Miss

It was our secondary school's orientation day and we, as first year students, were supposed to go for trails and pick our core curriculum activity (CCA) for the year. CCA is a after class activity which is compulsory to every student and at the end of the year, based on each individual achievement and attendance, you will be graded gold, sliver or bronze. I already had in mind that I wanted to join the Track and Field team and wanted to go for the trails immediately so that I could go home earlier, but my friends pulled me with them and I remember going around the school trying out all the various activities such as band, girl guides, St John ambulance Bridget (SJAB), basketball, dance and many more which was quite an experience.

Ironically, the first trail that I had wanted to go became the last which was Track and Field. I wanted to join the Track and Field team as I was a sprinter during my primary school days; I decided to carry on running. It was something that I excel in and something I could be proud of as I was only an average student in my studies. Furthermore, my parents love to see me run in competitions and win medals. I even have a glass cupboard at home specially to display my trophies which my parents would proudly show to their friends when they come to my house. The Track and Field had many stations unlike the rest of the activities. They had running, high jump, long jump and hurdles. I went for the sprint trail and was selected to join the team. I decided to challenge myself with hurdles, something new other than running. I was scared of heights therefore I did not dare to try high jump and my legs were not long so I did not try out for the long jump. The trails for hurdles were done in batches. Five people will try out each time and there will be a five minute interval before the next batch. There were two batches before my batch to try out. I decided to have I drink in the canteen instead of watching how the others perform.

Finally, it was my turn to try out. While I was walking to the starting point, one of my friends who was a Malay, Riza, whispered into my ear "break a leg, you can do it!" I was thinking to myself, what was that for? Cursing me before my trails? I did not understand and thought it was a Malay culture blessing sort of thing. Before the trails, the instructor started explaining what was hurdles and what we were supposed to do. The students in my batch were listening intently as though they were in a lecture, absorbing every single word. I,