Nottingham Games 2012

Salam everyone. :)

Yesterday, 10th of November 2012, Saturday, was the day of the annual Malaysian Nottingham Games. Me and some other represented my university, Surrey, for Netball. :D
Surrey contingent consist of players from netball, football, scrabble, frisbee, badminton, and batu seremban & congkak (Malaysia's traditional games).

Picture credit to MSS Webpage

The whole Surrey Sports Contingent

It was a long, tiring day. We depart from Surrey around 3-4am in the morning and arrived in Nottingham before 7am. We did stop in the middle of the journey for toilet breaks and Subuh prayers. I do not really like to sit at the front part of the bus, it makes me dizzy. Unfortunately I drank milk before departing so I kinda feels like throwing up a lot (though I did not). It was not a very desirable condition to be in, considering I need to sleep as well before starting to play any netball. However, everything went better than expected because as soon as we arrived, I met lots and lots of friends from KDU and I straight away became energetic again. haha. :D

The playful Netball team all dressed in
Pink sweaters and grey pants.

Anyways, I am only gonna tell this story from a netballer's point of view since we did not even have time to stroll around to other people's game place (fyi, we did not win any medal for Surrey). The netball game was divided into 2 groups, each requiring us to have 7 matches in total, confronting other teams from various universities. Our first game was horrible. =_=" We loss big time against LSE. And if I am not mistaken, LSE rank 1st or 2nd on the overall game. Our second game was better though. We won against Manchester's team (one of the strongest team playing) oh and did we not feel contended. hehe... And we lose and win some other games. But playing 7 matches just for preliminary round really was exhausting. By the 5th game, we just wanted to get it over with and eat lunch for our sake. We have no intention at all to even go into the quarter-finals, which we did not of course.

5 satay sticks for GBP5. Expensive!

Overall, it was a very unforgettable experience. We were not under pressure to win or whatever, what we wanted to do was just to play and do our best and that is just what we did. Almost every match is like a friendly match to us. Competitive? Yes, but we also make friends while playing and it was such a great feeling to have bonded the way we did although we did not win over them. haha. Cliche? That is just how it is.

After the game, we made our way for prayers and finally ate our lunch. It was disappointing though. There were not many food stalls open and the foods run out pretty quick. The event was supposed to end at 7 but by 4pm, everything was closed and we were even chased out by the guards. >_<
The organisers should be more alert with all these things. For me, being here for the first time, they really made a bad impression. I hope they improve by next year. I would love to experience the REAL Nottingham Games that everyone was so proud of.

Nevertheless, the game was over and we all made our way home. Arrived back in Surrey before 11pm and everyone was completely drained. It was cold too. As soon as I reached home, I did what I needed to do and straight to bed. haaaa, the best feeling ever! haha.

Well, that is it I guess. Enjoy some of the pictures taken when I was there!

Me and with my high school classmate! 

KDU-ians

Meet my two-year roommate back in KDU

I have nothing else to share except say how grateful I am to have met all my friends all around UK over there. A very nice event for a gathering. haha. :D

Later!