KUCHING: A young team from SMK Green Road will take on their older counterparts from the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in a friendly softball game at the school field tomorrow (Feb 23) at 4pm.
YOUNG TEAM: The SMK Green Road Boys U-18 team with Zuraimie (third right) and coaches. — Photo courtesy of SMK Green Road
According to Zuraimie Junaidi, the teacher in charge of softball at SMK Green Road, the friendly is part of the school’s build-up to the Kuching Inter-School Softball Championship that will be held on Mar 23-25 at SMK St Thomas.
“This is the third friendly for our team within a week. We played against Politeknik Kuching last Tuesday where we drew 4-4 and in the second friendly, we beat SM Teknik Matang 13-2,” he said yesterday.
He said the friendlies would definitely give his young team good exposure in competitions and an opportunity to rectify any weaknesses and improve on their strengths.
“We will give our best against Unimas who have the services of former nationals, of whom I understand two are from Johor and one is from Terengganu. Their players are from age 23 to 27 while our team comprise form four students who are 16 years old,” said Zuraimie.
“We also welcome other schools to play friendlies with our team and they can contact me at 019-8848965,” he added.
He said the popularity of softball had grown tremendously at SMK Green Road with the membership of its softball club increasing almost six-folds.
“Our softball club was set up last year with only 30 members but now it has grown to 162 including 74 girls and is the biggest sports club in the school,” added Zuraimie.
He said this was made possible with the strong support from the school principal Putit Ped and parents of the players.
“They have come together to raise money to buy softball equipment costing more than RM20,000 and we are indeed very grateful to them for their support,” he said.
Zuraimie also thanked the team manager Suhaili Bujang and the coaches Muhd Sophian Alli and Mohd Rosdi Zakaria for their dedication and commitment in guiding the school team.
Also a coach himself, Zuraimie and his colleague Muhd Sophian have been playing softball since 1993.
“The main aim of introducing softball to our school is to instill discipline in our students which can also help to improve in their studies.
Another objective is to promote the sport,” he said.
SMK Green Road represented Kuching in the Sarawak Schools Sports Council Softball Championship last year and finished runners-up after losing narrowly 11-8 to Betong in the final.
Other schools and colleges around and outside Kuching involved in softball include SMK Pending, SMK St Thomas, SMK St Theresa, SMK St Joseph, SMK Wira Penrissen, SMK DPHA Gapor Stampin, SMK Bau, SMK Lake, SMK Teknik Matang and Lodge Secondary School.