Geryl (left) and Chen sign the MoU as Valentine (left), Lim (right), Edward and others look on.
KUCHING (April 3): St Joseph’s Secondary School (SJS) Kuching and Bay Cats Touch Club (BCTC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) last Saturday to establish a partnership to develop touch and rugby at SJS. Under the agreement, the club will offer coaching expertise, mentorship and training programmes while the school will provide facilities and support student participation.
Both parties will collaborate in organising tournaments, identifying talents while promoting sportsmanship, teamwork and student leadership.
In addition, the club will provide qualified coaches, structured training and competition access while the school looks to integrate the programmes into its co-curricular activities.
“SJS has been a strong, committed partner since our first year of establishment. Our collaboration with the school saw the formation of our very own Bay Cats youth division.
“At the time, when we needed a pitch, a home as our base and young players to kick-off our development roadmap at grassroot level, SJS responded amicably.
“They supported our objective and welcomed us with open arms,” said BCTC president Geryl Ogilvy Ruekeith.
“In return, we train touch, as well as assisting in rugby, with the same approach and commitment to aid development of students in both sports, a win-win for both parties,” he added.
Geryl signed the MoU on behalf of the club while SJS Kuching was represented by its principal James Chen Chun Hong. Also present were BCTC secretary Valentine Gabriel Bain, the school’s senior assistant for co-curriculum Johnny Lim and the school’s touch and rugby coordinator Edward Joseph Jihem.
“The MoU is in fact, another milestone for the school. Today’s occasion marks the first MoU we signed with our collaborators to enhance our programmes and development for students.
“This agreement shows our strong commitment with Bay Cats Touch Club to develop their niche programmes,” said Chen who stressed the school’s responsibility to provide a platform for students to develop holistically and not be limited to academic development.
“In a broader sense, touch (sport) is also learning. Just because the students are out on the field, it doesn’t mean they are not learning. I believe in sports development, as it brings about character building, sense of responsibility to self, friends and the team, as well as commitment to what we are doing.
“If we translate all these good characteristic building and attributes to the classroom, the students can go very far. That is something beyond the (academic) results we are looking for,” he added.
The BCTC-SJS collaboration so far has already seen the club produced junior teams which were competitive in local tournaments in the past three years such as the Sarawak Touch Association (STA) invitational league, Kuching Touch Competition and Kuching Fours Touch Invitational Championship.
The collaboration also saw the birth of the inaugural SJS Inter-house Touch tournament in 2023 won by House Columba and House Hyacinth in 2024.