The UTAR Male Basketball Team fought well and secured the 3rd runner-up spot at the Piala Pejabat Adun Tronoh YB Steven Tiw Tee Siang 2023, winning a cash prize of RM200 and a trophy in the endeavour. The basketball tournament was organised by the Kinta Basketball Association from 24 November to 31 December 2023 at Pusing Basketball Court and Tronoh Basketball Court.

The tournament was organised with the goodwill of spreading basketball culture in the local neighbourhood, as well as encouraging players all over the state of Perak to come forth and compete against one another, both physically and mentally.

The team, led by their captain Bong Jun Chiu and their vice-captain Phoon Lit Foong, along with the elite members of the basketball team, namely Low Li Xiang, Boo Wei Lun, Puk Hong Yew, Lai Chin Lek, Sin Kee Kang, Ong Zong Yi, Nicholas Chin Guan Lin, Goh Kai Zheng, and Zhao Xinzhi, worked closely with the head coach Mr Toh Chin Thiam in battling the many teams in the tournament.

The members of the UTAR Male Basketball Team said, “Our greatest strength is our consistent training schedules and good stamina level. It helped develop an unwavering mentality even in the face of some of the best teams in the Perak area, such as Gunung Rapat Legends Basketball (GRLB), Lawan Kuda Basketball (LK), and Astaka Sitiawan (ATK), to name a few.”

The team went into detail regarding the bright side of being a recently-reformed and growing team, saying, “Despite only securing the 3rd runner-up, what truly set the UTAR Team apart from the other teams in this competition was that we are a young team with great potential. This means that there is plenty of room for improvement. The team is also flexible to different playstyles and able to make quick adjustments accordingly. Most importantly, the Male Basketball Team is a highly communicative team, where the players were able to learn and grow through constructive discussions before and after each game.”

The team commented that despite their best efforts, they still have a long way to go as there is much room for improvement. They said, “To begin with, the lack of experience and smaller body sizes had given us a hard time in dealing with the opponents.”

Nonetheless, throughout the games, the team gained better confidence from each post-mortem discussion, utilising double teams as a tactic to exert pressure on the opponents. As the captain Bong Jun Chiu once said to the members, “You have to ready your mentality. Don’t let them have an easy game on us.”

The coach Mr Toh Chin Thiam also provided the team with valuable advice during in and out of the games. “There is no need to panic, just do what we always do. That is why we have to value the details of each practice, each ball movement, and even each footstep,” said Mr Toh to the team members during one of the games.

“Many senior members of the team are graduating soon. Due to this, the team decided to undergo reformation and train a new generation of players during the last trimester. This tournament was equally meaningful to us as well, as the roster was made up of at least 60% different faces from our past competitions,” the team shared.

Despite the dusk of an era for the team, the team looked forward to a future team of stronger bonds and resilience. “On the other side of the coin, this was an opportunity to build a greater team culture. With that in mind, the team was able to unite as one to have an exciting game of basketball. All in all, playing for the school team during our studies at UTAR provides the Male Basketball Team with a rich mixture of academics and sports through hardship, perseverance, and celebrating the ups and downs together as one. Not only were they meaningful to us during our studies, but looking back one day, these moments will truly be wonderful memories in life. Work hard, play hard,” said the senior members of the team as they were conversing about their cherished moments in their much-loved team.

The team expressed their thanks to UTAR for supporting and sponsoring the Male Basketball Team along the journey. Not only that, they were also excited for the team’s future training as the refurbishment of the UTAR home court has been recently completed.