The write up below was by Ahmad Amirul Hafidz Ab Rahman @ Cepe 05, Captain and Best Student 2005. I requested him to write a few words to be included in my Q4G report. Hope he won't mind the write up appeared in this blog.
When Bro Ise ’80 asked me to do a write-up on the successful Q-4-G project a few months back, I could not say no. After all, I have been directly involved in the project in its first two years as a player, and I still follow the team’s progression closely even after I left college. This is a project that has helped me to achieve my dream as a basketball player, but beyond that it also played a hand in shaping my life. It thus makes perfect sense to do something in return, and the decision to agree on writing this report is a no-brainer. Little did I know, however, that the task at hand is not simple, that what I will need to try to put in words deals not only with the many visible accomplishments but also with the state of emotion of those involved, which is never easy to translate into writings. This is a project with lessons that extend well beyond the basketball court, instilled deep in the heart of every player. The arduous evening practice and gruelling ballgames still serve as a constant reminder that there is no easy way to get to the finish line. Mr. Liew’s careful instructions on and off the court did not escape us once the trophy was won. The camaraderie that was built en route to reaching the goal lives on. It is with joy that we watch as our juniors continue in our footsteps, and also with hope that such project will continue and benefit the coming generations. It is one of life’s many mysteries that after all these sweet successes, the hunger for more grows even larger over the years.
So the story started, as has become known to many, in the second half of 2003 when Mr. Liew decided to come back over and offer guidance to the CAGERS. This was back in the dark ages for the CAGERS, when we had not won the PHT for the past ten years. In the previous year, the CAGERS even stumbled in the North Zone tournament, not making past the semi-final round thus failing to qualify to compete at the national level. Such was the cruel fate of the college basketball team that had started so brilliantly and enjoyed so many successes back in the 70s, 80s and early 90s. As coincidence has it, Bro Azmi ’91 also returned to KK a few weeks before Mr. Liew did, and the two started off the tough and ambitious effort to bring glory back to the CAGERS. Bro Ise and a number of other old boys entered the frame in that same period and provided direct helps in training as well as financial needs. With that, the stage was set for the CAGERS to quest for glory, what was left was for the players to put in their finest effort to turn the dream into reality. That was exactly what we did.
CAGERS ’04 were already fundamentally sound before the arrival of Mr. Liew, and many had predicted us to go further than the previous teams did. However, fundamentals alone could not win us a championship; what we lacked were cohesive team efforts, strategic game plan and stifling defence to choke off the opposing team. Enter Mr. Liew to close the loopholes with his basketball doctrines, and less than a year later we managed to get our hands proudly on the coveted trophy. After ten years of hiatus, the CAGERS were back in reckoning, all thanks to Q-4-G.
It is easy to belittle the helps received, claiming that a win was always on the radar with Mr. Liew guiding the team even without the huge amount of financial helps and other forms of support the team claimed to need. Here are my arguments to counter this perception; this was a team that has not won in ten years, we lacked confidence, we were fragile. There was this powerful desire in each of us to win, at the same time the pressure was so great we could have easily caved in. Mr. Liew recognized this as one of the main hurdle, and his way of getting us to leap over it was to give us game exposures in the form of friendly matches and instil physical and mental toughness through training camps. Both of these required monetary support. None of these were carried out extensively in the years before he came, and perhaps it was no coincidence that the team could go nowhere when they competed in real tourney. In any case, this was also the time when basketball was not anymore deemed as an alien sport to many. Schools all over the country have taken up basketball and even though its standard has not increased by that much since the last decade, the number of quality competitors has grown. We could no longer expect to win the PHT only by beating one or two teams like before. This again emphasizes the importance of friendly games, from which we could gauge our own ability and that of the potential opponents. All in all, the win in 2004 could never be achieved with the absence of extra hands lent to Mr. Liew. The same applies for the subsequent years, but the point of addressing this early on is to emphasize the extra support needed by CAGERS ’04 because of the added pressure.
Moving on to 2005, the team this year was not as talented as in the year before, but we were better equipped for the fact that we had been under the watchful eyes of Mr. Liew for well over a year. As a result, we sailed through most of the tournaments that we entered, capped of course by the second consecutive PHT, 10th overall. This year also saw Mr. Liew making his first move of injecting a junior player into the main team, a decision which would prove crucial in the coming years. It thus could be seen that the man did not only plot his strategies for the success of the present team, but he also kept his eyes fixed to the future, concerned that the departure of senior players would leave a void too big to fill. He believes that a player does not have to wait until he gets into a senior year to get ready, that the hard work to get into the first team starts much earlier. As in the previous year, the team in 2005 had a number of trips and training camps, and Mr. Liew would ensure that deserving juniors would get on board to join the team whenever possible.
I was the captain of the team this year, and that allowed me to having direct communication with that man that we owed victory to fairly often. I have to say that while his effort in turning us the bunch of average basketball players into perennial winners was impressive, it is the moral, the impact that he has in each of us outside the basketball sphere that strikes me most. You see, he used to tell us when he first took over the team that even if he cannot make us good basketball players, at least he would try to help us become good, well-mannered individuals through his teachings. That, for him is far more important than winning the PHT. Being a top scorer or a superb defender on the basketball court alone does not impress him; one better equips himself with self-discipline and sound academic records to earn his respect. Above all that, one also has to have the right attitude and learn to respect before demanding for any. It is not so surprising then that all those who have been under him are doing okay in our post-college life, and frequently pay him a visit whenever we have a chance to as a sign of our long-lasting respect and gratitude for him. I do not know about the rest of my teammates, but the life’s lessons that Mr. Liew had passed are still important to me, his words from all those years still serve as a motivator. For that I would forever be grateful to him.
I left college in 2005, which means that I was no longer involved directly with Q-4-G since. I did get the chance to join the team as a supporter in Kuantan in 2006 and watch cheerfully as they seized the third consecutive PHT in style, winning the final game with a record-breaking 44-point margin. Mr. Liew went on to lead the CAGERS to win the Cup in 2007 and 2008; the latter ensures our fifth straight victory and supposedly wrapped up the Q-4-G. In the end the ultimate goal has been achieved, but that certainly was not without hitches and glitches along the way. Many have been staunch supporters of the project but still a few were opposing; I guess you cannot simply keep every mouth shut and try to please everybody. Ultimately, the record is there to speak for itself, a sign to the naysayers of who wins.
The actions on the background have undoubtedly been crucial, but the efforts put in by the CAGERS cannot be simply overlooked. One might claim that the superiority of Mr. Liew’s coaching and helps channelled by the old boys were all they needed to ensure victory, but ultimately the puzzle would not be completed if not for the action and aspiration of the boys, players who have complete control of the basketball on court. This becomes more important as trophy after trophy have been won, when self-complacency kicked in and winning no longer took a hard-fought effort but seemed more like a routine. Faced by such circumstance, it is easy to lose focus and turn cocky. How many times have you heard of great teams losing their games only because they lack respect for the opposing teams? As such, credits must go to our players for keeping their composure when they could have easily gone bragging. The influence of Mr. Liew must also not be forgotten; surely in between practices he had taken time to remind the boys about the importance of being humble and respect towards the opponents.
It is with a sad symphony that Q-4-G has to come to a close after more than five successful years of nurturing young, naive kids to become strong minds. There is no way to measure the impact of this project on each of us objectively, no way to gauge our attachment to it beyond the personal pleasure of winning the PHT. It is especially hard to convince the outsiders, those who do not embrace the concept of learning and winning, of the importance of this project and to picture our hope for such effort to carry on. You are wrong if you say that all the efforts are for sake of winning PHT. The aims of Q-4-G spread way beyond that. Glory, in essence, does not have to be only about winning or losing. Though I dread for the moment to come, I believe that sooner or later the trophy will be lost. So long as we have Q-4-G, at least when that happens we can say with pride that we have tried all our might. More important, we have passed the lessons and shown enough values for the kids who will move on to their next phase of life. We who have had the experience owe them those lessons, and hopefully their generation will later pass it on to our child.
It is almost impossible to gather the whole list of persons we should be thankful for, so perhaps it is only fair not to mention anyone in particular. Nevertheless few names are so important in bringing about the success that it is impossible to ignore; they are Mr. Liew, the head coach, whom through his teachings has also become a father to many of us, Bro Ise and Kak Ana, without whom there would not be any Q-4-G at all, pure and simple, and Bro Azmi, who sticks with the team through thick and thin. Thanks also to the many individuals who have contributed in so many different ways, especially the old boys. Your effort and kindness have no match. I hope that wherever you are, God will always bless you.
Ten, twenty years from now hopefully people would still be talking about Q-4-G. We would gather and tell each other of how valuable the project had been, and perhaps plot on our next move on how we can best help the team. Q-4-G should continue, it has to continue. The lessons and experiences have to be passed on.
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