i have ever had. they actually served us. normally in tourneys its just 'grab your own food pack n drink in plastic bag' and find an empty seat n eat. i've eaten chicken rice in previous tourneys that gave me diarrhoea, and once even had to eat while sitting on some stairs. finally finished the tourney at 5pm. tired, cos was in the center most of the time with nurul as there were not enough referees.

ATM championship at royal military college

First tourney for the year 2006. Arrived early. Saw Kak Mala and Nurul. Master J was there too. I like him, reminds me of tricia's dad. Tourney started on schedule. 2 rings. Did the girls' arena, which was relaxing. Ntg special happened except one guy pulled another guy's dobok so hard, it ripped off at the sleeve.

One thing i noticed, i drink like a horse during tourneys. There's a juice bar outside n I just loved juice.

Saw Master C there with his students (my former varsity mates). Feels weird to be treated like a celebrity with them wanting to take photos with me. Feels like family photo with me sitting in the middle with Master C. Had a chat with him.

Spent half of the day at inspection. Used to think that inspection were for losers and refs who had fouled up. Now i dont bother anymore, i got nothing to prove anymore. its more relaxing (u get to chat and get to know the rest).

opening ceremony was fun. officiated by this major general who looked really uncomfy in his dobok. delivered a long speech that no one listened to, except me (trying to look interested n polite). he broke 2 roof tiles as a way of launching the tournament (invitational between colleges and universities).