10 BRATs

Star2, TueSday 17 June 2014

Bonding through sports

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Love it or hate it, sports still has that magic ability to bring people together.
By JONATHAN DASON
brats@thestar.com.my

RIENDS and relatives often ask me what sport Im

interested in. They also find it strange that Im not a
fan of any football club, nor totally excited that the
World Cup is going on.
But even though Im not a big fan of sports, I
have always admired the ability it has to bring
people together.
Physical education was one of my favourite
subjects when I was in secondary school. It
was during this period when you would get
the chance to leave the classroom, head out
to the field and just have fun outdoors.
It didnt even matter how good you were
at sports, or where you came from. All that
mattered was you participated and had
fun. No one was left behind.
Unfortunately, being one of those who
werent particularly athletic, I made little
effort when it came to participating in competitions or friendlies. My lack of interest
in anything sports-related also made me
turn down invites from friends and family
alike to catch live telecasts of badminton or
football matches.
In hindsight, Ive missed out on many opportunities to bond with my family and friends.
When I was younger, I would catch my mother
and my grandfather sitting in the living room
watching football matches together. I heard all the
sighs and cheers, and saw the smiles on their faces
when their favourite team won. It made for good
father-daughter bonding time!
And now with the World Cup under way, perhaps it
is time for me to buck up and challenge myself to learn
more about the sport. Ive decided to make it a point
to watch a few games (even if theyre repeats) with my
family and friends. Ill be reading up about the teams
and all their notable players as well.
With all that effort put in, maybe some day youll see
me working as a sports anchor!
Im kidding, of course. Thatll never happen.
But in all seriousness, you dont have to be phys-

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ically out there on that field or court or pitch to experience the beauty of sport. Just look at all the crowds of
Malaysians who gather at mamak stalls during those
major sporting events, like the recent Thomas Cup finals.
Thats when our collective identity as Malaysians shines
through the most.
And whenever our Harimau Malaya plays an important
game, it unites all of us as well. It doesnt matter if youre
a Manchester United or Chelsea fan!
Theres just no denying it sports has and will continue
to function as a glue of sorts to bond us with our friends,
family and fellow Malaysians. And coming from someone
as bad at sports as I am, thats really saying something.
n The writer is a member of The Stars BRATs young journalist programme. To join the programme, message us at
facebook.com/starbrats or email us at
brats@thestar.com.my.

Social revolution
at this weekends
Poskod Journalism
Campus, R.aGe will
be hosting a panel
discussion on the
impact of digital
media on journalism.
By VIVIENNE WONG
alltherage@thestar.com.my
IF youre a media or journalism professional interested in figuring out
just how social media is changing
the news media industry, then the
Journalism For Gen Y panel discussion is what youre looking for.
Hosted by R.AGE, the discussion
will be held this Friday as part of the
Poskod Journalism Campus, an event
at the 2014 Cooler Lumpur festival.
The speakers on the panel will
include lecturer and social media
advocate Niki Cheong (a former
editor at The Star), Time Out Kuala
Lumpur editor Lim Chee Wah,
PopFolio network managing director
Loo Jia-Wei and Astro Awani editor of
magazine programming Zan Azlee.
Moderating the discussion will be
our own R.AGE editor Ian Yee.

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As the theme for

this years Cooler Lumpur festival is
#Fast, the panel will also be discussing how the consumption of news is
speeding up in the already fast-paced
world of journalism.
Poskod.my editor-in-chief Ling Low
hopes this session will help paint a
clearer picture of what journalism
has evolved into.
On a daily basis, people are getting their news updates from social
media, not from television. They can
share news on Facebook one minute,
and have a meme about the story the
next minute. And before you know
it, the meme becomes the story. So,
where is all of this leading? Thats

what we want to find out, said Ling.

You can also see a trend in the
way headlines are being written to
capture the attention of Facebook
users, or in order to improve search
engine results.
If youre interested and curious
about what the future holds for journalism, come join us! Admission is
free, and the event is open to walkins, but you are highly recommended
to pre-register at poskod.my to book
a seat.

Journalism for Gen Y

Venue: Black Box, Publika
Date: Friday, June 20 2014
Time: 2pm - 3.30pm

Poskod.my editor-in-chief Ling Low is the person spearheading Poskod

Journalism Campus, which will be held as part of the 2014 Cooler
Lumpur Festival.

(From left to right) The Cooler Lumpur Festival literary director umapagan
ampikaipakan, BMW Group Malaysia head of corporate communications Sashi
ambi, British Council Malaysia arts manager Grey yeoh, Makchic editor-inchief Myra Mahyuddin and Low holding up this years Cooler Lumpur theme,
#Fast, at the festivals launch.