I write more when i am angry.
Date: 21 April 2010 Thursday
Venue: CCAB
Time : 8:15pm
Mood : Fuming
Background: If you are a regular at CCAB, you would know or have seen that lanes 4 & 5 of the track are always "booked". They are blocked from public use because athletes with disabilities are training with their bikes on the track. To avoid accidents, these lanes are marked out with cones.
Situation: The forwards have planned a session at CCAB tonight. While waiting for people to arrive and get ready, two of my teammates practised their passing and catching at the grandstand (ground floor). Initially, they were doing it at the field but were then advised by the groundsman to avoid using the field as it had rained heavily earlier.
At one point in time, the ball trickled onto the track. The coach for the athletes immediately lashed out at our players harshly. My two young team mates were taken aback, picked up the ball and scurried back to the bags area. He kept going at it so MJ went over to apologise but he went on, at the top of his voice, with statements like "i am going to complain to the rugby union!" , "how long have you been at CCAB?? we have been using the tracks from ever since!" and "are you an adult? who are you? are you going to take responsibility for any accidents??" Note at this point in time, no athletes were nearby, not at least 100m away. But i dont deny the possibility of an accident happening.
I dont need to further elaborate on what else he said but he was agitated and unreasonable with his words. What got me riled up was his last sentence. MJ was walking off after several attempts to explain that our players are students and we are apologizing (or have apologized a few times by now) and to leave the matter as it is.
He continued to raise his voice and screamed things like " You dont own the place!", " they are students, so? they didnt study??". He then ended with " DONT YOU DEFY ME !". Twice. With his index finger pointed at us.
Ok, so i admit that her attitude was slightly short of being very apologetic but its really hard with that coach threatening to report us profusely.
I wanted to slap him.
Our bags area (where i am seated) is less than 10m from where it all happened. After our players all walked away for practise, he and his friends were still going on and on about how dangerous it was, complaining about MJ and us and how he was going to call the rugby union and the Managing Director of CCAB to lodge a complaint tomorrow.
They also brought up similar probable events to substantiate their cause. I said probable because their stories all started with " wasnt there another time where..." & " I think there was another time where.."
I still wanted to slap him. And only at this time did i see their athletes coming in ie slowing down and stopping to rest.
They have no bookings for the track and he sure sounded like they owned that two lanes just because they were here what, 10 years before us ? I am pretty sure we are not the only ones who got the brunt of his temper (read below). We are all sports persons, we should be able to co-exist peacefully. But no, he has his own ideas. Maybe this is what we truly call the Generation Gap.
History: A similar incident happened a few weeks back. I was at the field and saw a runner picking up the cones as she ran along lane 3. The coach scolded her, she reasoned that the track lanes are for public use and that the cones were in the way. He then went on at the top of his voice with things like " how long have you been in CCAB??", "i am going to report to CCAB tomorrow".. you get the drift.
By the end of this post, the cool weather has cleared my head and doused the fire in me. It could also be true that sharing your troubles whether writing or talking helps to calm you down.
Venue: CCAB
Time : 8:15pm
Mood : Fuming
Background: If you are a regular at CCAB, you would know or have seen that lanes 4 & 5 of the track are always "booked". They are blocked from public use because athletes with disabilities are training with their bikes on the track. To avoid accidents, these lanes are marked out with cones.
Situation: The forwards have planned a session at CCAB tonight. While waiting for people to arrive and get ready, two of my teammates practised their passing and catching at the grandstand (ground floor). Initially, they were doing it at the field but were then advised by the groundsman to avoid using the field as it had rained heavily earlier.
At one point in time, the ball trickled onto the track. The coach for the athletes immediately lashed out at our players harshly. My two young team mates were taken aback, picked up the ball and scurried back to the bags area. He kept going at it so MJ went over to apologise but he went on, at the top of his voice, with statements like "i am going to complain to the rugby union!" , "how long have you been at CCAB?? we have been using the tracks from ever since!" and "are you an adult? who are you? are you going to take responsibility for any accidents??" Note at this point in time, no athletes were nearby, not at least 100m away. But i dont deny the possibility of an accident happening.
I dont need to further elaborate on what else he said but he was agitated and unreasonable with his words. What got me riled up was his last sentence. MJ was walking off after several attempts to explain that our players are students and we are apologizing (or have apologized a few times by now) and to leave the matter as it is.
He continued to raise his voice and screamed things like " You dont own the place!", " they are students, so? they didnt study??". He then ended with " DONT YOU DEFY ME !". Twice. With his index finger pointed at us.
Ok, so i admit that her attitude was slightly short of being very apologetic but its really hard with that coach threatening to report us profusely.
I wanted to slap him.
Our bags area (where i am seated) is less than 10m from where it all happened. After our players all walked away for practise, he and his friends were still going on and on about how dangerous it was, complaining about MJ and us and how he was going to call the rugby union and the Managing Director of CCAB to lodge a complaint tomorrow.
They also brought up similar probable events to substantiate their cause. I said probable because their stories all started with " wasnt there another time where..." & " I think there was another time where.."
I still wanted to slap him. And only at this time did i see their athletes coming in ie slowing down and stopping to rest.
They have no bookings for the track and he sure sounded like they owned that two lanes just because they were here what, 10 years before us ? I am pretty sure we are not the only ones who got the brunt of his temper (read below). We are all sports persons, we should be able to co-exist peacefully. But no, he has his own ideas. Maybe this is what we truly call the Generation Gap.
History: A similar incident happened a few weeks back. I was at the field and saw a runner picking up the cones as she ran along lane 3. The coach scolded her, she reasoned that the track lanes are for public use and that the cones were in the way. He then went on at the top of his voice with things like " how long have you been in CCAB??", "i am going to report to CCAB tomorrow".. you get the drift.
By the end of this post, the cool weather has cleared my head and doused the fire in me. It could also be true that sharing your troubles whether writing or talking helps to calm you down.