The next day after my picnic trip with Talisman, we took Raidi to the Alice Smith International School in Serdang for his one day football tournament. This is the football league that Raidi had been attending since January. That day, Raidi and his team Rangers had to endure 5 grueling football matches played under the hot sun.
Kids in action...
I have to say I was really impressed with the school's facilities. They even have a lightning warning system installed (something that should be mandatory in all public school in Malaysia). The alarm was triggered in the afternoon and we were told to vacate the field immediately and because of this, we had to stay indoors at the school's sports hall. Wow!! The sports hall is fantastic! It reminded me of my pre-school hall in Cranfield, Portsmouth. Different class and standards if you want to compare with our local school halls. I guess that's why parents are paying big bucks to send their children to private schools. They provide top notch facilities.
In between games, the boys played some games with each other...
Ok back to the football. That day I saw glimpes of Raidi's potential. This is the first time when Raidi did concentrated on the game instead of playing with the sand, picking and throwing stones on the field and loughing at his friends when the game is still on. The condition of the football field are miles better than what we've been playing on for the past of couple of months. The kids played really well that day. I'm sure the pitch had something to do with their improved performances. No sand or stone for Raidi to play with. His mind was at least in the game and not somewhere else. At times he managed to make some twist and turns with the ball. No one was injured that day and that is something new. So it must be the padang... seriously.. it looked and felt really good!
His team did not make it to the final. But it was close. Due to the goal difference, Rangers took the 3rd place in the Junior League. Whatever it is, Abah and Mama had a great time watching you play football. When I asked you whether you still want to play next year, you told me that you wanted to play next week. I never thought that you would say that. Unfortunately, the league will start again next year. So we have ample time to prepare you for next season. We will go to the padang and practise.
