No pain, No game...

Note: This is not a blog post :P

No pain, No game…

Article by: Rain

19^th August 2006

During my flight back to Ipoh from an 8-months long internship back in my hometown, I managed to catch a glimpse of the top view of UTP’s majestic pentagon-like academic complex unintentionally. Indeed, it is quite a standout feature from the tarnish surroundings that appeared to be somewhat undeveloped. This new academic complex that was officiated in June 2002, boasts 22 buildings of respective engineering and information technology faculties, all bearing the KLIA-like futuristic architecture.

Although a relatively freshly established university, UTP definitely lacks no facilities, providing one of the most conducive libraries among Malaysia’s tertiary studies institutions, hostels that accommodate the entire population of students, the floating An-Nur mosque that oversees a lake view and also the sports complex that is continuously being upgraded with its facilities.

UTP, being situated a good 40 minutes drive from the nearest city, Ipoh, is clearly isolated of any forms of urban leisure. This is undeniably a smart strategy that indirectly guides students to an academic oriented lifestyle, saving them from whatsoever distractions possible. Thus, during the scorching evening after-class hours, almost half of the population can be seen to be swarming towards the sports facilities for their most convenient source of leisure after a long, tiring day.

The sports complex is in fact the first facility that can be seen when one enters the grounds of UTP. The newly constructed jogging track encircles a vast field that consists of football, hockey and rugby fields. Further inwards, the netball, volleyball, beach volleyball, basketball, tennis, squash and badminton courts as well as a swimming pool are also available.

These facilities are usually deserted during the earlier hours, that is from morning to about 5 in the evening, because then, most would still be occupied with their schedules. Later, the sports complex begins to rumble alive and can be termed as practically ‘flooded’ by crowds at about 6 in the evening. Many can be seen jogging along the roads or the jogging track. The one and only basketball court will be an arena of stringent competition not just for the 30-inches circumference orange ball, but also for the space and chance to actually play it. The tennis, squash and badminton courts are too bestowed the same fate, being so incessantly occupied, that even with the pre-booking system, some unfortunate ones may still end up not breaking a sweat pore, at least not for the fact that they did sports.

The enthusiasm the students shows for sports is overwhelming, and should be encouraged because it is a healthy lifestyle instead of studying all day long. However, these single digit quantities of the respective courts usually fail to satisfy the demand during the peak hours, usually from 6 to 8 in the evening. More often than not, there are in fact more spectators, reluctant ones that is, than the actual players. And this imbalance ratio of sports facility to the number of students becomes more apparent due to the recent rapid growth in the population of students. Disregarding the surfacing of this issue may bring more unwanted scenarios than ever imagined because, sports, done in the appropriate practice brings better health, but when desperately exercised in the imbalance proportion of facilities may bring safety hazards.

As a used to be badminton player, I had initially played the sport on a daily to thrice a weekly basis, but later due to the insufficiency that persistently escalates over the period of 4 years; I have now slowly resorted to hardly ever playing. Maybe now that the academic complex that pillars our degrees scrolls have been completed, the An-Nur mosque that guides us along the education path with the right mind is afloat, we can now expand the sports complex to insure our health needed to ensure the degree scroll obtained can actually be of use.

Of course, the alternative sport that will always be available would be jogging. Otherwise, I believe there should something called, computer badminton? Well, at least I’ve tried the tennis version.