Post PPM - Penang Trip 2009

The Cagers came back after 2 weeks of sorrowful holiday at home when they lost the PHT Championship for the 1st time after 5 years. Mr. Liew and Abg Ise posted a few letters and articles describing the cause and factors of the lost. Many people especially old boys realizes this and took the opportunity to regain the Cagers' spirit and confidence.

Well..it is now back to square one. The Cagers' were brought to Penang to witness a few games between the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan National Team. Well, the first place went to the Malaysian National Team, while the 2nd went to the Philippines team. The 3rd and 4th place went to Taiwan and Singapore team respectively. Those games were awesome!! They played really well especially no. 11 Taiwan and no. 7 Philippines..The Philippines hit many 3 points that night to catch up with the Malaysian team.

Besides that, we learned a few ways of warming up-the Philippines way. A few drills were taught too by the Philippines coach just for the Cagers in honour of Mr. Liew. We really enjoyed our stay there because our Casem '06 also came along. It was a really good experience for the whole team especially to those who played in the Spritzer Cup in Menglembu.

Cagers Trivia 2..

And so, the trivia continues..

• The first and original trophy sponsored by Tun Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Hamdan bin Sheikh Tahir, was given to MCKK to be kept as an honour for the team that had the most wins in 1990. Another trophy was later made for the championship also sponsored by him.
• The Cagers home court, lies behind the East Wing of MCKK is also called MSG or Madison Square Garden.
• Cager is a term frequently used for a professional basketball player. The word originated from early professional games (1910-1915) played in a cage to separate the audience from the playing court and speed up the game by keeping the ball in-bounds.
• The last Cagers to enter the semi-finals before Cagers 04 was Cagers 95. 10 years not to go to semis..that's like.. hell!
• 5 captains that had led the Cagers to 5 years of consecutive glory Syafiq Noh '04, Cepe or Amirul Hafidz '05, Aliff Abdul Muiz '06, Rahmat '07 and Mokri '08.
• Winning the Final PHT earns any Cagers the College Colours tie. But that's not all about winning the trophy for the Cagers.
• If there is an award throughout the whole 6 years of the Q4G project for the best Cagers ever, I'm sure the award will go to Alep for his best performance MCKK has ever seen.

Cagers 09 - Birth, Growth and Death..

29th May 2009 marked the end of Cagers 09 when we lost to both MOZAC and SEMASHUR. We lost the first match in the morning followed by the next match in the evening. Cagers 09..comprises of 4 From 5s (Syai, Ajim, Mat Noor, Amir) 6 Form 4s (Am, Ammar, eL, Shah, Badak, Chip) and 2 Form 3s (Syafiq I and Hisyam) was officially terminated out of the tournament as of that everning. Well..I guess many of you don't know how did it started, grew and ended..right?

Cagers 09 was born in 2005 but was used offically as of 2007. The word 'Cagers 09' came to exist and was realised to be one of the weakest Cagers ever in the year 2007 when Mr. Liew announced his worries for Cagers 09 to win in the 2009 PHT..and so..he and Abg Ise and Aunty Ana came up with the idea to expose us with matches against the other SBPs..

The focus continues when we attended the STF Central Training Camp 2007. Cagers 09 were exposed with matches against Johor Team..UiTM..and many more..If Mr. Liew wants someone to do a demo..he would ask anyone of us to do it. His attention to Cagers 08 was very little as he is very confident with the team. 4 of Cagers 09 were given the privilege to enter the 08 team based on their skills and performances..

After winning the championship in 2008..Mr. Liew's focus quickly change to Cagers 09. Many tournaments have we entered, many matches have we played but those were not enough to win the championship. We played in the U-16 District, U-15 Invitational, MSSD, against the Cameron Highlands and Penang team..and lots more. In Dec 2008, Mr. Liew brought 3 of them for the coaching clinic in MABA. Many new drills were uncovered and modified to fit the Cagers. He also invited the whole team to witness the Asean University Games..He did many sacrifices to us..He shouldn't be taking the blame..

But at last..the team came to an end..when it died of losing the championship..I guess it was just not meant to be for us, Cagers 09..We won our 1st 2 matches in the tournament which was against SMESH (66-25) and SESMA (66-37). But unfortunately..we lost to MOZAC and SEMASHUR..

But the Cagers will bounce back. Yes, and I'm pretty sure of it. Cagers '10 will seize back the trophy and win it for Mr. Liew, Abg Ise and Aunty Ana. We are sorry for letting you down. We'll make sure the championship will be ours next year! Special thanks and apologies to Mr. Liew, Abg Ise, Aunty Ana, Old Boys, MCKK and those who supported us directy or indirectly. Long Live the Cagers!!

"Sometimes, losing is a need, because when you win too much,
you forgot the meaning of winning.."

"Winners are those who fight back even when they are losing.."

The Cagers Trivia..

Did you know...?

• The Cagers won their first Hamdan Tahir Trophy in 1977 just 3 years after Mr. Liew took the team.

• The Captain of the first Champion is Sdr. Halim who is currently coaching STF Dynamites alongside with Mr. Liew.

• The Cagers have 13 Championships titles and that makes them the most champion of the tournament and currently going for the 14th.

• Mr. Liew is 60 years old this year…

• Grabbing the ring without taking any steps and reaching 1200 in skipping can get any of the Cagers a new pair of shoes...

• The youngest Cager to ever play in PPM was M. Nazreen Alias (Class of ’08) who joined the team when he was in Form 2. He got 4 Championship titles.

• The Cagers’ biggest margin in the Final PHT before the Q4G started was 25 points made by Cagers ’81. It was broken in the 2006 Final PHT when the Cagers at that time made record of 44 points margin.

• The Cagers’ always have the shortest center in the tournament.

• Basketball has been included as MCKK’s niche area together with rugby and leadership skills.

• The Cagers successfully held their first U-15 Invitational Tournament in 2007 where they invited SAS, STAR, SESMA, SMS Dungun and SERATAS. MC itself sent 3 teams.

• MC Cagers is the only team to have reach a 100 points game in the PHT Final. This record was made by Cagers '07 led by Rahmat.

Of U-16.. and MSSD Tournament..

Hello there..it has been more than a month since I last blogged..Well let me just say the whole month had been tiring and exhausting..with games in the day and night..but it was a very experience for us since we were up against some vicious teams here in Perak..to make it worse..our best player or should I say the 'backbone' of the team got injured during training time. Mr. Liew got very furious with him because the tournament is only 2 days away. Good thing he was not dropped from the team as he felt that he will..

U-16 Tournament..

The game started on Sunday, April 19th 2009 in Taiping just after the end of the Old Boys Weekend..The team comprised of 10 Cagers and 2 Tsung Wah players. The rules of the game were very simple..but hard to follow. Each team was split into 2 sub-teams where each sub-teams will have 6 players.. In the first quarter, the players are allowed to be substituted only among the first 6 likewise in the second quarter, the players are allowed to be substituted among the second 6..During the first and second quarter, all the players cannot defend in the form of zone defense but in the form of full court. Like NBA, any players who doesn't play in this form will get a free technical foul.. The first 6 comprised of Am, Syafiq Ise, Ammar, El and Yang and Sheng of Tsung Wah while the next 6 were Farid, Shah, Zaki, Hijazi, Syafiq Sallehin and me myself. Am of course did not play for the first 2 games because of his injury. We lost 3 out of 4 games..out of those 4 matches..I'd say, the best match would be the last match which was against Taiping A..though we lost about 22 points..but our defense that time was very tight. Like Mr. Liew always say.."I don't care if we lose to a better team..". After the last match, we bid our goodbyes and thank yous to Sheng and Young as they had been very very kind, friendly and helpful to us in and out of the court. And so..we move on to our next agenda, which was the MSSD..

MSSD Kuala Kangsar

It was held on Monday and Tuesday at Liman Kati, just a 15 minutes drive from the school. Pak Cik Salleh drove all 14 of us plus Cikgu Fatimah with the college coaster. Syai, Azim, Md. Noor, Amir, Am, Ammar, El, Shah, Izzat, Syafiq S, Iqbal and Syafiq Ise were the 12 players in the squad while Hijazi and I played our role as water-boys and statistic-er. Both of us did a good job as the bottles and towels got delivered to the players on time and the statistics were pretty well done. Anyway..the first day, we were up against SMK Shin Chung of Sg. Siput. They put in a few big size players but with no stamina. The players also played harsh on the Cagers especially on Am and Ammar. Both of them were given the permission though to fight back by both Mr. Liew and Abg Ise..There was one time when Am was doing a free layup..the number 4 of Shin Chung smack him on the chest making him losing control of the ball and this made the squad really mad..our team to them are like deers to rhinos..so, unfortunately, we lost about 29 points.

The next game was on the same day but later that evening. It started at 3.30 p.m at the same court. That time, we were up against SMJK Tsung Wah. During the first 3 quarters, the Cagers played well and maintained a margin of 14 points. But the Tsung Wah players managed to narrow the gap by losing only 4 points..The Cagers won.

The 3rd and last game, the Cagers were against SUWA or Tsung Wah Private. It was a very easy game and most of the starting 5 did not play. Syai injured his ankle in their last match which was against Tsung Wah, while Am and Syafiq Ise were given the chance to rest since this is just an easy game. Ammar played as point guard this time.And so..we won about 30 points of margin..Overall, we came in 2nd and 4 of our players were chosen to represent KK in the upcoming MSSPK but they rejected due to the Mid-Year Exam which is coming next week.

The Cagers will have nothing bue just normal practice to sharpen their skills and stamina to prepare themselves for the National. We were told that schools like SDAR and MOZAC send giants to the competiton. Let see if they can catch us and our speed..

Basketball Beyond Basketball..

it happened yesterday..at the east wing basketball court..
while we were having our usual training session in the evening..a perdana executive came by and stopped near the court. a man dressed in a light red checkers casual shirt came out of the car..he didn't introduced himself at first, but we knew who he is..he is Dato' Saifuddin Abdullah, the Dep. Minister of Entrepreneurial and Cooperative Development..he was indeed a nice gentleman..he talked with Mr. Liew to discuss about things regarding the team for about half an hour while watching us perform our practice..

at the end of the session, Mr. Liew introduced him to us..from that..we knew that he was the head prefect of MCKK and was the best speaker for the PPM during his years of debating..he was of Mohd Shah House and also ran the MCKK Editorial Board when he was in kolet (1976-1980)..he was so kind to personally sponsor our PHT shoes for the first 15 players..

Basketball Beyond Basketball

that was his philosophy..and I personally think that it's true..basketball is more than just dribbling the ball and putting it into the basket..especially if you are a Cager, then you can get many things from basketball..you'll have to learn to manage your team..how to handle the fights between your teammates..how to listen and follow to instructions..and there's more..discipline..brotherhood..bond between the coach and players..how to cope with pressure, inside and outside the court. it is a great philosophy that we all should follow..hopefully, our team can be more than just a team, a family I mean..we will..and I'm sure of it..

PHT North Zone 2009 Tournament

On 9th of March 2009, MCKK sent the Cagers to defend their PHT North Zone Championship which was held at SMS Tun Syed Sheh Shahabudin, Bukit Mertajam. The team went along with a team of Malay debaters and a team English debaters. The basketball team comprises of 3 form 5s, 6 form 4s and 3 form 3s. Ajim was supposed to play in the tournament but due to the sudden fever attack that he had the morning we were going to play, he was replaced by Hijazi.

First Match

Our first match was against SBPI Gopeng. We were fired up with the game and so we beat our opponent 48-13.

Second Match

Our second match was at 12.30 pm although we were supposed to play at 11.45 am due to 2 overtimes made by the previous match. Our opponent was SMS Muhammad Jiwa and we beat them 33-8.

Third Match

It was our last match of the day and we were up against SMS Sultan Abdul Halim. It was..for me..our worst game of the tournament..though, we did trashed them 32-14.

Fourth Match

That morning..Mr. Liew change his strategy from critics, critics and critics..to praises, motivations and confidence. " Today..there'll be no negative comments on y'all..only positive comments will be said ", he said. And on that match, we played well, in fact it was our best game for the tournament. We trashed SBPI Gopeng 49-9.

Fifth Match

We had our match with our traditional rival that evening, STAR. We won..40-12.

Semi Final

SMS Tuanku Syed Putra was our next opponent in the semi-final game the next morning..
We beat them, 46-14.

Final

The PHT North Zone Championship 2009 witnessed the battle between Cagers and STAR, again..in the Final. Of course, as predicted, the Cagers won but with less score than usual, 27-10.
And so, the championship is back in the hands of Cagers.

We won the championshipand will be heading to SSP, Cyberjaya to play in the National PHT Tournament. It is scheduled to be held in the end of May and early of June.

I think the man bahind all this really deserves the credit, our coach, Mr. Liew for guiding us to victory. Abg Ise and Aunty Ana for giving up their whole week to prepare the Cagers for their Championship. They sacrificed their time, money and energy just to see the trophy back in MCKK. Abg Azran, his wife, and their two children, Hafiz and Irfan for their supports and 100 Plus for the Cagers. Supporters namely Izzat, Farid and Zaki for their cheer for the team.

Thank you all see ya in Cyberjaya!